No event is immune from the possibility of mishaps that could result in cancellation, loss of revenue or ‘sunk costs’, potential lawsuits, loss of business and damage to reputation. For event owners, producers, their customers or other participants in an event it’s advised to carefully consider the range of insurance available as things can always go wrong no matter how well you plan.
WHY IS EVENT INSURANCE NECESSARY?
Event insurance prepares you for different kinds of eventualities such as terrorism, accidents, and national disasters. You need protection against such unexpected situations to avoid unbudgeted expenses, potential lawsuits, or loss of business.
Things can always go wrong no matter how well you plan.
A leak could damage a piece of equipment, a delegate could sustain an injury, and you might even have to cancel the event altogether due to bad weather or other unforeseen circumstances.
Event insurance protects you against such unexpected situations which could result in unbudgeted expenses, or worse, loss of business. When planning your events, make sure you prioritise insurance amongst your preparation.
WHAT POLICIES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED?
Insurances for events can offer protection against various mishaps that could occur during corporate and trade events, conferences, festivals, and the like. There are a range of policies to consider depending on your involvement in the event.
1. Public & Products Liability Insurance
Public & Products Liability Insurance is likely to be critical for your event. It protects against claims by third parties regarding injury or property damage. Your policy covers your legal expenses and the costs to remedy your situation up to the limits of liability you select.
Some circumstances covered by your policy include an attendee suffering a physical injury due to inadequate crowd control planning, damage or loss to attendees’ personal property, and damages to the venue in which the event is held.
2. Event Cancellation and Abandonment Insurance
Significant time, resources, and planning go into the organisation of an event and circumstances beyond your control can lead to the postponement, abandonment, or complete cancellation. Sometimes referred to as ‘Contingency Insurance’, this is becoming an important consideration for event owners and organisers seeking to protect themselves from unforeseen risks.
These are highly customisable policies and can include coverage for:
- Loss of revenue, loss of irrecoverable expenses, or loss of specified expenses
- Cancellation due to loss of venue (e.g., fire or other damage), threat of terrorism, loss of transport links, adverse weather, public safety concerns, non-appearance of talent or guest speakers
- Additional mitigation costs incurred to enable an event to proceed that may be at threat of cancellation.
3. Cyber Insurance
These days many events take place (all or in part) online due to Covid-19 event cancellations. In this case, you need protection in case of data breaches. Cyber insurance can cover claims for breach of privacy of attendees. For example, if your attendees register online and have personal or sensitive information accessed and having to recover lost data can be time consuming and expensive. Furthermore, disruption to events can occur due to network interruptions.
4. Professional Indemnity Insurance
If you’re an event producer or manager being engaged to manage some, or all aspects of an event and you inadvertently make a mistake resulting in financial loss or expenses, that’s where your Professional Indemnity Insurance is important! It offers protection from claims regarding mistakes made in a professional capacity.
Such claims can involve a lot of money and can go beyond refunds for services you couldn’t provide. Companies often organise events to generate future income and may claim loss of that income due to your failure to offer the services for which you were contracted. Professional Indemnity can cover claims for compensation as well as legal expenses incurred to defend your position.
HOW DO YOU CHOOSE AN EVENT INSURANCE PROVIDER?
Apart from pricing, you must consider what the insurance policies cover when choosing a provider. While you want an affordable solution, you also want one that caters to your specific needs based on the risk profile of your event. Ensure you get professional advice before making a decision.
There may be some exclusions in your policy document, and you should be able to recognise them. Consider all possible eventualities during the planning process and choose a provider that can offer you broad protection, customised to your needs.
For example, some providers may not protect against certain high-risk activities and so are not the best option for events that involve more ‘extreme’ activities.
CONCLUSION
Event insurance protects you from circumstances that could harm your event and lead to expense or loss of business. Such eventualities, including terrorism, accidents, and national disasters, are usually beyond your control.
You can manage lawsuits and other significant costs arising from inadequate planning with appropriately designed event insurances.
At Barrack Broking, we can help you design a solution to cover your event risks. Get in touch with a team of experts to identify risks and develop your event insurance strategy.
