Coronavirus (COVID-19) FAQs for the Entertainment & Media Industry

Standard business insurance policies are designed to cover traditional, physical damage risks, such as fire, and are therefore are unlikely to provide cover for the impact of global pandemics like COVID-19, on account of the lack of a physical damage ‘trigger’ to the policy. This includes forced closure by the authorities.

In some instances businesses may have chosen to purchase additional cover specifically for business interruption losses arising from notifiable or infectious diseases. This may carry some element of cover, however this is usually restricted to an inner limit, plus a shorter indemnity period (e.g. three months) than the rest of the policy, and some of these policies will specifically list the diseases covered.

In all cases, talk to your Gallagher team about this before taking or making the decision to cancel if you want to be certain of the policy response to these matters.

If you do not have a Communicable Disease Exclusion in the policy wording then there is every chance that this cause of loss will be covered, however there are several other considerations to be cognisant of to comply with the policy.

In all cases, wherever possible it’s best to adopt an attitude of ‘the show must go on’ as the saying goes and insurers will want to help you achieve that, in lieu of outright cancellation. Where cover permits, the policy should respond to this by covering the cost of efforts incurred to avoid cancellation, by rescheduling the show, provided the cost does not exceed the effect of cancellation itself or breach the policy sum insured.

If the policy covers COVID-19 then the cost of rescheduling should be compensated by insurers subject to policy terms and conditions, however if not then unfortunately the costs are likely to fall to you.

Always check with the Gallagher team first as there may be other avenues to explore in your suite of insurances to attempt to mitigate this cost.

This is likely to be less than straightforward and your Gallagher team will exert great efforts to maintain the coverage in place when adding new events. However, but it is very likely that insurers will now apply new and more restrictive terms to the new events in light of the catastrophic effects of this COVID-19 outbreak.

In short, no. The quotation is subject to acceptance on both sides (by both the insurer and the client) when giving instructions to bind cover and insurers will not agree to cover COVID-19 - the COVID-19 outbreak is a pre-existing circumstance, and therefore would be excluded.

We are not aware of any cover in the market for COVID-19, however, this is a fluid situation and Communicable Disease coverage, in some form, may exist. Always check the current status of this with your Gallagher team.

At all times, it is best to share as much information as you can with your Gallagher team. They can assist you and make assessments of what is pertinent and impactful to the insurer and where they can assist you with policy coverage response.

Some of these may be cancellable as they are unrequired in the event of cancellation, such as event specific Public Liability insurance, Employers Liability for casual staff, All Risks cover, Cash in Transit, Motor Hire and so on.

Speak to your Gallagher team about mitigating the expense of these insurances and at all times refer to the policy wording.

If engaging in the shoot would contravene government edicts on social distancing you should postpone this activity until further notice.

Check with your Gallagher team as to the provisions in your policy on Communicable Disease, but it is unlikely there will be cover for COVID-19 losses, so outright cancellation is to be avoided wherever possible.

Creatives are rightly being creative and this has led to a host of remotely directed “self-shoots” and animation as popular ways to go in this situation. You still require full cover and there are certain actions that Production need to consider when artists undertake self-shoots:

Households – based on current social distancing edicts only those in the artist’s household can undertake the filming, no one from outside the household can enter the artist’s property.

Equipment – If equipment is being provided to the artist, it would need to be dropped at the artists door and the artist/their household would need to be able to get the equipment in the property whilst the equipment outside is monitored (i.e. by another member of the household) & not left unattended.

Errors & Omissions – To avoid any copyright issues the artist should ensure that no artwork or logos appear in shot otherwise Production may be required to blur in-post as they will need to follow standard copyright processes.

We recommend that you follow all government edicts when arranging overseas travel. However, if you can engage with a local facility company and to which there is no local government restrictions on their movements, you may proceed, but as always, check with your Gallagher broking team, to ensure that cover is in place.

At this moment in time the insurers that are offering the primary production policy are not offering any buy-back option in respect of COVID-19. We are in talks with other markets for a buy back option but at this moment in time there is no appetite. We hope that this will change once the lock down has be eased and productions are back working. Any buy back option would only be for a sublimit not the full limit of the production.

Any new FUTI policy will have a COVID-19 exclusion however depending on the Country and your location some FUTI Insurers can offer an extension in cover for medical expenses only and this may incur a small additional premium. Insurers are not offering any travel cancellation or delay costs for claims resulting from COVID-19 at this time.

Provided that there are no specific Pandemic/COVID-19 exclusions within your travel insurance policy, any medical expenses/costs incurred as a result of contracting COVID-19 whilst outside normal country of residence/domicile should be covered subject to policy terms and conditions. It is highly recommended that any person that starts to display symptoms contact the Travel Insurance Policy Medical Emergency Assistance Company immediately.

In the event of cancellation there it is best to speak with your Gallagher team to get a full appraisal of the policy coverage and each insurer’s claims response. This landscape is constantly moving and it’s important to maintain lines of communication with the team as regards these matters.

If your Personal Accident policy only covers benefits as a result of accident then the policy should respond as normal.

You may have extension to include sickness, and subject to the policy terms not excluding Pandemic/COVID-19, then there could be cover for Temporary Total Disablement (weekly benefits) should a person be temporarily unable to work in their normal capacity over and above any policy deferment period.

Businesses must act prudently to protect premises, assets and stock. Unattended locations offer an increased risk to the elements and theft.

Many policies have an unoccupied premises condition, which require you to notify insurers, carry out certain precautions and may also reduce their cover.

If a business needs to close premises for a prolonged period of time (normally 30 days or more) this may also affect the policy.

In all cases, please call your Gallagher team for further advice and who can help you review your current risk management controls.

We expect insurers to understand that businesses will want to inform and reassure customers on social media so hope that this will not affect cover subject to the policy’s full terms and conditions. However, businesses must consider carefully what they are posting to ensure they do not accidentally increase the risk to their business, which may give insurers a reason to decline any claims which might otherwise potentially have been covered, e.g. burglary or arson.

If employees cannot access full company systems they could potentially start to use unsecured systems and trigger cyber breaches. Similarly the reduction in face-to-face contact increases exposure to cyber-scams.

Businesses should undertake risk assessments for employees who are home working. Gallagher’s risk management team can assist so please call your Gallagher team.

This is a fast moving situation but it is likely that any policies purchased now will exclude disease exposures like COVID-19. However, the peril that cyber policies are insuring is third party cyber-attacks and not COVID-19, so cover may still be available.

COVID-19 is being used by fraudsters. Be careful with anything related to COVID-19: emails, attachments, any social media, texts on your phone, anything. There will be a number of scams related to this, so there is an increased risk currently.

The Health and Safety Executive has published advice on your responsibilities as an employer on its website.

Employers’ liability policies will respond to the extent that the policy will defend the policyholder if a claim is brought. Insurers may well use the no negligence argument to dispute the claim but subject to the policy’s specific terms and conditions and the precise facts of the situation, would typically be expected to pay legal costs, and the compensation if found liable.