In 1997 the Society extended its third party liability insurance for cover in respect of official Society events to include field work carried out by members as part of their personal activities. It was expected that this would cover the insurance obligations which accompany applications for collecting and recording permits in many cases. The Society has received a number of queries regarding the scope of the cover provided and this notice will hopefully clarify the position.
At events arranged by the Society, public liability insurance is in place which covers injury and damage to third parties arising from the activities of members and guests. Events include both field meetings and indoor events such as workshops and exhibitions. The cover provided is £10,000,000. It is important that permits for field meetings are issued in the name of the Society or to an individual on behalf of the Society, not in the name of the leader of the meeting.
The Society’s insurance policy also provides £10,000,000 of public liability insurance to individual members of the Society in respect of their own field work and entomological research which is not part of a Society activity, providing this is undertaken in the United Kingdom.
We must emphasise that the cover referred to above is Public Liability Insurance and does not include Professional Indemnity, for which separate arrangements have to be made.
Entomologists contemplating joining the Society may consider this Public Liability Insurance cover to be an important additional benefit to their membership.
BENHS MEMBERS ONLY: Click here to request a PDF copy of the BENHS Public Liability Insurance Schedule.