Our insurers accept that all clubs will at times have a minority of non-insured people out with them.
Any non-members participating in club activities are treated as third parties. Therefore, if they get injured as a result of negligence on the part of your club or its members, they can sue for damages and your club / members will be indemnified through the MI’s Civil Liability policy. If they get injured through no fault or negligence of yours (eg if they trip over something) they have no grounds to sue you and they do not have MI Personal Accident cover, as they have not paid membership fee / insurance.
It’s a good idea to make it clear to non-members that they may participate in your activities, but to keep things simple say that they are not covered by insurance. Some clubs have a policy that new people can come out twice before they are required to join.
Yes – you are covered for all mountaineering activities, whether or not you are with your club. This does of course exclude professional risk - for example if you were earning money as a professional leader or guide.
The MI's Personal Accident policy only covers permanent disability, it does not provide payment for recoverable injuries such as this. However if the casualty can prove negligence on the part of another person(s) she could sue, and providing that party is insured, the MI Civil Liability insurance would provide an indemnity if necessary. Please note that all incidents must be reported to the insurers within 21 days.
Your MI insurance applies worldwide, but the type of cover does not change. MI insurance is not travel insurance – it doesn’t cover you for cancellation of your trip due to illness, loss of baggage or passport, medical expenses etc. A standard travel policy would provide much of this, but all aspects of that cover would be void if walking and climbing are not covered by the policy.
Therefore it is recommended that you take out specialist travel and activity insurance that will give you cover for your activities, and also for search and rescue. There is no charge for mountain rescue services in Ireland and Great Britain, but in many other countries you will be charged, for example a helicopter rescue and hospital treatment in France could cost €30,000.
MI members are entitled to avail of the BMC’s travel and activity policies (you don’t need to become a BMC member). The BMC offer five levels of cover tailored to the needs of mountaineers. To get BMC insurance you should contact the BMC directly on 0044 870 010 4878 or do it through their website – www.thebmc.co.uk.
Yes - all events organised by insured clubs, from training courses to your annual barbecue, are covered by your Civil Liability policy. Even though there is money involved here, the participants are not paying you to provide the walk, so it is covered. On a completely different note, the MI cautions the use of the mountains for fundraising purposes, on safety and environmental grounds.
Yes – it’s not optional, however the good news is that with Personal Accident cover you can have as many policies as you want and claim on them all. This is not the case with most other types of insurance.
Yes. Tragically, in recent years there have been a number of member fatalities while hillwalking. Also, there are a small number of outstanding claims related to catastrophic injuries.
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