Monument open to public? Take measures

Partial opening of monuments and church buildings entails increasing risks for the owners, such as arson, vandalism and theft. It is important to know the risks, prevent or at least reduce them. And enforce a prevention policy for the open portions of buildings. Insurance requires it. For example, you can think about the following:

General prevention requirements:

• Install self-extinguishing steel trash cans and ensure they are emptied daily.
• Do not use plastic/flammable decorations.
• Hang a fire blanket.
• Treat curtains, rugs and other fabrics with a fire retardant.
• Empty collection boxes/donation boxes for monument or church building preservation regularly.

Specifically for church buildings or monuments with the ability to light candles: 

• Use only candle trays with spacers.
• After closing the (church) building, extinguish all candles.

(Image: Valery Voennyy)

Prevention advice:

• Make the partition between the rest of the church space/monument and the open area smokeproof. In the event of smoke damage, sometimes part of the affected paintwork must be paid for by the insured person because of its age (so-called compartmentalization).
• Have a fire alarm system with smoke detectors installed (with call forwarding).
• Appoint (church) guards and provide camera surveillance.
• Place precious conditions in a locked display case.
• As a precaution - to the extent not required - provide adequate fire extinguishers.

Insurance in case of theft
On most policies, theft and vandalism in the open area are not covered; arson is. Note! Theft from the non-open area of the room is covered only if you have burglary coverage or comprehensive inventory insurance. However, one of the following requirements must then be met:

• Between the open area and the rest of the building or church space must be a   architectural partition that completely closes off the opening between the rest of the monument and the open area. Or there is a structural partition of at least 2.5 m high with burglar alarms above it with notification to an alarm center.
• The (church) space must be completely enclosed. This is especially important also in connection with the above advice about a smoke-tight partition.

Safety
Furthermore, it is wise to consider when opening up whether there may be other risks for the owner that are not related to the property, such as liability in conjunction with safety for visitors and any volunteers present. Situations may arise (e.g., injuries) for which the owner is responsible and may be held accountable by third parties. 

Finally, the owner should be well aware that it matters if there are commercially set up activities with, for example, catering facilities and the associated income. In that case, it is a good idea to hire an advisor.

The above article was provided by Donatus Insurance.