I am assisting a small voluntary group with preparing a risk assessment for a small carnival procession. I am aware that the float owners require public liability insurance and that the voluntary group will require a copy of this, however do the float owners also have to submit a letter from thier insurance brokers stating that they are covered to carry out such an activity as a carnival parade.

Any help will be very much appreciated.

Diane

Hi Lucy,

Thank you for your response, i have emailed the group to pose the question. I will let you know how they get on.

Thanks once again

Diane

In recent years I think I've seen TV news items, etc which have featured processions in the UK (perhaps Notting Hill Carnival for example) with people on floats. If my memory is correct, I wonder if the lorry operators and organisations involved had appropriate insurance cover. If so, who provided such cover, was it at exorbitant cost and did it include any conditions e.g. the need for people on floats to remain seated while the lorries are moving?

This topic reminds me of prancing about dressed as a medieval knight with others on a large flat back lorry in 1974 as part of a student rag week procession for charity. The rag organisers arranged with local haulage firms to provide lorries with drivers for the various student groups taking in each year's procession. Goodness knows what arrangements, if any, were made regarding insurance for the processions. If anyone knows if such events still include processions with floats, perhaps via offspring at college, they might be able to add relevant information about insurance and risk management.

I promise you we have been refused insurance.

We have also been refused permission (by another insurer) to burn waste in the wood that we as a community bought from the local council and now maintain as volunteers. As you can imagine that is causing us real problems with waste build up - although I'm sure it is creating great habitats for some of the animals that live there!

Luckily enough the Parish insurance has now come up for renewal and we have found another supplier who is more understanding and realistically says that as long as we manage it properly, and assess the conditions each time we want to burn, we can do it.

This is why the general public have a poor perception of "elf and safety" (yes, I almost did get blamed for us not being able to have floats) - but is it the health and safety profession that are creating this "red tape?" Answers on a postcard to Mr Cameron.

Try this link http://www.bridgwatercar...nival%20Guide%20Book.pdf

Or contact one of the organisors for help, these are probably the UK's premier experts on Carnival