Bounce houses are fun, but they can lead to serious injuries. To protect your Registered Student Organization from claims and lawsuits, you need to do two things when bringing bounce houses onto campus:
- Get a waiver from anyone going into the bounce house. Waivers provide you with strong protection against risks inherent in an activity. Refer to Waivers for further instructions. (Note: it's a good idea to use waivers even if your bounce house event is held off-campus.)
- Get a Certificate of Insurance from the Bounce House operator that does the following:
- Names your Registered Student Organization and The Regents of the University of California as additional insureds;
- Provides $1 million in commercial general liability coverage;
- If the company is bringing vehicles onto campus, provides $1 million in automobile liability insurance.
- If the company is bringing employees onto campus, provides Workers Compensation coverage in accordance with California law.
- If the bounce house company cannot give you a Certificate of Insurance, look for another bounce house company. If the bounce house company cannot/will not provide Auto Liability coverage (which is state mandated!), it cannot drive onto University property. If the bounce house company cannot/will not provide Workers Compensation, it cannot bring employees onto University property.
The Certificate should be sent to the department that controls the campus facility you are using. If you are not sure which department controls the facility you are using, contact campus Risk Management at risk@berkeley.edu or 642-5141.
If you are holding your bounce house event off-campus, you can choose not to ask for a Certificate of Insurance. However, it is definitely in the best interests of you and your Registered Student Organization to have the Certificate, because it assures that the bounce house owner will handle any claims or lawsuits that come your way.