Let's have a look at a couple of other scenarios that could affect clubs and their committees:
Imagine there's an incident at a club or centre where somebody under instruction is severely injured and the centre is prosecuted by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). What if the PL cover you thought would cover you for £3m has an inner limit of £50,000 in respect of legal fees for HSE prosecutions and doesn't cover any awards? £50,000 soon gets eaten up in legal fees. But, hey - the cover "ticks the box".
Furthermore, following the incident the HSE don't just prosecute the legal entity that is the training centre they also prosecute the directors and/or officers of the club itself. There is no protection for them whatsoever under their PL Insurance, not even for legal expenses.
A club committee decides to take the step to expel a member who subsequently decides to take legal action against the club; a club volunteer or employee sues the club for harassment or discrimination, a group of members decide to take legal action against a club's officers because they feel the officers have not acted in the best interest of the club or its members. Here we see further examples where there is no protection for the club or its officers under the club's PL Insurance - but it "ticks the box".
Insurance that "ticks the box" can be low in price - often a driver for a club looking for an economic solution - but will not offer the bespoke gap-free protection that club officers might want in the 21st Century.
5 Questions Sailing Club Trustees and Officers Should Ask Themselves Before Deciding Which is the Best Insurance for Sailing Clubs
So, which option would you prefer or does it even matter to you, your club or your members? At the end of the day all of them appear to "tick the box" as far as what the RYA's intention is.
However, we must consider what the intention of the insurance is. Is it to indemnify the club, centre and instructors in the event of injury arising during the course of the training itself - ie during actual instruction on and off the water - or something more? What about the efficacy of the training? What if somebody suffers an injury or damage several months after training and alleges it was as a result of an error or omission during training? In this scenario the club or centre would almost certainly have no protection from their Public Liability Insurance.
Furthermore, the extract from RYA Training Notice TN 07-15 (above) calls for cover in respect of "other damage or loss". Whilst damage to third party property would normally be met, "other loss" presumably means some form of loss (eg. purely financial) other than injury or damage which, in fact would not be covered under the PL Section and would normally require a PI policy to protect this kind of liability.
1. What are the long-term objectives of my club and the members?
2. If the club was prosecuted how would it fund its defence?
. If the club had compensation awards made against it outside the scope of its Public Liability Insurance how would it meet those awards?
. How would I defend allegations and charges made against me for decisions, errors and omissions made in my capacity as a club officer?
. Do I want to put my personal assets at risk, either during my tenure as a club officer or after I have stood down?
hese are just a handful of questions you can ask yourself as a club officer that will help determine what scope of protection you might wish to invest in to meet the objectives of your club, its members and, indeed, yourself. For some these issues will be important, others will consider them irrelevant and if they are important then the concept of value will often override that of bottom-line price.
alue, of course, is in the eye of the beholder but, even so, I would hazard that the "Best Value" solution is a programme that is fully aligned to your objectives, underwritten by good security and delivered at the best available premium - in other words, the best insurance for your sailing club. The differences in definitions in policy wordings as well as the variance in scope of cover outlined above suggest that a single "off-the-peg" policy offering a one-size-fits-all solution that is anything but bespoke may not necessarily be the best option for your club or centre.
Not long ago, I was discussing watercraft and boat insurance with an insurance agency owner in Kailua Hawaii, I guess he noticed I was wearing a Kailua Canoe Club sweat shirt. We discussed some of the types of water toy, boat, and marine businesses he insured. He noted that everyone who owned a jet ski was required to have a license for it, and insurance. If no proof of insurance, it could be confiscated by the authorities, but more importantly, if it was stolen you'd eventually get it back if it was duly registered
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