from YAPRap May 2008
Dear YAPA
Something you might want to look at - an issue the kids keep coming up against which I'm sure would affect many youth groups and individuals - public liability!!! My kids have asked their local shopping centre if they can have a small display box to collect old mobile phones on the desk of their information stand - they've been told they'd need public liability insurance for it! Obviously this isn't something kids can afford - or could legally be covered for. So what do kids do... probably just give-up!
Last year the kids thought everyone looked glum around the local supermarket just before Christmas so asked if they could play some carols on their flute and viola. They were told they couldn't because they hadn't completed the appropriate 'health and safety' course!!!
It'd be interesting for kids to know that insurance is something they may need when doing public works and how (if possible) to get around it - the kids do their bushcare program through our local council by registering as a community group. This way they, and all the volunteers, are covered by insurance. - Mother of young activists
Dear mother of young activists,
That would have been very frustrating for those kids. They were trying to do a really good thing, to get those phones recycled, only to find they were blocked by some, apparently arbitrary, rules. Here's a couple of suggestions.
The kids probably needed to make the activity a ‘partnership' with the shopping centre so that the shopping centre would work with the kids and take it on as a shopping centre activity. Then, maybe, the management at the centre would have been involved and been able to take responsibility for any of the ‘risks' they might have been worried about. The shopping centre is responsible for anything done on their property so they will want a say in what happens.
Another way to do it may have been to do it as an activity of another group, like your school, or the scouts or maybe your local youth centre. I reckon most youth workers would think it was a great thing to do and would want to make the activity an activity of the youth centre. In that way the youth centre becomes ‘responsible' and they can show the shopping centre that they have the public liability insurance they want. - Hugh Worrall at the NCOSS Insurance Project
Dear YAPA
I would also like to vent my frustrations from a local government level and from a former youth worker and organiser of youth activities…
We pay through the nose now, every time we want to run events etc, to put young people on a stage to perform we pay about 70 bucks per act (stupid really, an act could be 1 or 30 people and its the same), and the varying levels of risk seem to have no impact often on the cost. And when you take events where we end up with up to 2 – 300 performers, this becomes more and more expense.
Different NGO organisations in our area have different insurance packages meaning they can run certain activities etc and there is inconsistencies between what the services are able to provide for young people. Eg. one service regularly takes young people go-karting while another claims that their insurance won't let them. This is confusing for young people as they get confused as to what youth services can actually offer. - Youth Development Officer, Sydney
Dear Youth Development Officer
It can be a headache trying to work out how to manage the risks involved with youth events and knowing what insurances you need to cover the risks. I must admit that when I was a youth worker I ran all sorts of things and didn't know if I was covered or not because I didn't know any better. Different youth services have different knowledge about how to run activities safely and what insurance coverages they need. I don't think you have to give up on go-karting and under 18s band nights though.
Things have changed a lot since I was a youth worker. Funding bodies and management committees expect a lot more accountability and professionalism from community organizations – like they describe in the DoCS Good Practice Guidelines. The good thing about that, is that people are less likely to get hurt, and if people do get hurt they are properly supported and the organization is protected.
Different insurance companies specialize in different things. If you are not talking to a company that understands community organizations it is not always easy to get what you want. NCOSS works with the insurance broker AON Risk Services to make sure that the insurance they sell is made to cover the needs of community organizations. Event insurance is part of the NCOSS Community Cover insurance package. A good insurance broker, who understands the community sector, can put together the insurance that your service needs.
There are a few companies that specialize in insurance for community organizations. Here are three:
- AON provides NCOSS Community Cover – 1300 363 764
- CRISP is associated with Meals on Wheels – 1300 652 556
- Local Community Insurance Services are associated with local government – 1300 853 800
The NCOSS website is a good place to find insurance information www.ncoss.org.au/insurance
- Hugh Worrall at the NCOSS Insurance Project
