Event Waivers: Reducing liability for your retreat, workshop, experience or training event
Experiences and events are more popular than ever before, especially as many individuals and businesses are looking for ways to counter pandemic fatigue, reconnect in the real world, promote wellness and get outside their comfort zone. Event waiver forms or physical activity waivers are a vital component to protect you as the facilitator, from liability.
We are seeing that businesses running events including retreats, challenges, adventure experiences, ninja courses and yoga camps, for example, are booming. If you offer events of any kind you will know that activities of any physical and/or mental nature, carries some risk. There is always the potential for something to go wrong or someone to be hurt and you need to be protected from liability, even if you believe there is very little that could go wrong.
One of the essential practices in business is limiting risk or liability. If you are someone that hosts events like running events, dance events, extreme hikes, or offers physical and mental challenges, ensuring participants understand what they will be doing and the potential risks, by signing an event waiver form is critical to protect yourself and your business.
In this article, I will explain what an event liability waiver is, what needs to be included in your waiver and other best practices to minimise your risk. Before we jump in, I impress upon every business owner I deal with about the importance of adequate insurance. Regardless of whether you have a waiver where everything is spelled out and signed, there is no substitute for insurance protection. An event liability waiver should be seen as an added layer of risk protection.
What is a liability waiver?
An event liability waiver is a legal document signed by anyone participating in your event that when signed, acknowledges that potential risks are involved. The document's intended purpose is for your business to remove legal liability from an activity in which a participant willingly participates.
What needs to be included in an event waiver?
An event waiver has several components to ensure it is comprehensive in protecting you. These include:
Event eligibility
Registration
Obligations
Risk and Release of risk; and
An indemnity to protect you if there is an issue.
In the event of an accident, having a signed event waiver affirms that the participant acknowledged that risk is involved, that they are a willing participant in the activity, and agreed not to hold the organiser liable for any injury, death or personal property damage or loss, for example.
Your event waiver may also include behaviour expectations for the participant to follow to minimise risk to themselves or others. Among these expectations might be, for example, to follow your instructions (or those of your team), not break any laws, and follow all event guidelines.
Registration and event eligibility
When you plan your event, you may need to consider a range of eligibility requirements. This can include the required level of fitness, the age of participants, if certain medical conditions present an unnecessary risk, and whether through participation there is a risk of exacerbating any existing injuries.
The eligibility section of your waiver should spell out what the event will involve. If certain conditions for participation exist, the event eligibility may require additional steps such as a doctor's sign off or a parental consent form if participants under age 18 are involved.
In cases where eligibility could be an issue, the waiver needs to allow for participants to confirm that they meet the requirements to participate. If there are some concerns that do not stop them from participating but could potentially be an issue, separate from the waiver you should seek additional information from them to help you assess the unique risks of certain individuals and if suitable, make appropriate adjustments for them.
If your participants are a large group, and are over a certain age or below a certain fitness level, it might be best to offer modified options. Those modifications might be a less strenuous hiking path or for pregnant women, alternative yoga poses. Just as we see products that spell out the risks that are extremely unlikely as a way to protect their business and brand, the event eligibility section of your waiver should be upfront about everything you think could potentially be cause for concern.
Your waiver should also spell out that you, as the organiser, reserve the right to prevent a participant’s involvement at the time of the event, if there are any doubts as to their fitness to participate.
Obligations
The one thing certain about life is change, and a lot can change between when someone registers for your event or activity, and the time it takes place. Suppose the event includes something potentially dangerous or requires a higher than average level of exertion. In that case, the waiver must include that the participant has an obligation to report any changes in their ability to fulfill the eligibility requirements and could increase their risk.
An example of this might be a high ropes course. If one of the registrants recently suffered a bad ankle sprain that they believe is mostly healed, they might still be at risk of falling or aggravating the sprain and need to let you know before commencing.
Risk and release of risk
If an activity could cause injury, you must make your participants aware and the potential consequences or effects. Even something that seems inconsequential, like overexertion, needs to be spelled out in your waiver. In your disclosures, the participant is then aware of the risks and can elect to proceed despite them, or not.
Acknowledging the risk involved and releasing you and your business from liability can spare you tremendous expense. For instance, if an accident occurs during a bushwalking hike requiring them to be airlifted out or an ambulance called, the signed waiver means the participant acknowledges the risks and agrees to be liable for any expenses incurred from their participation.
Should someone attempt to hold you liable, you would then be able to provide the document with their signature, showing their agreement and releasing you from liability. You will be protected so long as your waiver is legally comprehensive and you have performed in good faith.
It is worth noting that Australian Consumer Law carves out a notable exclusion for "recreational services" in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). It states that recreational services may be excluded from specific terms and rights usually implied in a contract for the supply of services. This exclusion makes it essential that participants know they are not necessarily covered by the Act, at the point in time they register.
Managing additional risk with an indemnity clause
While the waiver should cover the release of liability as discussed, an indemnity clause must be included to protect you against liability to participants in the event they were to cause injury or impact another participant, or damage property.
Should any participant cause any loss, damage, or injury to others during the event, with an indemnity included in the waiver, then participants agree to assume responsibility and reimburse the impacted party or parties. An example of this could be if an abseiling participant who was holding the rope for someone else, drops the rope and as a result contributes to the injury of the abseiler and another person. Consequently, all those injured may have a claim against the participant responsible for the damage.
Event waiver best practices
Event waivers should be provided at the point of registration or when someone pays for the event or activity. It is important that the waiver be clearly identified as a requirement to complete the registration process. For any event reservation/payment completed online, a waiver can be included as part of the registration form, and if you use an online booking tool, there are usually ways to include your waiver as part of the registration process. Many of these online booking platforms have the capacity to hold all of the registered participants’ information and any documents you include as part of the registration process.
Keep records
If you complete registration through phone calls or emails, using a service like Jotform or Typeform for example, these types of tools allow you to send the form from their service to the participant’s email address so it can be electronically signed and then retained on the platform. I recommend downloading the documents and saving them in case you ever change services later on or terminate their use. You will need this information to be accessible in case someone were to make a claim against you in the future.
Last minute registrations
For certain types of activities and events, there may be capacity for someone to sign up on the day of the event. In situations like these, paper forms and a filing system are a must. I recommend giving yourself a cut-off time for registration to occur and ensuring you check all elements required are covered off. In the event you require for participants' doctors' permission or notes to be provided, obtain copies and ensure you clip them to the waiver and of course, check the details of the note to ensure they should participate. With last minute sign-ups and admin tasks occurring as people are arriving for your event or activity, it is easy to overlook these steps and open yourself up to risk.
Detail activity and event specifics
In addition to the waiver needing to have each of the components outlined above, make sure it also covers the date of the event, the event name or type, the location, the organiser, and which category of participation the guest is, if there are different categories.
Final eligibility check
And finally, for an extra layer of protection, you can also add a sign-in form at the event where the participant acknowledges they are in good health, understands the associated risks and if they have any concerns, will discuss them with you or your team before proceeding.
How to create a liability waiver
Having now assisted many different types of events and activity organisers with their event waivers, I am constantly amazed by the new concepts and activities that are offered that I was not previously aware of, that require a liability waiver. While you may be tempted to try to create a liability waiver yourself, to genuinely limit your liability, you should seek legal advice to ensure your activity or event is comprehensively protected.
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We have created a flexible liability waiver form that covers a range of event types like those we have mentioned above. You can purchase it once, download it, and use it consistently for your events. You can find it here.
If you are unsure the liability waiver might not cover you because you have especially complex or very specific needs, you can book a call with me to discuss the nature of your business and the types of activities you facilitate. And if required, we create a customised liability waiver form to best protect you against liability.