Attending an event with your business? Here's the insurance you need

If you're attending an event with your business, you need to make sure that you have the right business insurance in place. Nick Breton, head of Direct Line for Business, explains why you need to be insured if you're attending an event, and the type of cover that you need.

Why do I need business insurance if I'm attending an event?

Attending events such as craft fairs, Christmas markets and trade shows can be a great way for small businesses to expand their network, get a feel for their marketplace and find new customers.

But accidents can happen anywhere, and if your business is involved in one while exhibiting at an event, you could be held accountable.

For example, if someone trips and hurts themselves on your stall while you're exhibiting at a craft fair, they would be entitled to claim compensation to cover the cost of their medical bills.

Likewise if you inadvertently damage the event premises as part of your business activities, any compensation awarded as a result would need to be covered.

Without the right business insurance in place, this compensation would be claimed from your business, not necessarily the event organiser. So it's important to make sure that you're covered.

So what type of insurance do I need?

Although the exact cover that you'll need will depend on the nature of your business and the event that you're attending, there are two main insurance products that you will need:

• Public liability insurance

• Employers' liability insurance

Let's take a look at both of these in a bit more detail.

Public liability insurance

Public liability insurance covers your business against compensation claims for bodily injury or property damage from a third party.

This means that should a claim be brought against you for injury or damage that your business causes, any compensation awarded would be paid by your insurer, and not you.

Many event organisers will ask you to provide proof of public liability before they agree to let you exhibit. So making sure that you're covered could be the difference between being allowed to attend an event, and being turned away.

Employers' liability insurance

If you're an employing business and will be taking your employees along to an event that you're attending, you'll need to have employers' liability insurance in place.

As the name suggests, employers' liability insurance covers your business against the cost of claims made against you by an employee for injury or illness during their time working for you.

So if your employees injure themselves while working at an event with you, employers' liability insurance will cover you for any compensation that they might be awarded as a result.

This insurance is a legal requirement for all employing businesses and you can be fined up to £2,500 for every day that you don't have this insurance in place. So make sure that you're covered, even if you're not attending an event!

Make sure you've got the right level of cover

Whatever insurance you decide to take out, it's important to make sure that you have the right level of cover for your business's needs.

In some instances, you may need to adapt the level of your cover to meet the needs of the event organiser. For example, if an event that you're interested in exhibiting at such as a market or fair specifies that they require all attending businesses have a minimum of £2m of cover for public liability, you may need to call your insurer to increase the level of cover that you have.

Fortunately amending your level of cover is easy to do, and in many cases all you will need to do is call your insurer to amend the level of public liability and pay an additional premium.