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Public liability insurance….. “cannot be overlooked in today’s market”

Public liability insurance, being fundamentally one of the most important classes of insurance, is one which is often ignored by businesses, why?

What is public liability insurance?

Public liability insurance is based on negligence and will indemnify the Insured for the legal liability arising from its professional business activities through:

  • Damage to third party property
  • Personal injury to third parties

What does a public liability policy cover?

The policy not only covers legal liability but also indemnifies the “insured” for any legal costs incurred in defending the action taken against them. Being ‘not guilty’ of any negligence and thus avoiding a claim under one’s policy, but the catch and it is a costly one is payment for legal costs. 

The majority are also unaware that their policy only indemnifies them while working in their office environment and does not extend to include ‘Work Away’ from the Insured's premises. This needs to be specifically endorsed on the policy.

How much cover is enough?

It is very important that the correct level of indemnity is afforded under the policy. The common cover amount should be no less than R10 million.

 

The indemnity provided is in respect of any one occurrence but is unlimited in any one year. This means that the Insured will have the benefit of R10 million cover for each incident which occurs, irrespective of the number of incidents in any one year…..but there is one catch you need to iron out with your insurer, they can redefine the cover should more than two incidents be reported. So make sure you discuss that!

Acts and Bills

The Safety at Sports & Recreational Events Bill, why is it important?

Public liability insurance will become mandatory under the Act. If the responsible person/company is not in possession of a current policy, they run the risk of government-appointed inspectors not allowing their event to proceed.

Checklist

In summary, members of the exhibition or events industry or any company that has more than 1 event a year must ensure that:

  • They have adequate public liability cover relative to their business activities
  • Their indemnity limit is commensurate with the industry
  • All their subcontractors have proper liability cover
  • Their insurance adviser understands their business and has knowledge of the MICE industry and the way it operates.