If you are running a craft business, insurance is a requirement. As craft fairs are not really that high risk the premiums should not be too high but accidents do happen, so please make sure you are covered.
The craft person
If you are making and then selling your work at craft or other fairs, you will need to consider both public and product liability insurance. As well as other insurance to protect your business.
You will want to be covered for things like, damage and loss, legal costs, expenses etc. Read the small print as an insurer will not cover you for everything.
You can also get insurance cover for your stock, your stands, lighting, tables, chairs or other items used at a fair.
Cover can be purchased against losses due to the abandonment, curtailment or postponement of a fair.
You should also look at cover for equipment and stock at you own home.
The Event Organiser
As an event organiser you need to check that your exhibitors are insured and that the venue is insured. It is a good idea be make sure that adequately trained staff are made available to help incase of accidents or injury.
You may be asked to prove you have adequate public liability insurance before an event can take place by either the police, a local authority, landowner, venues or other interested parties. You should always be insured again injury or accident, either near or on the site as a result of erection or removal of event signs. Chances are you will need to be covered by at least £5m public liability insurance in case your sign is a contributing factor in a vehicle accident.
Your insurance policy should cover you for running multiple events. The more you run the more expensive it will be but if you run a lot the cost per event will be lower.
Insurance is all about risk. One of your jobs as an event organiser will be to assess the risk associated with running your event. It may well be a condition of your policy to have a written risk assessment. If you do not do this the insurer may not pay out if an accident occurs.
If you are employing staff you will also need to get employers liability cover. The cost will increase based on the number of people employed at an event, 0 to 10, 11 to 20 or 21 to 50 for example. Don't forget that this is not only for paid staff, you need to include all volunteers too.
