It’s summertime and the great outdoors is calling to your trainers and members alike. Everyone enjoys spending time exercising and training outside, and health clubs break out of their indoor routines as soon as the weather permits. Many clubs host yoga and fitness classes out of doors as well as running and walking clinics and events.
As a club owner, however, you might want to review your insurance coverage, keeping in mind that outdoor events can increase your exposure to liability claims.
You may need to contact your agent to add specific overrides before the club or any of your team members start promoting and offering offsite activities or events. You’ll want to make sure you’re covered in case one of your members is injured while participating in a gym or club sponsored offsite event.
It is not only important to check with your insurance agent to find out if you have coverage, you should also have the members or participants sign a “special event” waiver to further help protect the club from litigation.
Generally speaking, as long as the event or activity held off premises is “fitness” related, your insurance company should not have a problem with covering this exposure and many companies will not charge a premium to provide a certificate of insurance confirming this coverage.
Where you could run into problems is if you are sponsoring events that fall outside of the scope of exercise or fitness.
For example, outdoor rock climbing, although considered to be excellent physical exercise, is likely to be an event that your insurance company will not be able to cover under your standard health club policy. River rafting and canoeing would also present unique underwriting problems that would require special consideration in the insurance market.
So, by all means, get out and enjoy some exercise in the fresh air and sunshine. But first, make sure you have the appropriate liability coverage so you don’t get burned.
