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Ohio State University Extension

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Insurance

Insurance and Indemnification

Contents

OSU Office Risk Management
Employee Coverage
Property Coverage
Volunteer Coverage
Indemnification
Students Traveling Internationally
Accident and Event Coverage
Contacts

 

Employee Coverage

Liability: Employees are covered under the university's general liability insurance when acting according to their assigned job duties at a limit of $1,000,000 per occurrence subject to an annual aggregate for the organization. The university's deductible for liability is $100,000. A printable "Certificate of Insurance for Liability" can be found on the university Business and Finance website.Certificate of Insurance for Public Entity University Liability. 

Automobile: Employees driving a vehicle on the behalf of the university must have their own private liability insurance. The university's policy will not cover incidents in the case of an accident in a vehicle while on work time. For this reason all faculty and staff are encouraged to consult their insurance company before they decide to transport any non-Ohio State employees in their vehicle. Auto Insurance Fact Sheet

Visiting Private Property: When asking an individual to allow OSU Extension program participants to access their private property for an OSU Extension activity, the individual landowner may be provided a letter to be covered as an additional insured under the Ohio State insurance policy for this one-time activity. This letter is not to be modified to fit organizations. It is for private individuals/landowners only. It should not be used for recurring events or events held on private property owned by a business that otherwise require a contract to be executed between OSU Extension and the landowner. 

Personal Benefits: Employees receive health and other job related benefits as an employee of the university. More information is available at the Human Resources website. 

Property Coverage

The university has property insurance coverage for university property. The deductible for property insurance for the university is $50,000. This coverage does not cover theft, but would cover damage such as tornado damage. The Certificate of Insurance for Property can be found on the Business and Finance website. 

Units are permitted to buy supplemental coverage to help offset the $50,000 in case a need arises. These plans should be purchased using a purchase order via an approved eRequest

Note: The university doesn't offer certifications with a named additional insured. Our policy provides insurance according to the contract. The written agreement addresses what special requirements are necessary of the parties and is legally binding. This overrides what may be excluded with in any insurance policy. 

Volunteer Coverage

Volunteers performing duties according to their volunteer job descriptions are covered under an annual volunteer insurance liability policy. This is personal, secondary liability insurance of up to $1,000,000 per occurrence. This does not cover transportation liability, and volunteers are encouraged to seek insurance advice from their insurance agent when transporting individuals. This does not cover accident insurance or medical or health coverage and does not cover negligence or errors on the part of the volunteer. This coverage is renewed annually by Extension Administration.

CIMA Corporation – the company from which we purchase volunteer liability insurance also offers optional automobile and bonding insurance for offices that deem those additional insurances necessary. 

CIMA volunteer liability insurance is paid annually by OSU Extension Administration to cover the liability of our volunteers in 4-H, Master Gardeners and Certified Volunteer Naturalists programs. There is nothing needed from our county offices as part of this process. We used to collect numbers from the counties when counties were responsible for half of the cost. We collect this information directly from the state offices and use that for reporting to CIMA.

Indemnification

Contracts and agreements with indemnification statements (also called a "hold harmless" statement) will need to be reviewed by Ohio State Legal Affairs, Ohio State Purchasing, and/or the Office of Sponsored Programs. Send contract for signature using an eRequest. See more on contract submission process

From the Ohio State Legal Handbook: Biennium Article II, Section 22 of the Ohio Constitution prohibits the imposition of state-related financial obligations beyond a biennium. This applies most frequently to debt and to the university’s inability to entertain indemnification provision in contracts. [See AG Opinion No. 96-060] 

Additional Indemnification Information

 

Students Traveling Internationally

The attached memo outlines some guidelines for advising students who are traveling internationally on behalf of the university. Supplemental insurance is suggested for a nominal cost as an operating procedure of the university. The benefits of the policy form the infrastructure of the university’s ability to proactively respond to a health or safety crisis involving a member of our student community abroad. Study abroad programs managed by the Office of International Affairs automatically include this coverage. This message is for those units that are sending students internationally for other purposes such as dissertation research, lab or field studies, conference attendance or presentations, and/or student organization travel. This applies to both undergraduate and graduate students and applies whether we are paying for the student's travel or not.

All units, fiscal administrators, and advisors are encouraged to remind their students to build the costs of the insurance into their international travel budgets and to enroll prior to departure. 

Instructions - http://oia.osu.edu/preparing-to-depart/health-insurance.html

Other Coverage

Accident and Event Insurance: Vendors: American Income Life Insurance (AIL) or another accident insurance provider covers 4-H or Extension-sponsored activities for youth or adults. It includes some medical, dental, and hospital benefits.
  • 4-H
  • college and university programs (including Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalists and Master Gardener Volunteers)
  • other youth program coverage
 
Extension professionals are strongly encouraged to consider purchasing annual accident insurance for the entire year, and/or are encouraged to speak to their clubs' organizational advisors to do so. Example: Some county 4-H committees provide the funds to pay for the coverage for all 4-H members each year.  It is strongly encouraged that all horse clubs and activities carry supplemental accident insurance (thru AIL or similar provider), especially if they have not purchased the annual coverage.
 
Accident and Event Insurance coverage should be paid via Purchase Order (through Create Requisition action in Workday).
 
Example claims: death benefit, a 4-H member participating in a county fair died after falling from a tram.
Medical expense, a 4-H member was injured by a calf at the fairgrounds and was treated in the emergency room for a broken wrist, covered the maximum expenses allowable. 
Ambulance expense, a Master Gardener Volunteer was conducting a program when a tree limb fell and hit him on the head, would pay for the ambulance expenses to the emergency room.

 

Questions about risk management should be directed to one of the following individuals:


Jesse Buxton– Operations Fiscal Officer

 

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