Many people think about all of the fun that occurs at music festivals. But, for the festival owner, much of what’s on their mind is all that could go wrong at their music festival—namely, injuries. It’s important to be aware of the common types of injuries that can happen at these festivals and how to get covered in case it happens at your festival. We’ll take you through the ins and outs of special event insurance, whether you need insurance for your special event, the top five most common injuries at music festivals, and how insurance can protect you from expensive recovery costs.
What Is Special Event Insurance?
Special Event Insurance is a particular type of coverage that can give entertainment executives, like music festival owners, peace of mind for any and everything that could possibly happen at their special event. Damaged rented property, employee accidents, vehicle wreckage—these are just some examples of things that can go wrong that you, as the festival owner, will want coverage for.
If you’re planning a music festival, you need to protect yourself from having to pay out-of-pocket recovery costs. Injuries like slip-and-fall accidents, dehydration, and other unfortunate incidents can be expected at music festivals. The good news is, you can get covered for the costs with policies under special event insurance.
Common Injuries Sustained at Music Festivals
We’ll take you through some of the most common types of injuries that occur at music festivals and why festival owners should protect themselves from the liabilities associated from injury incidents. Common injuries at music festivals include heat related injuries, dehydration, broken bones, stabbings, and alcohol poisoning & drug overdoses.
Heat Injuries
The most popular time to host festivals is between the months of April to September. For cities like Indio, Black Rock City, and Las Vegas, where many of these festivals are held, festival-goers can expect to endure high temperatures during their weekend of fun. Focused on seeing their favorite performer and getting to the venue on time, many young attendees rush without bearing in mind that they need protection from the sun at all times. Without protection from the severe sun rays, people at your venue could suffer from exhaustion, nausea, sunburn, seizures, or other related heat injuries.
It’s best to have general liability insurance or workers compensation policies if one of your employees or festival attendees suffers a heat injury. This will cover you from the high costs related to the injury, like hospital visits or medical fees.
Dehydration
In addition to heat injuries, festival attendees are also subject to dehydration. This is especially true for people at festivals that are in the desert or high-heat areas. Additionally, excessive drinking that often goes on at concerts is another cause that could contribute to dehydration. Without proper hydration, festival-goers could find themselves passed out and flushed because of the lack of water in their system.
Should any of your employees or festival-goers suffer from dehydration, you’ll want general liability insurance or workers’ compensation coverages under special event insurance. General liability insurance will cover you if the festival-goer’s hospital visit requires you to pay for their stay. Workers’ compensation would cover you if an employee needed extensive care.
Broken Bones
People who attend festivals often come with high energy and a reckless attitude when ready to party. People do outrageous things like crowd-dive and crowd-surf, sit on top of a friend’s shoulders, party in the mosh pit, and other things that are physically rigorous. With just a little clumsiness, any attendee is just a stumble away from breaking an arm, leg, or another bone, and getting seriously injured. Employees, such as security guards, are just as susceptible to get injured from careless people in the crowd as attendees are.
What happens if someone at your festival breaks their arm or leg? If an employee were to suffer from a broken limb, you’ll want to be covered with workers’ compensation to avoid paying for the medical costs alone. If a festival attendee breaks a limb, general liability Insurance will cover you if you’re deemed liable for the costs.
Stab Wounds
The great thing about these festivals is that they bring many different people from all walks of life. Unfortunately, among those different types of people, you never know who will show up with dangerous intentions on their mind. Security checks aren’t guaranteed, nor are they always thorough, which means people can easily bring weapons into these venues, in their bag or concealed in their pocket.
If a festival-goer suffers from a stabbing incident, it could be fatal for them and critical for you, as the festival owner. General liability insurance will cover you for the costs of keeping them in intensive care. Additionally, if you get sued, you’ll also be covered for associated legal fees under general liability insurance.
Drinking & Drug-Related Overdose
Oftentimes, festival attendees indulge in drinking and taking drugs in order to better enhance their festival experience. The drinking is usually excessive, and the drugs taken are usually illegal or non-prescription. Engaging in these activities can cause the consumer to be intoxicated, throw up, and/or pass out. Moreover, what tends to happen when someone at these festivals goes overboard with drinking or taking drugs, is that they’ll overdose on said drinks or drugs resulting in a trip to the hospital, and in some cases, the substance abuser ends up dead.
Substance abuse injuries happen all the time at music festivals. If it happens are yours, you’ll want general liability insurance to cover the costs that could be incurred from medical fees or lawsuits from festival-goers and/or their families.
How Entertainment Insurance Brokers Can Help
Injuries at music festivals happen all the time. Now that you know about some of the most common ones that can occur, you need to start thinking about getting coverage. Special event insurance will allow you to plan your event worry-free, and you can feel at ease knowing that experienced entertainment insurance brokers have you covered.
Getting ready to host a festival or another entertainment-related event? Make sure you have coverage for anything and everything that could possibly go wrong. Contact MFE Insurance online or call (213) 266-7990 today to get started with your special event insurance policy.