A security company in St. Petersburg wins the contract to staff a two-day music festival on the waterfront. The promoter expects tens of thousands of people, three stages, a beer garden and a VIP area, and wants sixty officers on the gates, the barricades and the bars. The company’s regular work is posts at office buildings and apartment communities, where the same officers see the same faces every night. A week before the event, the promoter’s insurance coordinator sends a list of requirements: higher limits than the company carries, the promoter, the venue and the city named as additional insureds, primary and noncontributory wording, a waiver of subrogation and an umbrella. The owner has to figure out whether his policy even covers this kind of work before he can say yes.
Event security is a different exposure from fixed-post work, and many security policies treat it that way. Crowds, alcohol, temporary staff and contracts written by promoters and venues all change the risk, and the insurance needs to be built for the work the company is actually doing on event day.
Why Events Are a Different Risk
At a fixed post, an officer works a known property under a stable routine. At an event, officers manage thousands of strangers in a short window, often in the dark, with alcohol involved and emotions running high. Crowd surges at gates and barricades, fights near the bars and the stage, ejections of intoxicated or aggressive patrons, bag checks and searches, lost children and medical emergencies all happen in the same afternoon.
Each of those situations can produce a claim. A patron who is pushed against a barricade, a guest who says an officer used too much force during an ejection, a fan injured when a crowd rushes a gate or a person who says a search went too far can all name the security company in a lawsuit, usually alongside the promoter and the venue. Underwriters know this, which is why many security policies ask specifically about event work, limit it or exclude certain kinds of events altogether.
Assault and Battery Coverage
The most important question for event work is how the policy handles assault and battery. Many general liability policies exclude it outright or cap it at a sublimit well below the main limit. For a security company, that exclusion can remove coverage for the claims most likely to arise at a crowded event, including allegations that an officer used excessive force while removing a patron or that the company failed to stop a fight between guests.
A security company doing event work needs to know whether assault and battery is covered, at what limit, and whether the coverage extends to claims that the company failed to prevent violence by others. If the policy carries a low sublimit, the promoter’s contract may require more than the policy can deliver. Our article on assault and battery coverage explains how these exclusions and sublimits work.
What Promoters and Venues Ask For
Promoters, venues, municipalities and event production companies almost always send insurance requirements with the contract, and they tend to be demanding. Common requests include higher per-occurrence and aggregate limits than the company normally carries, additional insured status for the promoter, venue owner, management company and sometimes the city or county, primary and noncontributory wording, a waiver of subrogation, an umbrella or excess layer, and proof of workers’ compensation.
These requests are reasonable, but the certificate can only show what the policy actually provides. If the policy does not include a blanket additional insured endorsement that applies to written contracts, the agent may need to add a specific endorsement for the event before a certificate can name the promoter. If the policy does not include primary and noncontributory wording or a waiver of subrogation, those terms cannot be listed on the certificate until the carrier agrees to add them. Starting this conversation when the contract arrives, rather than the day before the gates open, gives time to get the endorsements issued. Our guide on verifying a security company’s insurance shows how promoters and venues look at these certificates from the other side.
Temporary Staff and Workers’ Compensation
Events often require more officers than a company keeps on its regular schedule. Companies bring on part-time officers for the weekend, borrow staff from other agencies or use subcontractors. Each approach raises workers’ compensation questions. Temporary employees are still employees, and their payroll belongs on the company’s workers’ compensation policy. Officers supplied by another agency should be covered by that agency’s workers’ compensation, and the company should collect a certificate showing it before the event.
Payroll for events also needs to be reported accurately. A large event can add significant payroll in a short period, and it will show up at the annual audit. Companies with seasonal swings sometimes use pay-as-you-go workers’ compensation, which bases premium on actual payroll as it is paid. Florida’s licensing rules apply to temporary officers just as they do to regular staff, so every officer working the event should hold the appropriate license.
Alcohol at the Event
Most security companies do not sell alcohol, but alcohol is often the root of event incidents. Intoxicated patrons start fights, resist removal or are injured after being ejected. Claims may allege that security should have cut someone off, removed them sooner or watched them more closely after they left.
Liquor liability insurance belongs to whoever sells or serves the alcohol, usually the promoter, the venue or a licensed vendor. The security company should confirm that the alcohol vendor carries liquor liability and that the security contract does not quietly shift responsibility for alcohol service onto the security company. Officers should also have clear instructions about how to handle intoxicated patrons, how to document ejections and when to involve law enforcement or medical staff.
Contracts With Promoters
Event contracts frequently include indemnity clauses that make the security company responsible for claims arising from its work, and sometimes from the promoter’s own negligence. Contractual liability coverage in a general liability policy may respond to some indemnity obligations, but not necessarily to all of them, and a broad hold-harmless agreement can reach further than the insurance does.
Before signing, the company should read the indemnity, insurance and scope-of-work sections together. The scope should describe what security is and is not responsible for, such as gates and barricades but not medical response or crowd capacity decisions. Clear duties make it easier to defend a claim and harder for others to push responsibility onto the security company after the fact.
Limits and Umbrella Coverage
Large events bring large crowds, and a single serious incident can produce claims from many people at once. Promoters often require an umbrella or excess layer for that reason, and the security company should consider one even when the contract does not ask for it. The umbrella should sit over general liability, auto and employer’s liability, and the company should confirm that it follows the underlying policy’s treatment of assault and battery rather than excluding it again. Our overview of security guard insurance explains how the pieces fit together.
Worth Confirming With Your Agent
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Whether your policy covers event and crowd management work, and whether any event types are excluded
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How assault and battery is handled, and at what limit
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Whether you can name promoters, venues and municipalities as additional insureds with primary and noncontributory wording and a waiver of subrogation
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Whether temporary officers and subcontracted officers are covered for workers’ compensation
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Who carries liquor liability at the event, and whether your contract shifts alcohol risk to you
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Whether your umbrella covers assault and battery and sits over all of your primary policies
This article is general information and is not legal advice.
Talk to Prestige Insurance Group
Prestige Insurance Group works with Florida security companies that staff festivals, concerts, sporting events and private functions, and we help them line up the coverage and endorsements promoters and venues require. If an event contract is on your desk, send it to us with your current policy and we will tell you what needs to change before you sign.
Call the office nearest you. Se habla español.
Orlando: 407-993-2331
Miami: 305-969-8776
Stuart: 772-247-3788
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