Red card for underinsurance of broadcast equipment

Travelling to Germany to film the World Cup can be an expensive trip if you have not sorted out your insurance beforehand.
With many cameramen, sound engineers and editors owning equipment averaging £50K, Rebecca Dalgetty, team leader of Aon’s InFocus: Entertainment and Media, provides top tips for world cup film crew to protect their assets, and themselves, from the risks that comes with the job:

• Value your equipment - Firstly, calculate the actual value of all your kit, ensuring you have included the value and cost of replacement. For example, if your kit gets lost or stolen abroad, you need to make certain that your not underinsured.
• Overseas cover - If you are only covered for the UK, you will need to take out an extension for your time in Germany, otherwise any claim made abroad will not be valid.
• Employers liability and public liability risks - Talk to your employer to see if you are covered under their liability policy. If you are responsible for employees and freelancers, make sure you have cover for them should any property be damaged or third parties injured for which you are held responsible
• Travel insurance - Take out a business travel insurance policy - as you do when going holiday - to pay for medical expenses if you fall ill or for cancellation.

Dalgetty said: "Freelancers are transporting, in some instances, their entire livelihood, so amid the football frenzy they need to think carefully about the consequences of damage to or loss of equipment when in Germany. One common problem is underinsurance, when the value of equipment is not accurately represented, to obtain a lower premium. Underinsuring your kit will result in a reduced payout in the case of a claim and is a false economy in the long term.
"Smaller companies face the same exposure as freelancers. If you owned £100,000 of equipment and only paid insurance for half of it, in the event of a loss, say fire or theft, you would only receive a proportion of your sum insured. Underinsurance could have devastating consequences on freelancers or smaller companies' bottom line."
(GB)