We often make the assumption that any church activity is covered by our church’s insurance coverage but in many cases that is not true, so you need to be aware of what might not be covered. We are starting to see a higher frequency of what are typically called Special Event Exclusions added to policies written for your church. That means that if you have any of the defined events, there is no liability or medical payment coverage.
As churches look to appeal to a wider audience, they often do so with a variety of expanded programs. The insurance carriers argue that their insurance policies were created to protect churches and typical church events but were never intended to cover the extracurricular activities many churches engage in – thus the Special Event Exclusions.
If your policy does include some type of Special Event Exclusion, noted below are the ones you’ll likely see most often. This is not intended to be a comprehensive list but only highlight some of the more frequent events. Some carriers may have more, some less, some none at all but if you have an upcoming event that might involve one or more of the following, you need to understand how your policy would address any of these. In some cases, it may require you to purchase a type of Special Events Policy and depending on the activity, this can be relatively simple but it can also be somewhat of a challenge.
Typical Special Event Exclusions:
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Animals (other than household pets – this would include most petting zoos)
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Amusement Devices (including inflatables, bounce houses, water slides, moonwalk, bungee operation, etc.)
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Mechanical Rides
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Automobile, Motorcycle or Political rallies
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Any event involving the use of firearms
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Fireworks
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Concerts with admissions of over 500 people
Of the above, the common three seem to be “petting zoos”, “bounce houses” and sometimes mechanical rides. Of these, and this might surprise you, but bounce houses or any type of inflatable, are the ones that are the most difficult to insure. Cleary bounce houses have become a popular rental for children and most assume they are reasonably safe but in reality there are over 15,000 child injuries are reported in connection to bounce houses each year in the U.S. and this has not escaped the attention of the insurance carriers – nor for that matter, those willing to represent you in a lawsuit.
We would encourage you to keep an open dialogue with your insurance advisor on any planned activity that is, shall we say, outside the box of what is typically considered normal church programming to be sure that you are protected.
