Insurance advice pls

[MarthaAndMaud]

Hi,

Do any of the rescue centre members have volunteers who sometimes help out with the animals?

I have received a few emails offering a hand with the guinea pigs and the hedgehogs which would be really appreciated right now as we have so many.
However i'm confused if I have to hold public liability insurance or not.
The rescues are not businesses and neither are charities. Therefore, can people help out with the animals without the extra expense of me getting the insurance?
Surely it's the same as a friend coming round and giving me a hand....but maybe not....as the company who I currently hold my house contents with have said I can't have anybody near the animals.

Advice would be appreciated please.
Many thanks
Claire

 

[Sophie1307]

Hi,

This might be different, but I volunteer three times a week at a stable and the lady who owns it has to have insurance for us.
She said there was quite a lot of paperwork. It's either paperwork, or charge the volunteers to volunteer, which she didn't like the idea of and I think numbers would drop.
Might be different with small animals though?

Sophie

 

[louiser]

Yes I think you would need insurance, it's to cover yourself really incase anything happened to your volunteers as they could sue you for whatever happened.

Maybe you could get them to sign a waive to say if anything did happen it would be down to them and not you?! They enter at their own risk?

 

[sophiew (EAGPR)]

I believe you need insurance, because if anything happened accident-wise, you'd be liable for them.

I used to volunteer at a large rescue centre and we had to fill in paperwork to be covered by insurance, and also prove we were up to date with tetanus etc.

I'm not sure a written disclaimer that they signed would actually stand for anything in court

Sophie
x

 

[kerrielfletcher]

As someone who has worked in the volunteering field for many years, I would suggest you get advice either from your local Volunteer Centre/Volunteer Bureau (look in the phone book or Volunteering England website - in your area it would be Norwich and Norfolk Voluntary Services I think). Or, if they are not able to help, try the national body Volunteering England www.volunteering.org.uk Both of these agencies help organisations wanting to involve volunteers - I appreciate that you aren't really an organisation, but they should be able to give you good advice all the same.

I don't think (I'm not a lawyer, so do check this out) that you are legally obliged to have insurance BUT (a big 'but') you need to weigh up the risks about what could possibly go wrong (e.g. an accident or someone being bitten by one of your animals) and decide whether you want to risk being sued. Because if you don't have insurance, and your household insurance has said you wouldn't be covered, it could well be down to you personally. Again, I could be wrong, but I don't think a waiver is legally worth much - if people are on your premises, I believe you are responsible. Another risk you should seriously consider is whether you want to give people you don't know anything about access to your premises and your animals. It sounds as though you operate from your own home, so that makes this a particularly important question.

Have you considered contacting other small, independent rescue centres and asking how they handle these kinds of things?