Complying with New USMS Sanction Requirements

RE: Complying with New USMS Sanction Requirements

Former Member — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:41:25 GMT

Dave, can you please provide a reference for this? I looked through cibbows.org and cibbows.net and did not find one instance of the word "insurance" anywhere. Maybe I missed it. In fact, on the cibbows.org home page there is a fine print section at the bottom that includes the following: If you are advertising that an event or an organization provides insurance for participation and/or members, the coverage really should be spelled out for them. I would hope that your events also spell out what insurance coverage, if any, is available to participants. The USMS accident and liability insurance programs are documented at www.usms.org/.../gto_ins_general.pdf. will bring that up with the board. website updates often lag a bit....

RE: Complying with New USMS Sanction Requirements

Former Member — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 13:21:43 GMT

Do you really mean self insure or do you mean you have purchased other insurance? The latter. Thanks for the clarification Rob.

RE: Complying with New USMS Sanction Requirements

Former Member — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 13:01:52 GMT

Chaos - i'm curious how this $1M policy requirement affects you (and others) for your event. Is it that you own a private/non-commercial craft and are required to have a $1M policy for it? From the moment USMS released the details of their new sanctioning policy, it was obvious to me that the one size fits all approach to "safety" wasn't ideal for many venues. Still, I felt an obligation to research what the cost would be for the events that I direct to comply so I could have some apples to apples numbers to compare. What I discovered in the process is that there is no way to comply since said policy isn't available.... period. We could say that all the boaters are volunteers, and thus only require them to produce an insurance policy... no limits specified. Instead, we chose to self insure. CIBBOWS members will be covered for all events, practices, gatherings, etc through their CIBBOWS membership.

RE: Complying with New USMS Sanction Requirements

Former Member — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:47:09 GMT

Chaos - i'm curious how this $1M policy requirement affects you (and others) for your event. Is it that you own a private/non-commercial craft and are required to have a $1M policy for it? The $1M policy requirement prevents OW swims such as 8 Bridges, Boston Light, Tampa Bay, Kingdom Swim, etc.... from using USMS for sanctioning or insurance.

RE: Complying with New USMS Sanction Requirements

Former Member — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:22:54 GMT

these rules will just lead to a bunch of semantic BS. hired boaters will become "reimbursed volunteers” etc.... the bottom line is: the $1,000,000 policy doesn’t exist except for commercial vessels. it is my belief that these rules were adopted before anyone actually researched this "little detail". Chaos - i'm curious how this $1M policy requirement affects you (and others) for your event. Is it that you own a private/non-commercial craft and are required to have a $1M policy for it?

RE: Complying with New USMS Sanction Requirements

Rob Copeland — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 09:14:02 GMT

we chose to self insure.Do you really mean self insure or do you mean you have purchased other insurance? Generally, self insurance means you have a large amount of money set aside to compensate for the potential future loss.

RE: Complying with New USMS Sanction Requirements

Former Member — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:02:29 GMT

The USMS Open Water Sanction Guidelines document provides some detail on this topic, too. The full document is here: www.usms.org/.../owgto_sanctions.pdf OW-102.3 WATERCRAFT AND OPERATORS INSURANCE COVERAGE OW-102.3.1 Motorized watercraft and/or watercraft operators working at the event shall conform to one of the following insurance requirements: A Hired Watercraft - All motorized watercraft hired for the event (by the host, participants, or others) must provide a certificate of insurance naming United States Masters Swimming, Inc., its LMSCs, officers, directors, employees, sponsors, trustees and event host as additional insured. The certificate shall be submitted to the referee at least 24 hours prior to the event. Liability coverage limits shall not be less than $1,000,000. B Operators Hired - All operators hired for the event (by the host, participants, or others) must provide a certificate of insurance naming United States Masters Swimming, Inc., its LMSCs, officers, directors, employees, sponsors, trustees and event host as additional insured. The certificate shall be submitted to the referee at least 24 hours prior to the event. Liability coverage limits shall not be less than $1,000,000. C Volunteered Watercraft - All motorized watercraft volunteered to the event must provide proof of insurance. The Proof of Insurance shall be submitted to the referee at least 24 hours prior to the event. OW-102.3.2 Exception to Article OW-102.3.1 A Certificates of insurance and proof of insurance are not required when motorized watercraft are owned or operated by or on behalf of Coast Guard, police, fire and rescue, or other government agencies. these rules will just lead to a bunch of semantic BS. hired boaters will become "reimbursed volunteers” etc.... the bottom line is: the $1,000,000 policy doesn’t exist except for commercial vessels. it is my belief that these rules were adopted before anyone actually researched this "little detail".

RE: Complying with New USMS Sanction Requirements

Rob Copeland — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:44:36 GMT

Sorry if the details of complying with the new sanctions are posted elsewhere. If they are let me know.Have you been in touch with the USMS Open Water Compliance Coordinator, Bill Roach? He should be able to answer any questions you have.

RE: Complying with New USMS Sanction Requirements

Former Member — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 09:04:02 GMT

RE: Complying with New USMS Sanction Requirements

Former Member — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 08:06:44 GMT

Have you been in touch with the USMS Open Water Compliance Coordinator, Bill Roach? He should be able to answer any questions you have. Rob - thanks, i did speak to Bill Roach when we went over our safety plan last week, but the insurance/additional insured issue continued to confuse me. I just called him up again to clarify this issue (based on your suggestion) and what I've learned is the following: Volunteer boaters need only submit proof that their boat is insured. Anybody that you HIRE who operates a boat must produce a certificate of additional insurance with a $1M+ policy listing USMS If you are part of the event (organizer, volunteer, etc.) and you HIRE a boat from a marina, for example, this is a gray area -- but it is likely the marina will need to produce that same certificate of insurance. The lesson here is: volunteer boats and government boats are the way to go. The downside is that we like to rent a boat for our own purposes during the event but we'll need to find a volunteer to help us out instead. To achieve that (meaning ensure we have a few dedicated boater volunteers around) what I'll probably do is offer a stipend. But, does this mean they're no longer volunteers and they're now hired contractors if I'm writing them each a check afterwards? No, so long as the stipend is not described as pay for services but described as (for example) reimbursement for gas, their lunch, etc. and it's clear that's the intention, then they are still considered volunteers and do not need to produce the cert. of liability.

RE: Complying with New USMS Sanction Requirements

Former Member — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 07:20:42 GMT

Has anyone done this yet or is anyone aware of the costs involved to a private boater to securing a cert of liability in this amount? If the new rules are too prohibitive to secure private boaters our approach will be to recruit as many paddlers as we possibly can to station around the course supported by the two government boats. Not the way we prefer to go but sounds like there are no other options. I have contacted several insurance providers. My understanding (after much research) is that a $1,000,000 liability policy is only available for commercial vessels. The insurance application will be enough of an obstacle that your boaters are likely to never get to an actual price quote. This was obviously not researched by USMS. Good luck getting answers; and if you do, please share them here.