Are you planning a fireworks display for your Carols or New Year’s Eve events? Do you know the financial consequences if something goes wrong?

Without going into the complexity of insurance layers, exclusions and excess policies we want to give you a straight heads-up:

THERE IS NO LIABILITY COVER FOR THE FIRST $1,000,000 (US DOLLARS) ON ANY LOSS AS A RESULT OF FIREWORKS DISPLAYS.

In other words, if something happens because of the fireworks, the SDA Church entity responsible for the fireworks would need to fund the first US$1m of any claim.

When planning any high-risk activity RMS would always encourage you to consider whether the reward outweighs the risk. And, if it is something that is really important to your ministry and mission, we encourage you to engage all the expert knowledge and assistance available.

To protect the reputation and resilience of your ministry and mission, here are our MUST do’s:

• Request that the fireworks operator add the official name of the relevant SDA Entity as an additional insured on their policy and they should provide you with a Certificate of Currency/Insurance as proof of this.
• If the fireworks operator is unable or unwilling to do this then seek approval from your entity CFO as to whether the SDA Church entity is comfortable carrying the risk of self-insuring US$1m for the proposed fireworks display.
• Prepare and document a risk assessment for the proposed fireworks display.
• Engage your region’s equivalent of the Rural Fire Service, State Emergency Service, St Johns Ambulance First-Aid, local council and police, etc to help you navigate and mitigate the risks of hosting a fireworks display.
• Notify RMS of your intention to host a fireworks display and provide us with a copy of your risk assessment and your CFO’s approval.
• Notify your neighbours of the approximate time of the fireworks displays so they can keep an eye on their pets/animals.

If you have any questions about fireworks displays and insurance, please contact us. We welcome your call.