If you are planning on hosting an event, there are two items that will be of extreme value to you and that is permits and insurance for the event. These are items that are usually required by the venue or municipality for your event. The permit is something that is not usually required unless you are utilizing public roads or other public access. If your event is entirely on private property, then it would be unusual for it to be needed. The permit is to let the municipality know what resources are going to be needed for your event. In addition to traffic control, there might also be requirements for health, emergency services, and engineering. It is all in pursuit of safety to the event and also to mitigate any liability for the municipality.
Insurance is something that you should consider for any event regardless whether there is a permit required. For municipalities, insurance is always required and the organization will request that they be listed as an additional insured. The venue for your event may also want to be listed. Even if none of those organizations require insurance, it is highly recommended that you obtain insurance in the event that there is some mishap during the event. So what type of insurance do you need? You need to get event specific insurance that covers the operations for that specific date. A general liability policy for your business or organization won't cut it. The reason is that a normal GL policy only covers operations for the business at their specific location of business but does not cover incidents at events. You can always request a certificate of insurance (COI) for the vendor or municipality from your general liability, but if something were to happen at the event, you would not be covered. It might satisfy the needs of the vendor, but they would also be unaware of its limitations. Only event specific insurance available through one of several organizations will actually cover you and your participants for the event.
If you are working with a vendor who will sell you an exclusion using their GL policy, just know that for one) it is illegal as they are most likely not bonded or licensed to sell insurance, and two) the insurance will not hold up if there were to be an actual incident. The cost of the insurance is nominal and well worth obtaining for your event.
We can help you with a list of several resources for obtaining insurance on your event. Even though we have a general liability policy for our business, we always purchase additional insurance for the events to cover us in case something were to happen. It is simply not worth the risk to you or your organization to work around it.
See you at the race!
