Insurers Will Likely Take A Dim View Of His Flying Activities, At Least While Actively Working On A Movie

Harrison Ford's accident last week in which his Ryan PT-22 experienced engine trouble and went down on a golf course near Santa Monica, CA may cause insurance companies to take a hard look at his flying, at least while he's actively working on a movie.

Ford sustained moderate injuries in the accident, but the larger issue is how movies that are in production are insured. A report appearing in the Los Angeles Times indicates that such insurers take a dim view of actors participating in activities they deem to be risky while they are working on a movie. And flying is not the only thing that insurers preclude. The list includes skydiving, scuba diving, driving race cars and mountain climbing, among others.

Angela Plasschaert, a risk management consultant based in Los Angeles, CA who works with movie producers as well as insurance companies said any contract Ford signs in the future will likely stipulate "in bold, black ink" that he will not be allowed to fly "while he's on the set. There wouldn't be a sane person on the planet that would want to write that policy," she said.

The reason is that film projects have been delayed because of injuries to actors in the past, often costing them millions of dollars. An insurance company paid the producers of "Iron Man 2" more than $10 million when its star Robert Downey Jr. broke his ankle and the production was delayed by three weeks. In the case of Fast and Furious 7, the death of actor Paul Walker in a car accident reportedly cost Fireman's Fund insurance company some $70 million, but that figure was not confirmed by the company.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.allianzusa.com/Insurance