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Risk Management

Who Needs This Service?

  • Waiver

    Your business needs a waiver to protect you from liability for the activities you provide.

  • Staff Training (Legal Issues)

    Staff generally don't understand waivers, negligence law nor their obligations to their employer. I provide training on these issues to lessen the likelihood of staff causing you liability.

  • Staff Manual

    A staff manual sets out, among other things, the standards by which your employees are expected to do their job. Creating clear policies, procedures and protocols and training your staff on them is the most effective risk management tool as it prevents accidents as opposed to dealing with problems after they happen.

  • Risk Management Plan

    Your company has a number of policies, procedures and protocols they use, but you do not have a formal risk management document.

1. Waiver

Learn Something About The Law

The most common question I get about waivers is, are they good law? The simple answer is that they are accepted by British Columbian courts, but only if they contain certain information and are signed properly.

The basic elements that must be included in the waiver are:

  1. a listing of the likely risks/hazards associated with participation in the activities;
  2. an acknowledgement by the participant that they are willing to take the risk; and
  3. a waiver of the right to sue in the event the participant suffers an injury, damage or loss.

Pitfalls

I often hear of businesses that download waivers from the internet, put their name on the waiver and use it. They justify this by saying "how different can each waiver be"! Waivers can be very different. What is acceptable in another country or province may not be acceptable in British Columbia. Each company/organization runs their activities in different ways and locations and is therefore affected by different hazards. There is language that should be incorporated in waivers in B.C. that gets missed when waivers are drafted this way. Consequently, the waivers will not serve their purpose when needed.

In addition, it is not only the written content of the waiver that is necessary for them to be accepted by the courts. The circumstances surrounding the signing of the waiver play a vital role in whether or not a judge will allow them to prevent the participant from being able to sue.

To Do:

  1. Prepare a list of your activities. Consider all of the potential risks and write them down in a list.
  2. Provide the list to us along with any written materials that your participants might receive from you (brochures, emails, website, etc.).
  3. We will review your materials and draft a waiver tailored to the activities and risks of your business.

2. Staff Training

Learn Something About The Law

Most recreation organizations understand the value and necessity of training their staff. However, this training rarely includes the linkage of why employees are expected to do their job the way they are trained. In other words, staff does not have a sufficient appreciation that they are doing their job the way you dictate because it will lessen the likelihood of negligent acts or omissions. Furthermore, employees typically do not understand the contents of waivers and how they must be executed to be accepted in court. They do not comprehend that they have an obligation to their employer and the participants to do their jobs with a reasonable level of care. Consequently employees end up doing things or not doing things they should that end up causing their employers liability.

To Do:

  1. Incorporate a legal training session into your regularly scheduled staff training.
  2. We will explain waivers so that your staff will get properly executed documents that have a better chance of being accepted by the courts.
  3. We will teach the basics of negligence law so that everyone in your organization understands the standard of care they must use in doing their jobs.
  4. We also outline what your staff needs to do to protect themselves and their employers from liability. This includes discussion of the expectations you have of your employees in the way they do their job.

3. Staff Manual

Learn Something About The Law

A staff manual is important because it sets out the policies, procedure and protocols that you have developed in order to run your activities in a safe manner and in keeping with industry standards and statutory requirements. However, it is important that if you have a written manual, you ensure that your staff follows its contents. Furthermore, the staff manual can be used as evidence in a court case that you have set a standard of care in order to keep your staff and guests safe.

Pitfalls

The policies, procedures and protocols you develop are the best risk management technique. Most companies have a false sense of security, relying on the fact that they have insurance and/or a waiver. The fact is that these risk management tools only come into play after there is an incident and it becomes a problem. The policies, procedures and protocols you develop in your staff manual help to ensure your employees run your activities in a manner that prevents problems from happening.

To Do:

  1. Draft a staff manual.
  2. Hire us to review the manual from a legal perspective to ensure you have covered your risk. This will help the manual become an effective risk management tool.

4. Risk Management Plan

Learn Something About The Law

It has become the industry standard in commercial recreation/adventure tourism for companies to have a risk management plan. Therefore, if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of being sued, it is possible that the lawyer for the injured person will find witnesses to say that without a proper written risk management plan you are working below industry standards.

Unfortunately, many business owners believe that if they have insurance, a waiver and an evacuation protocol that they have a risk management plan. However, it is important to understand that if you have to go to court, they will be looking for a document entitled "Risk Management Plan" and checking to see if your staff has been trained appropriately on the plan and that the plan was followed.

To Do:

  1. Do an audit of your company to assess what the risks are. It is advisable to hire us or a risk manager to help with this process. Make sure you go beyond the physical risks (inherent risks of injury) and look at the legal risks as well (negligence, breaches of contract, etc.).
  2. Draft a risk management plan determining how you will deal with each of the risks you outlined in the audit.
  3. Hire us or risk manager to help refine your risk management plan and ensure it covers you sufficiently.

Did You Know?

Employers are vicariously liable for the actions of their employees. This means they are responsible for the negligent acts/omissions of their staff.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about Risk Management, please give us a call.