Event insurance at a glance
What is event insurance?
Whether you’ve organised a one-off corporate function or a large- scale festival, you’ll know just how stressful arranging an event can be. There are so many things out of your control, including weather, ticket sales and even the behaviour of your attendees.
That’s why you should help protect yourself and your business with a tailored events insurance policy. With the right insurance, you can safeguard yourself if things don’t go to plan – allowing you to run your event with confidence.
“From standard theatre productions where access to the bar and toilets at interval seem to be the main concern, to green field music festivals where just getting the audience into the area is fraught with difficulties, the risk assessment coming from a crowd management plan is essential.”
Live Performance Australia, Audience and Crowd Management Hazard Guide, 2018
Who should consider it?
Events insurance is usually taken out by professionals in the hospitality or entertainment industry, such as:
- Event managers and coordinators.
- Events promoters and organisers.
- Sound and lighting operators.
- Stage managers.
However, any individual or company holding an event should consider the cover that events insurance can offer. Events can include concerts, exhibitions, festivals, fundraisers, theatre productions, trade shows, dance parties or corporate functions.
Did you know?
One in five dollars spent by international visitors to Australia are spent at a business event.
(Deloitte, Australia’s international business events sector: the economic and strategic value proposition, 2014)
From 2003 to 2016, there have been 29 fatalities related to an event.
(Safe work Australia, “Fun, exciting and safe: WHS in major events”, 2017)
According to Aldo Raineri, Occupational Health and Safety, Central Queensland University, faulty infrastructure, weather events, terrorism and crowd management are the biggest risks for event organisers.
(Safe work Australia, “Fun, exciting and safe: WHS in major events”, 2017)
What can it cover?
Events insurance can protect you and your company from the various risks you’re exposed to when conducting an event. Without insurance, such a claim could threaten your assets.
Depending on your policy, event insurance can cover:
| Type of cover | Potential benefits |
|---|---|
| First party losses | |
| Business interruption losses | Covers financial loss you may suffer as a result of a cyber attack. |
| Cyber extortion | The costs of a cyber attack, such as hiring negotiation experts, covering extortion demands and prevention of future threats |
| Electronic data replacement | The costs of recovering or replacing your records and other business data. |
| Loss of deposits | Reimburses deposits on accommodation, flights or conferences if you or your staff member’s trip is cancelled due to accident or illness. |
| Third party losses | |
| Security and privacy liability | Damages to your reputation resulting from data breaches, such as loss of third party data held on your system. |
| Defence costs | Funds the legal costs of defending claims. |
| Regulatory breach liability | Covers legal expenses and the costs of fines arising from investigation by a government regulator. |
| Electronic media liability | The costs of copyright infringement, defamation claims and misuse of certain types of intellectual property online. |
| Extra expenses | |
| Crisis management expenses | Provides cover for the costs of managing a crisis caused by cyber hackers. |
| Notification and monitoring expenses | The costs of notifying customers of a security breach and monitoring their credit card details to prevent further attacks. |
What usually isn’t covered?
Exclusions, the excess you need to pay and limits of liability can vary greatly depending on your insurer. Policies generally won’t include cover for:
- High risk activities.
- Injury to participants in sports and content.
- Improper set up.
CASE STUDY
A charity organised its annual fundraising dinner to be held at a local hall. The charity arranged for catering through a third-party company, and invested in quality decorations.
The day of the event, a storm hit, damaging the roof of the hall and ruining the decorations – and the event had to be cancelled.
Tickets were refunded, but the charity was out of pocket for the cost of the decorations and catering. However, because they had taken out event insurance, their policy covered these costs