Report: Cheaper Insurance for Your School

Disclaimer: This article is a report. It shall not be construed that the TCAA recommends or not recommend any action. TCAA disclaim any responsibility for any difficulty or losses that may be incurred if any of the actions are taken up because it is up to the persons involved to work out their requirements and assess their own risks.

Why insure?

Insurance is to protect you in the event of the unexpected. The categories of protection available against the unexpected are:

Player Accident. A learner in your class may be accidentally injured while practising.

Public Liability. teacher or a student may accidentally injure a bystander.

Professional Indemnity. An injured student may accuse the teacher of causing the injury due to poor teaching or inadequate supervision.

If you hire premises to teach in, the owner may require you to show that you have at least the Public Liability insurance. Some may require all three categories.

But Tai Chi is not likely to have injuries to students and bystanders?

But consider this: If you are teaching a lot of people in poor health, could and would any one of them accuse you of worsening their health, even when you have been ever so careful and caring? Your call, your risk. Do you teach it as a martial art, with push hands and training to punch and kick? You would be regarded as teaching Kung Fu, and people tend equate that with possible injuries.

Why is there a need for cheaper insurance?

Until recently, there were very few (probably only one fully qualified) sports insurers prepared to cover martial arts. Their assessment of the risks were widely varying between schools and between types of martial arts. The premium for a school with a student population of 25 or less rose from $400+ to $900+ in 2004.

This may have forced many schools to close or continue without insurance.

What alternatives are there?

AKWF Approach. Australian Kungfu and Wushu Federation (AKWF) has made an arrangement with an insurer (QBE) where AKWF members and affiliated associations’ members who are NCAS accredited through the AKWF as Instructors may be covered at a fraction of the premium compared with the insurance if taken out individually. In a recent quotation from the AKWF scheme to one eligible school, the premium is $900, for a school of 123 insured.

If you are eligible, ie NCAS accreditation as an instructor through AKWF, you can provide the AKWF insurance information asked for in this Newsletter to obtain a quote and more details.

IMA Alliance Approach. International Martial Art Alliance (IMA) has an arrangement with an insurance broker (maybe more than one) whereby a member of the IMA will be able to get insurance cover at a fraction of the premium if the insurance were to be taken out individually. The membership fee to the IMA for a member of TCAA is $75 (as opposed to $150 if you were to join individually). The insurance premium for a school with up to 25 students is about $560 for the fixed period 1^st March 05 to 1^st March 06. (Caution: Part period cover does not get pro-rata reduction.)

For more information and contact details to ask about IMA membership and get an insurance quotation, go to http://www.martialartalliance.com/html/services-insurance.htm.

If this package is for you, you can contact the IMA as per its website. In your application for IMA membership (application form from http://www.martialartalliance.com/html/members.htm), state that you are a member of the Tai Chi Association of Australia whose member number is 702 (for 2005/2006) to qualify for "full" membership for a fee of $75.

Amalgamate small schools. Small schools (less than 25 students) may join up to form a "club" or a larger school with multiple training sites. For example, if each teacher has only 10 students, and 3 teachers form a "club", the club may be insured for say $750 (estimate) for 30 students. This means that each teacher will pay $750 divide by 30 per student (=$25), ie $250 for 10 students. This compares favourably with $560 if insured separately.

However, this arrangement needs cooperation and trust between member teachers of this club, and they have to find each other first. The TCAA is prepare to put people in touch with each other if interested teachers email info@taichiaustralia.com or write to TCAA at the current official address, stating your intention, giving your name, your suburb, the surrounding suburbs, and contact details.

It should be noted that whilst TCAA may assist by putting people in touch, TCAA disclaim any responsibility for any difficulty or loss that may occur because it is up to the persons involved to work out their relationships and assess their own risks.

2 April 2005
TCAA Committee

 

 

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