A marketing company in Switzerland recently held a private team-building event near Lake Zurich aiming to provide its employees with an opportunity to connect and blow off steam.

But little did they know that the day's activities would go horribly wrong. So wrong that it would result in 25 employees getting burned.

Walking on coals has been practised in many cultures for thousands of years. But recently it has gained popularity as a team-building and leadership experience in corporate events. Known as Corporate Firewalking, this exercise requires participants to walk over a bed of burning coal barefoot.

Firewalking, as you can imagine, is not always safe. The risk of someone getting seriously burned is always glaring. And that is exactly what ended up happening at the event in question.

At least 10 ambulances had to be summoned to the property with 25 people being given medical treatment for burns, 13 of whom had to be hospitalised.

Although the company later sent out a notice emphasising that the event was entirely ‘voluntary’, what would happen if one of the injured employees ended up filing a lawsuit?

Well, businesses usually purchase Directors and Officers Liability Insurance to deal with such lawsuits. This policy covers a company’s legal costs incurred while defending claims of negligence or misconduct by a top executive.

D&O Insurance is one of the most basic corporate liability policies that helps businesses deal with unexpected litigation from an employee or outside party.

In the Swiss case, for instance, any lawsuit that may be levelled against a company executive for holding such a dangerous event can easily be covered under a D&O Insurance policy.

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Further Reading

Learn more: What is Directors and Officers Insurance?