PTAs are part of your school, but they also are independent organizations. That’s why schools’ insurance policies frequently do not extend to the PTA. As a result, if you are a PTA leader, then you probably have to assume responsibility for the conduct of the group, as well as any liabilities you face within the business. To protect your operation in case of damaging events, you need liability insurance. What are some of the risks your liability coverage might cover?
There are numerous types of liability insurance available for PTA organizations. Bene-Marc Insurance can help you tailor your coverage in ways that will always apply to the events and people with whom your organization interacts. 
Understanding Liability Policies
Some insurers refer to liability insurance as at-fault insurance. That’s because it will insure you when you make a mistake, or neglect your duties, and the resulting damage is your fault. The policy will help the PTO compensate other parties injured as a result of accidents occurring at a PTA-sponsored event. It’s a benefit not only for the affected parties, but also for the PTA itself. The PTA can use this coverage to compensate others, rather than having to rely on their own financial reserves to do so.
Who do policies cover?
The appropriate liability policies must apply to multiple people within your PTA group. Yours can help you cover PTA leaders and volunteers who make mistakes. It can also apply to the losses you cause to almost any participant in a PTA event, including students, parents and even those whose premises and property you use to organize these events.
What can it cover?
Depending on the types of liability insurance you purchase, you will receive different benefits. Some of the assistance you might be able to receive includes:
- Bodily Injury Liability Coverage: If your event results in a participant getting hurt, then this coverage can compensate them for their medical costs.
- Property Damage Liability Coverage: In the event that you cause damage to another person’s belongings, then this coverage can pay them for the repairs or a replacement item. If you cause damage to rented or borrowed items, then you might need to ensure your coverage offers rented premises liability protection.
- Non-owned Auto Liability Coverage: If a PTA volunteer has to drive their own vehicle as a representative of the group, then a wreck might call the organization to account. This coverage can pay other drivers when the PTA driver’s mistakes make them at-fault for the wreck.
- Product Liability Coverage: When the PTA provides products to event participants, and those products cause someone else harm, then this coverage might help them out.
- Directors & Officers Coverage: Should a liability claim personally target PTA organizers, then this coverage can extend to them and protect them individually.
- Personal Injury Coverage: Someone might allege that the PTA committed libel, slander, copyright infringement, breach of privacy and similar personal acts against them. This coverage can help organizers respond to the claim appropriately. To expand on this coverage to print and online activities, you might also need social media liability coverage and advertising injury liability coverage which can apply to such acts within their relative spheres.
Additionally, one of the benefits included in most policies alongside the standard liability protection is legal assistance coverage. This means that if someone harmed in an accident sues the PTA for the accidents they cause, then the PTA itself can receive coverage for its own lawyers’ fees and defense costs. If a settlement winds up being awarded by the court, then the policy can also cover these costs.
All PTA organizers should get this coverage before the beginning of each school year. It’s important that you keep it active, up-to-date and relevant for your PTA’s needs. Let your Bene-Marc agent help you choose the appropriate amounts of coverage.