Legal and insurance

The roster and the activation are the coverage

North Carolina’s emergency management immunity (G.S. § 166A-19.60(e)) reaches volunteers working “subject to the order or control of or pursuant to a request of” the county. A neighbor who self-deploys has neither a roster entry nor an activation record. So: only Emergency Management activates CERT, every activation is written down, and nobody self-deploys.

Insurance and immunity pull in opposite directions

Buying insurance can waive immunity up to the amount of coverage (G.S. § 166A-19.60(b)(3) for organizations; § 1-539.10 for volunteers of charitable organizations). Only someone reading your actual coverage documents can say where the line should sit.

Workers’ compensation isn’t settled by statute

G.S. § 97-2(2) names volunteer firefighters, rescue squads, auxiliary police and Civil Air Patrol — not CERT. Counties bring CERT members in another way, such as attaching them to a department roster, which may need a bylaw change or an ordinance.

Chainsaw work needs its own answer

Saw work is outside baseline CERT. Ask your risk pool about it by name, use a recognized course with a pass/fail skills check (for example Game of Logging or the USFS saw program), require full protective gear, and give it its own waiver and endorsement.

Questions to put in writing

Send these to your county attorney and risk manager early — risk pools take time, and it’s graduation, not training, that waits on the answers.

1. Is our county in the NCACC Liability & Property Pool and the Workers’ Compensation Pool?
2. Are registered, activated CERT volunteers covered — and for which activities?
3. Does that coverage reach chainsaw and debris-clearing work?
4. Should we buy volunteer accident or liability coverage, given that insurance can waive immunity?
5. How will CERT volunteers be covered for workers’ compensation?
6. What documentation does the pool want before it covers volunteers?

Copy the questions

Who to ask

Who	Contact	For
NC CERT Program Coordinator, NC Emergency Management	cert@ncdps.gov · (984) 352-8740	How the other NC programs solved this; approves new programs
NCACC County Risk Group	(919) 719-1130	Pool membership and volunteer coverage
NCACC main line	(919) 715-2893	Routing to legal and risk control staff
UNC School of Government	(919) 966-5381	Advises NC public officials; co-authored the NC emergency management liability handbook

Contacts verified in August–September 2026.