As a follow up on the question of allowing minors to use fitness equipment at SCSH, the following information is given for everyone’s feedback and if necessary a change in the rules to not only restrict minors from using the equipment, but to ban them completely.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that each year about 8,700 children under 5 years of age are injured with exercise equipment. There are an additional 16,500 injuries per year to children ages 5 to 14. Types of equipment identified in these cases include stationary bicycles, treadmills, and stair climbers. Fractures and even amputations were reported in about 20 percent of exercise equipment related injuries.
The CPSC is concerned about the severity of injuries to children, especially because the hazard may not be obvious. Therefore, the CPSC warns parents always to keep children away from exercise equipment. Never use a bike without a chain guard, and when not using the equipment, store it or lock it so children cannot get to it.
fitcommerce.com website states:
Multi-million dollar liability judgments are awarded by the courts in recreation, sport, and fitness suits each year. It is crucial that you as a professional learn to protect yourself and your business from liability for negligence - whether you are an employee, an independent contractor, a club manager, or an owner. Surround yourself with resources ranging from an attorney in whom you have confidence, to risk management materials, to further education regarding liability (often found at fitness conferences), to trained and knowledgeable employees.
Learn as much as you can about waivers - and do not assume a waiver you see in an article or one that a friend is using will protect you. Find an attorney who has experience writing fitness, sport, or recreation related waivers. Most attorneys have had little or no experience in this area. The fact that a waiver was written by an attorney is not a guarantee of its effectiveness, as evidenced by the fact that about half the waivers that fail were written by attorneys.
In an article written by John T. Wolohan 3/01/2007 he states:
As nearly everyone knows by now, in most states a well-written waiver, signed by an adult, can be an effective tool in protecting fitness and recreation providers from negligence liability. What is not so clear, however, is what happens when such waivers are entered into by a minor, or ratified by his or her parent on his or her behalf. The reason minors present such a difficult case is because as a general rule, minors can, before they reach adulthood, disaffirm any contract into which they enter. Since this general rule is not altered by a parent's signature, contracts involving minors are only enforceable if approved by a court.
The SCSH may have a signed waiver from a parent when the minor is using the fitness equipment, but this does not necessarily mean that the SCSH is completely safeguarded.
Your comments please.
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2 comments:
At the February 1 meeting, Dodd mentioned that he and his wife had written to the Board prior, and spoke at the meeting, about the need to further restrict (or ban) teenage use of fitness equipment. Apparently, those concerns fell on deaf ears, and the rule changes were adopted as proposed and without discussion by the Board. According to fitness center staff, the changes don't take effect until March 1.
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