10 Guidlines to Help Avoid Law Suits in Recreation and Sports ? All ...

Photo Credit: Imeurs

In an article in Athletic Business entitled ?Basketball Court Puddle Leads to $4.4 Million Jury Award??by Andrew Cohen, we learn of a fitness facility in Las Angeles that was sued?when a participant broke his ankle when he slipped on water on the gym floor. The plaintiff?(one who sued the company) won a judgement of 4.4 million dollars.

It was found that the water was coming from a leak in the ceiling. It was further found that the owner of the club knew there were issues with leaks on the gym floor. The court found the owner of the club did not maintain?safe conditions by ?allowing the floor to remain in a slippery and unsafe condition and for failing to warn health club members of the hazard or to clean it up.?

In America, you can be sued for anything and everything. I have taught risk management classes for years and have often used what was then a hypothetical case of water dripping on the gym floor as an example of how a church could be sued.? The case is no longer hypothetical ? it has happened and the business lost because they knew about it and did nothing to warn participants or fix the problem.

Churches face these?potential ?liabilities all the time. We don?t want to inconvenience?our guest, teams, members, etc. So we will fudge a little and let something slip by. Thankfully most of the time nothing happens. But that one slip may cost your church dearly if someone does get hurt. We must be?vigilant?in taking proper care of our guests when they come to us to participate. We owe them a great duty to make sure our facilities are safe. But no one will win a law suit if negligence is involved as was clearly demonstrated in our story.

Here are 10 guidelines adapted from Risk Management for Park, Recreation and Leisure Services by James Peterson to help you see to it that you are providing the safest and most enjoyable experience to your guests.

1. ?Develop A Mission Statement and objectives and policies?- this lets the courts know who you are and what you provide and why you do what you do.
2. Assess needs ? take a look around, what needs attention, fixing, taking our of service and look to see if you need update policies.
3. Set up proper supervision and proceedures for managing facilities, equipment, personnel, and policies ? proper supervision can head off many problems. Procedures give guidance for how to maintain safe facilities and equipment.
4. Do Safety Inspections ? Most churches don?t do this. Have a safety checklist and have someone responsible for checking off that list monthly.
5. Develop accident reporting procedures?- make sure you have a reporting system and that the procedures?are followed on each incident.
6. Develop emergency procedures ? as simple as emergency phone numbers close at hand or as big as having a?AED?device?on premises and someone who knows where it is and how to use it.
7. Develop proper??releases, waivers, and agreements to participate ? check with your local legal counsel to make sure you waivers and releases are up-to-date and legal for your state. DO NOT copy?from another church and think you are okay.
8. Train, Train, Train ? train?staff to look for things that are broken, out of place or that might present some hazard.
9. Working on public relations ? often overlooked, but this can help eliminate hard feelings and missed ministry opportunity.
10. Enlist outside specialist ? legal, insurance etc. ? they know what to look out for. Heed their advice.

RISK MANAGEMETN RESOURCES:

Risk Management Handbook for Churches and Schools??By: James Cobble, Jr. and Richard R. Hammar Christian Ministry Resources, Box 1098, Matthews, NC 28106 704-841-8066 http://www.churchlawtoday.com

Risk Management for Church Leaders (audio tape) Christian Ministry Resources Box 1098 Mathews, NC 28106 704-841-8066 http://www.churchlawtoday.com

?National Association of Church Business Administration 7001 Grapevine Hwy. Suite 324 Fort Worth, TX 76180-8813??http://www.nacba.net

Like this:

Be the first to like this post.

horton hears a who horton hears a who cotto margarito big daddy big ten championship game big ten championship game ultimate fighter 14