[hackerspaces] Insurance for makerspace

[Shirley Hicks]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Shirley Hicks <redmtnadmin at redmountainmakers.org>
> Subject: Re: [hackerspaces] Insurance for makerspace
> Date: June 11, 2014 9:36:15 AM EDT
> To: Hackerspaces General Discussion List <discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org>
> 
> All three of new Alabama makerspaces ended up working through the same commercial broker in Birmingham, Blake Halveston of McGriff, Seibels & WIlliams (http://www.mcgriff.com/). A friend of mine in the local insurance business recommended this broker as having a lot of experience with insurance policies for non-profits. Further, he found an underwriter, Arch Specialties (http://www.archcapgroup.com/Insurance/Regions/United-States), who has become familiar with makerspaces and their requirements within the United States. We were able to get three policies for the individual makerspaces written in pretty quick succession. 
> 
> My recommendations would be to pass along the name of this underwriter to the _commercial_ broker with whom you are working; they now have sufficient experience with quoting makerspace insurance that they can walk through the process quickly. They are also tracking their claims records with makerspaces, and are starting to have a very good grip on the risk factors. McGriff, Siebels & Williams has offices across the United States.
> 
> Shirley Hicks
> Board member-at-large
> Red Mountain Makers
> 5502 1st Avenue North
> Birmingham, AL 35212
> 
> Email: redmtnadm at redmountainmakers.org
> www.redmountainmakers.org
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Home email: shirley at velochicdesign.com
> 
> 
> On Jun 2, 2014, at 9:28 AM, Bert Hartmann <berthartm at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Nick, I have a recommendation for a company a few of us in NJ are using. I'll send it to you off list.
>> 
>> 
>> On Sat, May 31, 2014 at 11:36 PM, Bob Bownes <bownes at gmail.com> wrote:
>> We got ours under teh 'club' heading, were very upfront about what we do, gave them a full list of equipment, and pointed out we got a sawstop table saw just for the liability aspect. When they heard about the sawstop, they were pretty thrilled.  We also gave them the outline for our safety programs. 
>> 
>> 
>> Bob
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Sat, May 31, 2014 at 10:28 PM, Ben Brown <ben at generik.ca> wrote:
>> We had some initial issues as well, but once one of the insurance companies figured out how to classify us (they went with something like 'private club workshop', we were flying. We didn't keep them in the dark about what we did, and as a result they even made sure our liability insurance covered events that we run outside of our space (like Mini Maker Faire). 
>> 
>> We upped our coverage when adding new big-ticket items, and also when we moved into our new space about 1.5 years ago, still no problems. Of course, we've never had to make a claim so far either. That said, we assume that any colossal fuckup that gets lawyers involved would likely close our doors anyway, regardless of how the insurance lands.
>> 
>> Not sure how different it is in the US as opposed to Canada, but they may have an easier time wrapping their head around it if you refer to your space as a club or private workshop as opposed to a hackerspace/makerspace. Don't leave out exactly what activities are going on though.
>> 
>> Good luck,
>> Ben
>> 
>> 
>> On 5/31/2014 7:55 PM, Nick Pollara wrote:
>>> I am setting up a makerspace in NJ and I am having trouble getting g insurance. Does anyone have a recommendation?
>>> 
>>> If this is a repeat question I apologize, but I have not figured out to access the archives.
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> 
>>> Nicolas Pollara
>>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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