TCAA committee has investigated the insurance issue via several avenues to date:

· Blanket cover insurance deal for all members

· Endorsement of members onto the existing TCAA liability cover

· Affiliation through other organizations on an individual basis

· As part of an overall program of risk management involving accreditation, code/s of conduct and systematic risk management policy.

At present, committee have been requested to submit ideas towards the requirement of member accreditation through TCAA to enable an insurance premium to be quoted.

A low cost premium has been mooted pending the Insuring Body’s acceptance of TCAA accreditation conditions for its members. It has been suggested by the broker that this will enable best deal for our members.

TCAA has been active in recommending coach accreditation through AKWF as a means to securing insurance. Members feedback suggests that this has not reduced premiums or even set a standard for one. There are more important rationale for belonging to AKWF than securing reasonable insurance deals.

There is also awareness that the Insuring Body will accept alternative proposals so long as an overall policy of risk management is adopted and put in place.

This seems to be the avenue that has the greatest promise for the majority of our members but it will require the greatest cooperation as it will necessarily increase regulation of the membership in terms of meeting accreditation standards etc.

The dilemma for TCAA is the many hats that Tai Chi people represent and finding an insurance solution that is suitable to the majority if not all its prospective membership.

Personally, I think that we all have to recognise that the days of cheap and easy to come by insurance are well and truly behind us.

Insurance companies themselves have been thoroughly shaken up since the disaster of Sept. 11, 2002 and are no longer prepared to insure an organisation on the basis of payment alone. They are increasingly requiring risk management policy to be installed ahead of providing a reasonable premium quote. (They realise that they increase their own level of risk to pay out if they don’t.)

Hence more and more companies and their brokers are demanding the regulation of the various "risky facets" of our organisation/s within its entire activity range.

That is it is not just injury from the act of doing Tai Chi that has to be risk managed or regulated, all activities of an organisation carry an element of risk.

The task is to systematically identify these. This includes: securing the finances, the membership, interactions with public, the property, the personnel involved from criminal, health or environmental harms whilst engaging in the activities of the organisation.

Any of these or others, may involve litigation. And any event of such may take up to 6 years to be brought to court and even longer to resolve if it is particularly serious.

Measures that may be required in such Risk Management Policy might include: keeping appropriate and meticulous records; ensuring qualified personnel; attention to the laws of the land in respect of -discrimination, health, safety and environmental issues and use of waivers.

What I wanted to achieve with this report was to highlight our responsibilities and the need for your backing by cooperation in quickly accepting this new position that is currently being promoted in wider community circles. I have tried to pave the way to understanding the inevitability of this position.

Doing so will ensure that we of TCAA will be demonstrating that our group is doing all that it can to ensure our members’ safety : this and nothing less is our best insurance prospect and therefore ensures our long term viability.

On Wed 4^th December 2002, I attended a seminar sponsored by the Latrobe Council and Municipal Association of Vic, at Kernot Hall in Morwell. (See correspondence for TCCLV Inc. Invitation/information.)

Apart from being well attended which shows the current concerns regarding insuring non- profit organizations, it proved to be enlightening in the following brief aspects:

· Every aspect of an organization’s activities carries with it an element of risk.

· This includes securing the finances, the membership, interactions with the public, the property, the personnel involved from criminal or health or environmental harms whilst engaging in the normal Organisation/Club/School activity.

· Any of these and others may involve litigation. Any event of such may take 6 years to be brought to court and even longer to resolve if it is particularly serious.

· Thus insurance cover is only one aspect of managing Risk to the Organisation and its membership. Indeed it is becoming more evident that Insurers are now requiring even more of organisations than just putting up their money. They are managing their own risk by demanding that org.’s set up systems which help to disperse risk to liability.

· Such measures which may be undertaken are : regulating all activities , keeping adequate records, ensuring qualified persons for the position, attention to laws of the land regarding discrimination, health, safety and environmental issues, and also the use of waivers.

What was really brought home was extent of our responsibility, but it was also highlighted that in the end, liability had to be balanced by the likelihood of injury and that is where having a risk management policy becomes a:

"powerful way to demonstrate that a ……group has done all that it can to ensure safety as well as the group’s long term viability."

In view of the connection between ‘risk management’ and current investigations , it is recommended that TCAA Inc. continue to review the matters of accreditation and insurance as part of an overall strategy of managing risk to TCAA, and also to encourage our members to investigate and take actions to minimize risk as well.

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