Events and risk: you're the one responsible

There are four types of insurance relevant to corporate events. They cover different risks and you don't always need all four. Which combination you need depends on the scale, the type of event and your contractual obligations to the venue and the local authority.

Event liability insurance (also known as public liability cover) is the most requested. It covers damage your organisation causes to third parties: visitors who are injured, property that gets damaged, claims from third parties. Many venues require a copy of this policy before they hand over the keys.

Cancellation insurance covers the financial loss if your event doesn't go ahead due to circumstances beyond your control: extreme weather, illness of the keynote speaker, a fire at the venue. Watch the exclusions: pandemics, strikes and 'too few registrations' fall outside most policies.

Equipment cover covers damage to or theft of equipment, décor and other materials you hire or bring along. Relevant at events with expensive technical production or costly decoration.

Legal expenses insurance is less common but can be valuable in contract disputes with suppliers or visitor claims that are pursued through the courts.

Many clients assume that their regular business liability insurance (public liability) covers the event. Sometimes it does, but far from always.

Most standard public liability policies cover business activities at your own premises. As soon as you organise an event at an external venue, with visitors who aren't employees and activities that differ from your day-to-day operations, restrictions or exclusions often apply.

Never simply assume you're covered. Put the details of your event to your insurer before the planning starts. Ask explicitly whether the event is covered, at what participant numbers the cover applies, and whether there are any activities (such as alcohol, physical activities, fireworks) that require additional cover.

Working with an events agency? Then ask what the agency itself has insured. A professional agency has its own liability cover, but that's no substitute for your own cover as the client. The division of responsibility is set out in the contract. Read it carefully.

For more on budget planning around risks and insurance, read our article on event budgets →

Some event elements increase the risk, and with it the insurance requirement. It's worth knowing which they are.

Serving alcohol is one of the most common risk factors. If alcohol is served at your event and a visitor ends up involved in an incident as a result, your organisation can be held liable. Some insurers charge a higher premium or set additional requirements for events with a free bar or unlimited alcohol.

Physical activities such as sporting team challenges, climbing walls, rodeo bulls or other games increase the risk of injury. Check whether the supplier of these activities is insured themselves, and ask about it in the contract.

Outdoor events are more sensitive to the weather. For open-air events with no fallback option, cancellation insurance with weather cover is a serious consideration. Read the policy carefully: which weather conditions trigger the cover (wind force, rainfall in mm per hour) and who decides?

Fireworks, open flames and pyrotechnics always require additional cover and local-authority permission. Only work with these through certified suppliers who hold their own permit.

You can arrange event insurance in three ways: through your own insurer as an extension of your existing policy, or through a specialist event insurer that offers standalone policies per event. Your events agency sometimes offers this service too.

Specialist event insurers in the Netherlands offer standalone policies per event. You pay for the specific event, with cover that starts on the day of set-up and ends after the break-down. The premium depends on the type of event, the number of participants, the duration and the activities. For a standard corporate event of 200 to 500 people, reckon on an annual premium of €500 to €2,500 for a combined liability and cancellation policy.

Start as early as possible. Some insurers apply an application deadline of at least four to six weeks before the event date. For larger or higher-risk events the quotation process can take longer.

Store all the policy documents in your event file and make sure the venue manager, your events agency and the person responsible for crisis management each have a copy of the relevant policies. That way everyone knows what's covered if something goes wrong.

If you work with Live Impact, we discuss the insurance aspects as part of the project set-up. We're insured ourselves as a professional events agency, but we always advise clients on their own cover requirements.

We flag risks early: which activities call for additional cover, what the venue requires contractually and what the local-authority permit requirements are. We help you ask your insurer the right questions and guide the coordination with all parties.

A good event is both brilliant and well organised. That means the fun and the safety both hold up. Because if something does go wrong, you want everyone to know what's covered and who takes action.

For more on safety and protocols at events, read our article on safety protocols →

Event insurance isn't an exciting subject. But it's the difference between an incident you absorb and one that haunts you for years. Take the time to look properly at what you're covered for, what you're not and where the gaps are.

Live Impact helps you with that. Not as an insurance adviser (for that you'll turn to your own insurer or a specialist broker), but as an event partner that knows which questions to ask and how to organise this smartly.

Ready to deliver your event well from start to finish? Send us a message through the brief tool or email hello@live-impact.nl. You're welcome to call too: 085 401 40 14.

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