Less than one in ten public events in Romania are insured to cover potential compensations for the participants in case of incidents, local insurer estimates.

Thousands of public events are organized in Romania every year, from sports contests and events to concerts, shows, and music and film festivals for which summer is the peak season.

Although this kind of events come with some risks for the safety of the participants, staff, and equipment, less than 10% of the public events in Romania are insured, according to James Grindley, CEO of local insurance company CertAsig.

The sports competitions for amateurs are some of the events most exposed to potential risks. These events have become increasingly popular in Romania, with dozens of bicycle/MTB, running, triathlon, water rafting, horseback riding, swimming, martial arts, and other such competitions being organized every year. Some of the potential risks for this kind of events include event cancellation due to bad weather conditions or other unforeseen circumstances, damages to the location and equipment, or even injuries suffered by participants.

“Most of the events organized in other European countries or in the United States are insured. Not only the sports ones but any other kind of public event: concerts, festivals, shows, fairs, etc. I estimate that over 90% of the events in Romania have no insurance, for organizers or participants, which means that the organizers are simply forcing their luck,” James Grindley said.

In his opinion, as a fist step, the public institutions should be forced to insure the events they organize.

However, the number of insured events is starting to grow in Romania, as the various incidents that occurred in the past years made organizers take the responsibility towards participants more seriously, Grindley said.

CertAsig has insured several events in Romania, such as the Depeche Mode concert, Roger Waters’ The Wall, The Mission and Liberty Parade music events, the Europa League final in Bucharest (in 2012), the Human Body exhibition (in 2013), and the Cirque du Soleil shows in Bucharest.

Romania was shaken by a major tragic incident at an event last year, when a fire burned down the Colectiv club in Bucharest during a rock concert. 64 people lost their lives after this fire.

Looking back at 2015: Colectiv, the Romanian tragedy that has changed laws and people

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com