Local Community Insurance Services - Community Association Insurance; Voluntary Workers Insurance; Volunteer Personal Accident Insurance; Risk Management Process; Risk Management Insurance; Community Group Risk Management.

Understanding why Public and Products Liability counts?

A Public/Products Liability policy will cover you if you are sued by a third party (such as a member of the public) for personal injury and/or property damage resulting from an occurrence arising from your activities. Such coverage will include in most cases, the payment of your defence costs. If you are found to be negligent, any amounts awarded to the injured party will likely be covered by the policy. This is when having this type of policy counts. Without this cover you would need to pay these defence costs yourself. Can you afford to take this risk? Contact the LCIS team to discuss insurance options to suit your event.

Why you need event insurance?

As an organiser of an event, you are responsible to make sure the event goes ahead without any glitches. You would need to make sure you identify, analyse, evaluate and treat all risk management aspects of the event. This could also involve liaising with the relevant Government Departments to utilise their expertise/advice on organising an event, to make it safe for members of the public to attend. Even if you’ve done everything which is considered to be reasonably practicable, things can still go wrong! A Public/Products Liability policy will cover you if you are sued by a member of the public because they were injured or sustained property damage whilst attending an event organised by you.

Download the Event Management Checklist for guidance.

Event exposures – What are they?

Make sure that other groups who you contract with to exhibit/participate at your event (e.g. stallholders, bands, stage hands, and security) have their own insurance. Liability can come back to you as the organiser of the event if something goes wrong and these groups do not have their own insurance. Do you have a detailed risk management plan in place and has it been implemented? Do you have a contingency/emergency plan in place? Make sure all structures and activities (amusement rides) comply with legislative requirements. Any road closures? Ensure you have very experienced people to manage this and liaise with your local council regarding the same. If the event is cancelled due to circumstances beyond your control and you have spent a lot of money organising the event, how will you recoup these costs? Talk to LCIS and we can arrange cancellation and abandonment insurance.

Understanding liability limits:

When setting a limit for Public/Products Liability event insurance, one of the first considerations is crowd exposure. If an incident occurs which causes an injury to multiple people, your Limit of Liability (sum insured) could be quickly exhausted. How many people do you expect to attend the event? A higher limit is recommended for large concentrations of people. What types of activities are being conducted at the event? Higher risk activities will present a larger liability exposure. If food is being sold, there is a risk of contamination for example. What if a large group of people suffer food poisoning? If you are sued because something goes wrong at your event, another consideration is the length of time it could take to settle the claim. The accumulation of legal costs over a period of time plus any amounts to be paid to the injured party can add up to be a large sum of money.

Alcohol and events

All States and Territories around Australia have laws which regulate and control how alcohol is sold, supplied and consumed. When planning an event it is important that you familiarise yourself and comply with the laws in your State to avoid being fined for non-compliance. You have a duty of care as an Event Manager to provide a safe environment for all whom attend. If you elect to contract this part of the event out, ensure you are contracting it out to an experienced operator who is aware of the laws within the jurisdiction where the event is being held and has their own insurances to cover their liabilities.

Why do I need event insurance on private property?

Hiring a property to hold your event? The owner of the property may request you take out a Public/Products Liability policy to secure the venue. Why is this? If something were to go wrong at the event, for example, one of your guests was outside smoking and afterwards did not butt out their cigarette properly, resulting in a fire, the property sustains damage and the owner of the property sues you. Without a policy to cover you, you could be responsible to pay the damages yourself. If any of your guests are injured whilst attending your event they could also sue you. Thus, you should have a policy to cover you.