Are You Covered? Get Your Events Insured.

In this time of uncertainty, it pays to have all your bases covered and having your event insured has become vital in light of the number of cancellations taking place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Hopefully if your event was recently cancelled you are to some extent covered for potential losses by insurance that you previously purchased. It will however be interesting to see how much insurance companies pay out depending on exceptions and clauses in specific policies. The current situation clearly demonstrated the importance of getting your event insured early in the planning phase. 

If, for example, you are planning an event where you expect several hundred customers and are renting an established venue you will need to ensure your insurance covers a few key components, including public liability, employers liability, event cancellation and abandonment or damage to event equipment. 

The premiums you will pay often depend on the size of crowd you are expecting and the value of equipment to be covered. There are plenty of specialist event insurance brokers offering their services and after a quick search online you should find a policy that fits your event. The premiums are relatively low compared to the potential benefit should anything go wrong so there is really no excuse not get your event insured. When assessing any policy make sure it covers the following: 

Public Liability.
This is quite obvious and should cover accidents and injuries to your paying audience as well as some third-party property damage. 

Employers Liability. 
You may already have employers liability insurance for your business but check what is covered as it may be beneficial to obtain additional cover for a specific event for accidental injury to your staff and any volunteers 

Equipment.
If you are using equipment that you own or have hired for an event check you are covered for loss or damage specifically related to the event. 

Cancellation, Abandonment or postponement.
Probably one of the most topical elements of any insurance policy right now is ensuring you are covered for unforeseen reasons so you can recover costs incurred in relation to the cancellation or rescheduling of your event.  

Adverse Weather.
Changes in the weather could potentially make your event dangerous for visitors especially for outside events where gale-force winds or flooding could have a serious impact on safety. 

Check and compare policies available and chose the insurance suitable for you event as some policies are better for smaller events or inside fixed venues. It’s always worth checking the exceptions, excess amounts and what is excluded. Ultimately you want to be safe in the knowledge that you have taken every precaution to cover as many eventualities as possible. Having the right insurance coverage will also give peace of mind to employees, vendors, contractors, artists and of course your visiting customers.  

Once you finalise your event insurance make sure that this information is logged in a secure environment and is accessible to all concerned parties. Using a software solution like FestivalPro can help you log insurance contracts for key people to ensure everyone has access to pertinent information. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and are performance artists themselves.  

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