Get the strength of the Insurance Companies around, er...
T'was the turning of the year, and deep in the Bat Cave the phone rang. The BSD had been contacted by a local Grand Maison who regularly run a Garden Festival, and would like a dowsing presence.
So we all leapt into the Batmobile and made our plans. At this point I would like to thank
South Herefordshire Dowsers
, who worked with us. All was going well, until someone mentioned insurance.
Now insurance is a funny thing. As the blessed Joni sang…
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you (haven’t) got
Till the (opportunity’s) gone…
And the chances of triggering an insurance related interaction are legion, especially at public events. Whether it’s little Algernon doing a spot of freelance acupuncture with some pointy sticks, or a volunteer vigorously expressing her views on the foolishness of Brexit to someone heavily into body-art, there are many opportunities for legally stimulating scenarios.
You may recall that the BSD had organised an insurance deal with a local company that specialises in insuring therapists, so I asked the company about it. But it seems that things are in a state of change in the exciting world of insurance. Some of the concerns mentioned to me included…
- Outdoor events at ancient sites
- The situation - and the role - of volunteers, and helpers.
I am personally insured with this company
(as a consultant/dowser/feng-shui person/healer, etc)
and I think they are on the side of the angels. When I asked for an estimate of how much it would cost to have insurance for the kind of event to be undertaken by Malvern Dowsers at the Garden Festival, initial estimates were £200 (probably for the year) and upwards
.
Following discussion with the BSD’s expert on this matter, we eventually decided to go with the insurance cover provided by my (and my co-organiser’s) existing personal cover. This only works if…
Other people (eg volunteers) were …
(i) Under my personal direction, and
(ii) Actually followed my instructions
Now this runs contrary to the notion of trying to organise dowsers, being rather like trying to ‘herd cats’, and the scope for different legal interpretations is immense.
‘Professional’ dowsers, who do dowsing jobs for money, have to have personal insurance, and water dowsers can be involved in substantial financial arrangements. In some cases their ‘personal’ insurance has been extended to cover the members of a dowsing group.
But who is a member of a dowsing group. As far as I know, a local dowsing group is not a (corporate) ‘legal’ person, and there could be different interpretations of who is, or is not, a member of that group - A regular attendee ? A casual visitor ? Someone who has paid their subscription ? etc.
How has your group dealt with this issue ?