How rising violence risks for public events is changing coverages

Both the COVID-19 pandemic and rising rates of violence, exemplified in the July 13 assassination attempt on a presidential candidate during a Pennsylvania rally, are changing how insurers parse risk profiles for live events.

“Things that never used to be a concern are now a concern,” Benjamin Rossington, entertainment and sports account manager at Hub International tells Canadian Underwriter. “Certainly, things such as what we call ‘active shooter’ or ‘active assailant’ [coverages are something] we must 1725680555 consider for large public events.”

It’s a big change from prior years when Canada’s reputation for being a bit boring meant organizers of large and small events enjoyed attractive insurance premiums.

“When they underwrote the risk, people would look at it and say, ‘Oh, it’s Canada. Nothing happens there.’ They’re assuming the risk that Canadians will act appropriately. They won’t bring guns, or they won’t act abnormally. They’ll protest peacefully. They won’t riot,” he says.

Related: What’s spiking costs for public events coverage?

Historically, brokers and insurers covering Canadian events have been more concerned about weather cancellations than civil disturbances.

“Canadian event organizers do think about issues like protest and unrest, but they’re making arrangements for them to be handled peacefully,” says Rossington. “They’ll make space for them and say, ‘Guys, you can protest here in this area, as long as you’re not disruptive or violent in nature, we will accommodate you.’”

For events like parades with no social or political overtones, organizers typically receive a standard offering covering risks such as minor spectator injuries and slip and falls.

But for some events, Rossington says, organizers are now being asked to consider additional coverages, such as active assault and terrorism.

“We’re now giving examples, the Boston Marathon and the Las Vegas [concert] shooting situations that could potentially occur,” he says. “We try to use Canadian examples, but we don’t have too many. Most of them come from the U.S.”

Coverage expansions

Expanded overages are often linked to venue size. Large arenas with high public profiles, like Scotiabank Arena in Toronto or Saddledome in Calgary, will carry active assailant coverage – but smaller venues like independent music clubs holding fewer than 1,000 patrons won’t.

Sometimes, a broker will suggest higher coverage levels based on music genres, such as heavy metal which historically has a higher rate of crowd violence.

Image by iStock/toxawww

And recently, in response to widespread campus protests over the ongoing armed conflict between Israel and Hamas, brokers and insurers are revisiting threat assessments for policies covering events at Canadian universities.

“I work with universities on some of their events,” says Rossington. “You’re doing a threat assessment with them. You’re saying to them, ‘What kind of situations are you concerned about, and what are you currently doing to resolve them?’

“Most clients we work with are quite savvy on that. If they’re concerned about a particular violent situation occurring at their events, they’ll bring that to [our] attention.”

What’s more, as trends toward political polarization in the U.S. and Europe creep into Canada, events featuring government ministers or party candidates may seek additional protections if organizers anticipate unruly behaviour.

“We’re asking, ‘What do we need to do to incorporate insurance to protect that situation?’ [because] the nature of the event being presented to us dictates what we suggest,” says Rossington.