Special Event Insurance Explained

If you run a business, then no doubt you are all too familiar with the myriad different events and get-togethers that are required. Often it doesn’t feel so much like you’re doing business, as just talking to people and eating buffets!

These events are important for the progress of your business though of course. They include receptions, exhibitions, and festivals, as well as launch parties, prebriefs, conferences, networking events… These are opportunities to announce news to the press, to find new business partners, to gain free media coverage, and generally to strengthen your brand and hone your networking skills.

The only downside is that hosting events is expensive and complex in itself. And in fact, it can also be a legal nightmare if anything should go wrong.

Host a party and you are responsible for those people. If they should be injured for instance, then that is on you. Likewise, if the building your are renting gets burned down, then you might also be in the line of fire.

Insurance for Special Events

This is where special event insurance comes in. In short, this is a type of liability insurance that will apply to claims by third parties – which can include both your guests who might sustain injuries, as well as the landlords that you are renting the premises from.

So now the question might be: what types of hazard are possible at a business event?

Pretty much anything! Slip and fall accidents are of course very common, but then what about fires? How about fights breaking out between attendees that hurt bystanders? What about a collapsing stage? Food poisoning?

What if your guests get rowdy and break a window?

All of these things can cost your business a lot of money – which is where special event insurance comes in handy.

Who Needs Event Insurance

This insurance is necessary for pretty much any business that plans on hosting or sponsoring an event then.

Keep in mind though, that it might not be necessary if you already have a general liability policy, as this will probably be covered. If you are a small business that isn’t usually at any risk of being sued though, you are likely to need this additional coverage.

Some kind of liability insurance might also be a requirement of the property owner – they may be unwilling to lease the premises unless you have the insurance.

It’s also worth noting that not every event is likely to need insurance and this is going to depend very much on the scope and nature of the get-together. If you are going to have a very small get-together for business leaders, or if you are doing a hands-on event with a few select members of the press, then you likely won’t need to have insurance.

On the other hand though, if you are going to have hundreds of guests, a live band, and lots more uncontrollable factors, then it becomes increasingly important.

Another consideration is whether or not you will be charging for the event. If this is a ticketed event and you are hoping to earn a profit from it, then that means it’s possible for you to lose that profit too. For instance, if large swathes of your guests decide to cancel last-minute, then that will leave you high and dry and you’ll potentially lose a lot of income. In this case, you might need to make sure that this is covered by one of your policies.

Getting the Right Insurance

Read through all policies and terms before making your decision.

Don’t make the assumption that your general liability insurance will definitely cover your event. It may well be that if the event exceeds a certain number of guests or doesn’t meet other conditions, that you need to get more insurance separately.

Likewise, consider what is covered by the special event insurance and whether you need additional insurance too. For instance, you might find that your policy covers eventualities such as storm, fire, earthquake, terrorism, or absence of a key performer. OR you might find that these are exclusions and you need to look elsewhere for a more comprehensive policy.

Most special event policies will be issued on standard ISO liability forms. The policy will normally include an endorsement that will restrict coverage to the specific event that has been described in the endorsement. It will also likely exclude certain activities and features of your event – another reason to be very thorough when reading your documents over.

Common exclusions include:

• Pyrotechnics
• Amusement devices
• Trampolines
• Firearms
• Rodeo’s
• ‘Aerial maneuvers’ (ski jumping, bungee jumping)

In short, if there is a very good chance that something you have planned could injure someone… make sure you double and triple check that it is covered by your policy.

Applying for Insurance

While this is a somewhat less common form of insurance, it should be readily available from standard and specialty insurers. It’s a good idea to shop around and usually you’ll find that it can be offered online or through an agent or broker. This gives you plenty of scope to compare different policies and prices.

To get the policy, you’ll need to complete an application and this will ask you to provide information regarding your company’s details (name, address, description of operations), the location, name and purpose of the event, the expected number of attendees, whether or not liquor will be made available, the types of entertainment, types of seating, capacity of venue etc.

In other words, you need to provide a detailed breakdown of what will be happening and what you have planned so that the company can accurately calculate the risk and how much cover you will need. Keep in mind that you will need this information when you start comparing policies – have it ready when you begin. Of course this also needs to be factored into your budgeting and into your overall plans for the occasion – so a little bit of forward planning goes a very long way.