The bombing that occurred in Boston on Monday will force brokers, insurers, risk managers and underwriters to revaluate how major public events are underwritten.
“The bombings should affect the questions we ask event organiser,” Brad French, managing director of entertainment and sport events underwriter SLE Worldwide Australia said.
SLE underwrites all the Rugby League games in Australia, as well as the ANZ stadium, the Suncorp stadium in Queensland and Village Roadshow. French said his clients took great care with risk assessments but he urged other underwriters to ask event organisers the right questions.
“Questions like where the event being held, how the crowd will be controlled, how will the event organiser handle the crowd if an incident occurs. These are questions we ask but some event organisers might find it intrusive.”
Robert Low, manager of sports and entertainment at Marsh, told Insurance Business the bombings had “triggered reviews of event insurance coverage globally, including in Australia”.
“We expect insurers will now be placing greater focus on risk management procedures. Organisers of major events are likely to face more stringent requirements when providing their risk management plans, which typically include details about security measures, police presence, evacuation plans, and diversion routes in the event of an emergency.
Insurers will be expecting event organisers to demonstrate a greater degree of preparedness, and groups that aren’t forthcoming with this information are likely to see that reflected in premium rises.
The event also throws up new queries as the event was not in a controlled space.
“Insurers allow for such scenarios when they occur within an infrastructure. This presents an incident that occurred at a finishing line on a street and not in stadium,” Kaise Stephan, actuaries and consultants director at Deloitte said. “All events like this are quite tragic in terms of the impact on the people involved and society.”
