Jim,
Justin Kuo is going to see if there is any interest. The main concern of our people asking is what insurance coverage do they have from becoming a Certified Official. There would be costs involved(about $100) and there would be benefits(you would be able to identify yourself to local authorities with a card).
The following information was provided by Irene Herman, USATF Insurance Advisor, in a meeting on December 1, 2011, during the 2011 USATF Annual Convention:
A.The measurer is a USATF member not necessarily an Official
1. If the event is sanctioned (meaning that sanction was already obtained before the course measurement), USATF provides Excess Medical and General Liability coverage.
B. The measurer is a USATF Certified Official:
1. The measurer gets “A” above (because certified officials are always USATF members) and USATF also provides General Liability coverage for non-sanctioned events.
Notes:
•Medical coverage refers to injury to yourself. USATF provides “Excess Medical” coverage is secondary to any other medical insurance you have.
•General Liability coverage refers to injury or property damage that you cause to someone else.
•If you don’t have USATF provided General Liability coverage, liability claims of this sort may be payable by your home-owner’s or similar insurance plan.
•USATF’s general liability insurance does not include coverage for professional liability (so claims for damages if the measurer makes a measurement mistake are not covered). If the measurer has a concern about being held responsible for his/her course accuracy, then he/she should consider including a waiver or hold harmless agreement in his/her contract with the event.
Gene Newman and Bob Baumel
December 27, 2011