The following are answers to specific questions we have put to OUC regarding
various aspects of the Liability Insurance
If you have further
questions or seek clarification please email us at
Informing OUC of sanctioned dive
Liability Coverage for Boat Owners
OUC Detailed Coverage Overview for 2007
Staff and student course insurance
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Q. I'm a member of an OUC-Member Club and my club sometimes uses my boat for
Club-Sanctioned dives. If I accidentally hit a rock and one of my Club members
gets hurt and decides to sue me, am I covered by the policy?
A. Yes, you are,
providing your boat is being used for the sanctioned event and is not more than
15 metres in length (see "Exclusions & Endorsements" document under
"Watercraft".
Q. My Club is an OUC member Club. If we go on a Club-sanctioned dive and one
of our members is personally injured as a result of negligence on the part of
the Charter Boat Operator, and the injured member sues the Charter Boat Operator
(for negligence) and the Club (for choosing the Charter Boat Operator), does the
OUC Liability Policy provide coverage?
A. The OUC Liability Policy covers the
OUC-Member Club and the OUC-Member Club Members only. The Charter Boat Operator
(even if s/he is an OUC Commercial Member) is NOT covered under the OUC
Liability Policy because the OUC Liability Policy is ONLY offered to Clubs and
Members of Clubs. This means Charter Boat Operators have to have their own
Liability Insurance Policy.
Q. My Club and I belong to the OUC. What if we charter a boat and
accidentally cause a lot of property damage to it and the Captain of the boat
sues us. Will the Liability Policy we have with the OUC cover us?
A. Yes,
providing the Charter Boat is not more than 15 metres in length (see "Exclusions
& Endorsements" document under "Watercraft". Assuming the boat is less than
15 metres or less in length, a $500 deductible would apply.Property Damage
March 8, 2007
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Members of OUC who have a booth at events to specifically inform &
educate people, on behalf of the Club, would be covered under OUC's Liability
Policy. See also OUC Detailed Coverage Overview for
2007
November 16, 2006
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1) The OUC Insurance Policy absolutely covers all folks involved in SOS buoy
deployment, providing that all of the people involved are OUC members and that
they meet all the terms & conditons set out by the policy:
A) Advance
notification to the OUC
B) Dive Master in charge of all in-water scuba
activities
C) Safety Diver/s on site and ready to respond
D) Records taken
of all dives and kept for 3 years
E) 1st Aid & O2 on site
F) Sport
Diving limits (wrt depth & bottom time) respected on all dives (in other
words,no "deco-diving")
May 2 2006
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I have some questions that I need you to please answer for me relative to the
Liability Policy we hold with you. Note that in these questions, when I say
"Club", I mean an OUC-Member Club, it's OUC-Member Executive, and its OUC Member
Members
Question #1: If, during an OUC Club-sanctioned event, OUC Member
"A" is accidentally injured by Member B", and "A" sues "B", is "B" covered by
the provisions of the policy? If so, to what extent?
Yes it would be
covered up to the policy limit
Question #2: If, during an OUC Club-sanctioned event, OUC member "A" is
injured, and sues the Club, is the Club covered by the provisions of the policy?
If so, to what extent?
Yes it would be covered up to the policy
limit
Question #3: If, during an OUC Club-sanctioned event, an OUC
member "A" causes damage to a third party, say a Charter Operator's Boat, and
the Charter Boat Operator sues Member "A" and the Club, are Member "A" and the
Club covered by the provisions of the policy? If so, to what extent?
Yes
to the policy limit, subject to a $500.00 deductible
Question #4: If,
during an OUC Club-sanctioned event, OUC Member "A" is injured as a result of
negligence of a third party, say, a Charter Boat Operator, and OUC Member "A"
sues the Charter Boat Operator (for negligence) and the Club (for choosing the
Charter Boat Operator), is the Club covered under the provisions of the policy?
If so, to what extent? (The Charter Boat Operator is not covered the OUC Policy
because we only offer our liability policy coverage to Member Clubs) Yes, the
Policy would respond to the Member and Club, not the Charter Operator
September 27, 2006
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The OUC considers the Membership Directors of member clubs as OUC "agents". What this means is that as soon as the SOS Membership Director has an SOS member's $22.00 (currently for 2009) the "OUC Club Member" membership fee in hand, that (now SOS-AND-OUC) member is considered covered under the policy. This assumes of course that all the other terms & conditions like a) Notification in advance to OUC, b) Dive Master on site in charge of all in-water activities, c) Safety Diver/s on site and ready to respond, d) First Aid & O2 on site, e) Dive records taken & kept for 3 years, f) Sport Diving limits as to depth & bottom time respected (no-deco diving only), etc are met as well.
May 2 2006
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Informing OUC of sanctioned dive
Assuming that all SOS NAS Course Staff (Course Directors, Instructors, Dive
Masters, Safety Divers, In-Water Helpers, etc.) are all OUC Club Members* in
good standing and that the dives will be conducted in accordance with the safe
diving practices outlined on the OUC website, you just need to e-mail the OUC
the date of your club/organization-sanctioned dive and that's that.
(*OUC
Club Members in good standing could be with any OUC Member Club; e.g SOS, EUC,
OUE, HHUC, SUCI, etc.)
You do not need to send names of individual divers.
This also applies to SOS sanctioned dives such as surveys.
September 6, 2006
Spring 2007: A pdf form for submitting event information is now available from OUC
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Liability Coverage for Boat Owners
The OUC Liability Policy is available to OUC member Clubs and their members only.
NOT to Commercial Scuba Charter Operators or Retailers. These businesses have to buy their own Commercial Liability Insurance coverage.
If a Commercial Scuba Charter Operator decides out of the goodness of their hearts to donate the use of their boat to SOS, then that does not absolve that Operator from having to have their own Liability Insurance protection. Nor does it mean that that Operator is covered under the OUC policy for Clubs, because they are NOT.
On the other hand, if an SOS Club Member like myself (who is NOT a Commercial Charter Operator) decide to loan the use of my boat for Club-Sanctioned activities, then as long as my boat is not longer than 15 meters and length, then I am covered (see screen-capture below from "Endorsements & Exclusions" document on OUC website:
March 16 2007
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If someone is already a member of the OUC through another Club (like SUCI) through which they have already paid their $22.00 (currently for 2009) OUC Insured Club Member fee, they DO NOT need to pay ANYTHING more to the OUC, they are already completely covered.
May 2 2006
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OUC Detailed Coverage Overview for 2009
OUC Member Clubs and OUC Club Members are Covered under the Policy, for the following:
Rental of OUC member scuba club owned equipment to OUC club members ONLY
World Wide Coverage for - OUC Member Clubs and OUC Club Members who participate in OUC sanctioned Diving Activities ONLY
World Wide Coverage for - OUC Club Members domiciled (living) outside of Canada who participate in OUC Sanctioned Diving Activities ONLY
OUC Member Clubs & OUC Club Members who participate in OUC Sanctioned
Non-Diving Activities as listed below:
Scuba Open Houses
Scuba Mall
Displays
Scuba Information Booths
Scuba Conferences
Scuba Air Filling
Operations
Scuba Shows (Hosting one or having a Display or Booth at
one)
Scuba Movie Nights
Scuba Fairs
Scuba Community Clean-ups
Scuba
Annual Award Night Dinner & Dance
Scuba Friends & Family
Events
Scuba Symposiums
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In most cases your membership number stays with you for life. Your number could be changed if: OUC changes it database program, you renew your membership with a different first or last name spelling, or if the person entering can not find you in the system when a search is done.
The intent is to have one person one number but that does not always work.
June 14 2006
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The OUC Liability Policy directly covers :
- Club-Sanctioned Diving
events, and
- Club-Sanctioned Non-Diving events (Sports and Social
Activities).
If SOS is planning on hosting a "public event" not fitting
the above descriptions that it requires liability coverage for, here is the
process by which coverage can currently be obtained:
1) Contact our OUC
office via telephone at: 416-426-7033 or via e-mail at ouc@underwatercouncil.com
and give us all the particulars of the planned event (date, est. # of attendees,
nature of event, nature of attendees (members, family, friends, public, etc.),
nature of activities, etc.).
2) Our office will relay that information to
our Insurers who will get back to us as to whether they can cover the event
under the existing contract, or whether an additional premium will apply. If an
additional premium applies, you will need to decide whether or not you still
want the coverage. If you do, you will be responsible for paying the additional
premium.
3) Our Office tracks these requests, and if there are sufficient
requests of a similar nature, then at our annual policy renewal negotiations in
December, we (the OUC) will negotiate to have the applicable endorsements added
into the policy for the benefit of all member clubs.
September 15 2006
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Staff and student course insurance
SOS's NAS course Students are covered as part of SOS's OUC Training Club
Membership benefits, so technically they do not (yet) have to be OUC Club
Members in good standing.
If some SOS-Member Course Staff are NOT OUC
Club members in good standing, then in order for the Liability Policy to be in
force, they need to become ones. SOS has been collecting $22.00 (currently for
2009) from each Course
Staff member and remitting that to the Membership Chairman, so that he can in
turn remit membership information and fees to the OUC. These people will then
all receive membership cards stating that they are OUC Club Members of SOS.
If SOS invites people to participate in the course in a diving capacity, and these people are neither SOS members in good standing nor OUC Club members in good standing, then the provisions of the OUC Guest Diver Progam must be applied to them.
September 6, 2006
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