Event Risk Management
Risk management is the process of managing the uncertainties of an organization’s operations in order to minimize adverse outcomes and optimize positive outcomes. At Virginia Tech, the Office of Risk Management works to accomplish this by protecting human health and the campus environment and by promoting appropriate risk transfer and financing related to campus events.
Event Risk Management Best Practices
The university encourages University Scheduling Offices, University Sponsors and Event Organizers (who may be the same) to think about the risks that they are allowing and assuming and to make sure they are comfortable with them. Third parties, including RSOs and UCSOs, will be held accountable for damage or injury caused due to their event, including those caused by vendors/performers, etc. There are a few common ways that event risk can be managed.
Sometimes, when you really think about it, the uncertainty of an activity is more than you or your organization are willing to accept. If you are a university department or unit, the activity may be outside the risk appetite of the university as a whole. Is there a less risky activity that can be substituted?
Much of Policy 5000 is geared towards reducing event risk by keeping people safe and events compliant with rules and regulations. As you plan your event or oversee events in your space, think about if there are other ways that you want to reduce operational risks—just because there aren’t university requirements doesn’t mean that there aren’t ways to manage those uncertainties to make your event more successful.
Contracting
One of the best ways to manage risks related to events is to require any party providing goods or services (including performances) have a contract with your organization. Contracts outline expectations and responsibilities of both parties, and can be helpful whether or not there is payment going from one party to another.
Insurance
Another way to try to transfer risk is to require all parties have insurance, though it is most effective to require insurance within the terms of a contract. Regardless of who is assuming risk for a particular event (the university, a student organization, or another third party), the university requires anyone who is delivering goods or services on campus to carry minimum insurance.
Insurance doesn’t reduce risks, but they will help cover any expenses related to claims that are made against the organization is someone (or something) were to get injured or damaged. Otherwise, the party that is responsible for the injury or damage will be held financially responsible.
Individual or Organizational Risk Acknowledgments
Have you ever been scuba diving? Been on a plane? Gone to a gym? Certain activities almost always require participants to sign a risk acknowledgment or waiver. This is typically to make sure that the participant understands the risks involved, and affirms that those are risks that they are willing to take.
Depending on the type of event and the location, the University Scheduling Office or University Sponsor may decide that they want individual participants to sign a risk acknowledgment, or that they want the organization they participate in to sign a risk acknowledgment. Here are some examples:
- Rec Sports, as a University Scheduling Office, may require anyone who enters a gym space to sign a waiver, regardless of whether they are there for an event.
- Rec Sports, as the University Sponsor, may require other universities who are participating in a Club Cross Country Meet to sign a risk acknowledgment for their students.
- Moss Arts Center, as a Scheduling Office, may require an RSO who is hosting a dance competition in their space to collect risk acknowledgments from the other participating organizations.
Contact your University Scheduling Office, University Sponsor, or the Office of Risk Management for more information.
Event Insurance
The university requires insurance of the following groups:
- third parties holding events on campus, including UCSOs and RSOs.
- Vendors providing goods or services for events on campus, including those with no payment.
Typically, outside entities including third parties, UCSOs, RSOs, and affiliates are required to have insurance for on-campus events or if they are providing goods and/or services for an event on university Real Property.
Virginia Tech provides insurance for events hosted by the university or a USLP.
For organizations that do not maintain standing insurance, a Tenants' and Users' Liability Insurance Policy (TULIP) can be procured for events held at Virginia Tech. Please click here to be taken to the TULIP vendor, though you can use another vendor to get this type of insurance. Note that if you purchase a TULIP, VT’s Office of Risk Management is automatically provided evidence of the coverage purchased. Questions about this process can be directed to the Office of Risk Management.
If you are evaluating whether or not TULIP would be appropriate for your event, please reference the list of ineligible activities.
For RSOs and UCSOs that do not maintain standing insurance, and for which a TULIP cannot reasonably be purchased (due to the inclusion of an ineligible activity), the event sponsor may be able to sign an indemnification agreement pursuant to Policy 5000 in lieu of insurance. Other third parties are required to maintain insurance.
Please be aware that, in the event of injury to persons or damage to university property, the Event Sponsor (including RSOs, UCSOs, and ECSOs) may be held financially responsible for any costs incurred by the university or other parties as a result of the event pursuant to the indemnification agreement.