General Liability

The Commonwealth’s insurance program for general liability provides coverage for the defense of the Commonwealth and its employees; this is handled by the Office of the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia.  The program provides $2,000,000 per occurrence liability coverage as set forth in Section 2.2-1837 of the CODE OF VIRGINIA, which provides that a self-insurance program may provide protection against liability imposed by law for damages resulting from any claim made against any department, agency, institution, board, commission, officer, agent, or employee thereof for acts or omissions of any nature while acting in an authorized governmental or proprietary capacity and in the course and scope of employment or authorization…  This plan provides coverage for those officially representing Virginia Tech, whether full time, part time, paid or volunteer.  All coverage for professional liability concerns are covered under this policy as well.  Violations of the law or willful acts outside of the employee’s or documented volunteer’s scope of duties are not covered.  Virginia Tech faculty and staff can do the following to reduce the University’s exposure:

• Planning for the Best and the Worst
• Exercise professional care when planning and executing an event or project.
• Anticipate mishaps and take appropriate precautions.
• Quickly report any incident to the Office of Risk Management.
• Document duties, responsibilities and boundaries.

Virginia Tech provides liability coverage to documented University volunteers acting as agents for the University.  The coverage is for liability and not for injury to the volunteer.  Each volunteer should verify that they have health insurance.  If a volunteer is injured, then he/she should file the injury with their personal health insurance carrier.

A volunteer is defined as a non-paid person who performs a prescribed and documented university function or responsibility that has been approved by the department head.  The casual, non-employee who may watch the office telephone for a few minutes is not considered a volunteer.  There should be no compensation, per se, for the voluntary work.

Accident/incident reports are not required for minor injuries such as scrapes, bruises, sprains, etc.  The Accident/Incident report is required for serious illnesses, significant behavioral problems or accidents involving injuries like fractured bones, chipped or broken teeth, extensive lacerations involving sutures, falls involving unconsciousness, dislocations, incidents involving water which require resuscitation, or any injury requiring medical attention, a hospital stay or ambulance response.  If the report is completed, a copy should be e-mailed to the Office of Risk Management as soon as possible.  If any additional information is needed, you will be contacted by the Commonwealth of Virginia Office of Risk Management.