Liablity Insurance Question

[jonboy]

I have the task to contact independent teams concerning Liability insurance. We (FRC0885) are investigating getting liability insurance for the team since we are an independent operation ie not cover by a school's policy. We thought we could get some guidance/ideas from other independent teams. How do other independent, home school, neighborhood teams deal with the liability issue?

Thank you.

[Joe G.]

This is one of the reasons that we organized under 4-H. As a 4-H team, we are covered by the University of Massachusetts' insurance program, which is more extensive than that of most schools.

[bachster]

Timely thread - just yesterday I was wondering if our non-profit organization should carry property and/or liability insurance. We are a school team and currently work in the school, so I think we are covered under school liability, but our property is owned by our non-profit. In addition to robots and tools, we are starting to have significant investment in cameras, computers, etc. Does anyone have suggestions for this situation?

[Katie_UPS]

Unless an insurance expert pops up (which could happen?), I would recommend talking to your school's insurance people for advice. They will probably be the most knowledgeable about what you should do and would have the most information about what would fall under your school's insurance and what would not.

Most of us, myself included, would just be speculating as we don't know your exact policy and situation.

EDIT: Also, if you can find a lawyer who would do the work pro-bono, they may also be a useful asset.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Joe G.

This is one of the reasons that we organized under 4-H. As a 4-H team, we are covered by the University of Massachusetts' insurance program, which is more extensive than that of most schools.

Our team also made the move to 4-H over the summer. If 885 has any questions about 4-H feel free to contact us its been a great opportunity!

[Billfred]

Insurance was one of the big reasons we organized 4901 under 4-H. (The other, handling team funds, is something that South Carolina is still working through after the tax group exemption was retired on the national level. Your state may have this figured out already.)

Look up your local extension office (usually there's one office per county) and ask to speak to the 4-H agent to see if it's a good fit for your team. 4-H is less strong in a lot of urban and suburban areas--I'm pretty sure we're the only 4-H club meeting in the city of Columbia--but agents want to grow it everywhere and I've found ours to be a big help. (We did kinda blow her mind when she came to our pit at Palmetto--she'd never been to a FIRST event!)

If 4-H isn't a good choice for your team, then I'd talk to parents and find an experienced insurance agent in your community. We had to do this the first and second years of SCRIW to insure the field, since FIRST requires insurance on their field and AndyMark hadn't started offering it yet. I still remember them asking us who was going to guard the running track that night--the insurers didn't know our event was going to happen in a gymnasium we could lock up! A FIRST team is going to get a lot of questions like that, and you want someone you can have on speed dial or can email.

[Greg Needel]

Back when I was on 2775, we had a similar issue and investigated 4H for the same reasons. Unfortunately for us 4H is very much run state to state, so the policies will differ depending on where you are. The team ended up becoming a boyscout adventure troop for insurance reasons, and it worked out for us.

Just be sure that when becoming affiliated with another organization like 4H or the boyscouts that you understand what that means in regards to how your organization must function and what things you have to do to stay in good standing. Don't just use an organization just for their insurance....

[Carol]

Many independent teams have gotten their own policies. MOE 365 is covered under a policy that at first was just for the team, but now covers two FTC teams. (It used to cover the local FLL and FTC events, but there is a new AP in DE handling them that is affiliated with a college. It's complicated).

Anyway, I was involved in the initial process to get the insurance. We talked to a local independent insurance agency who handles a variety of policies with different companies. It's important to go to this type of agency; an agency that is affiliated with only one company (such as State Farm, GEICO) may not be able to write the policy you need. Talk to more than one and get quotes; it can differ. Our policy is through a local agency (New Castle Insurance Ltd.) but is written through a company called Great American Insurance who specializes in business policies.

Make sure your policy covers not just medical accidents to team members, equipment damage, but mentor liability too. Also coverage for auto for transporting team members to events.

It's not as complicated as it sounds. Talk to a professional and he/she can help.

[HighlandersFRC]

My team runs under our own non-profit and we just purchased liability insurance. Since our team does not run under a school, we also have our own waiver that we have each team member and parent sign. If you have any more questions please feel free to contact me at Debbie@highlandersfrc.com.

[jonboy]

Thank you all for your advice. CD is a great resource.

The tip about 4H capabilities was very enlightening. We are following up with our 4H state representative.

The another iron we have in the fire is to continue to follow up with our local independent insurance agent. There are more than 30 endorsements/exclusions to plow through ie fine print.

The final iron is to review and revise as necessary our current waiver form.

Thanks again for all the good comments.

[Foster]

I talked to a local independent insurance agency who handles a variety of policies with different companies when I did our policies.

Dependent items are:
- access by the general public
- are you holding events?
-- if not in your space then the people that own the space will tell you want they must have
- are you working in your own space? If not the building owners will tell you what you need
- use of power tools - You can mitigate the cost some by having formal training programs for the use of power tools and limit the people that can use them
- replacement of tools - current value vs replacement value
- parts and supplies - current value vs replacement value
- liability coverage amounts
- coverage at your home shop
- coverage on the road at events
- transportation of roboteers / mentors to from events
- transportation of roboteers by mentors to and from build sessions

You agent should be able to walk you through these and other items. Plan on it taking time and your head exploding on some of the coverages (ie replacement vs current value vs agreed value for tools)