People from all backgrounds will gather this weekend, amid flowing green beer, with the hope that the luck of the Irish brings them fortune this St. Patrick’s Day.
As cities across the nation prepare for the parades and festivities that come with this annual holiday, we connected with Alan Norris, contingency underwriter at UK-based Talbot Underwriting, to discuss contingency risks faced by US and global events.
“Every event is slightly different in terms of their nature,” he says. “Whether an event is indoors or outdoors, location plays a major part in regards to what the major risks are.”
As Norris describes, weather and terrorism are a few of the more prominent risks that events face today - especially relevant for a holiday such as St. Patrick’s Day, where parades and block parties dominate the celebrations.
“Any outdoor event can be susceptible to weather, and weather is a major risk when we are analyzing outdoor events, concerts or festivals,” explained Norris.
With factors as unpredictable as terrorism and weather, along with the multitude of other risks that have the possibility of impacting events, policies are strategically written to provide as wide of coverage as possible, Norris explains.
“When we are underwriting an event, we can’t always foresee everything that can happen. There are a host of issues that can affect an event that you can’t completely predict, which is why the policy is written on an ‘any cause’ basis,” he said.
At Talbot, Norris has written policies for everything from small private parties costing $10,000 to some of the world’s largest events, where exposures can total billions of dollars, and everything in between. No matter the size or value of an event, there are a few keys to writing insurance for their dynamic nature.
“Some of the exposures and the reasons that we have paid claims over the years have varied, and the landscape is changing,” he explained.
“I think the key thing for any underwriter is to really consider all of the various unknowns when considering the terms. Very often, the unknown that suddenly is the cause of the loss is something that you didn’t think could ever cause a loss when you were originally writing the policy.”
