anyone written a waiver for their jam or classes?
since we've moved indoors for the winter there's been a lot more bumping. we're greatful to have such a nice large space, but hoops take up a lot of space, so it fills up pretty fast! the community center also has more little kids running around.
watching the craziness yesterday i was struck with the idea that maybe we should have people sign waivers? i dont think anyone is the suing sort, but who knows what the angry parent of an injured child might do? it's really actually only the kids i'm worried about, because most hooping adults realize the risk, and can get over a hoop to face incident. but a screaming hysertical child (who was running around, not watching) with an angry parent on their side might be angry they weren't informed of the "dangers"
has anyone written a waiver for their jam or classes?
I have a waiver for my classes but not the jams. I feel like having one for the jams means that "I'm in charge" and that "I accept liability", which I'm not and I don't. I bring hoops to share but the jams are a community event that happen because the community makes them happen, even if I was the original organizer. They could be a good idea. That's just what I do here in Raleigh. Plus, we have new people at every single jam. Having to bring and make sure everyone signs waivers is another task I'm not sure I'd want to take on and another thing to remember to bring each week. Perhaps you could simply post a sign outside that people see as they come in?
I think a sign outside letting people know that children under the age of ___ are their guardian's responsibility & that the organizers of the jam or the building itself cannot monitor their whereabouts or their well-being.
If you have enough kids (& enough space) - maybe you could even have a little hooper area sectioned off.
I'd suggest seeking real legal advice for this.
Signage acknowledges that you (the organizer) are aware of the risk... and I'm not sure that posting signage alone will remove you from liability in the event that someone DOES get hurt. There has also been a fair amount of doubt cast on the effectiveness of waivers, though again I'd suggest speaking to a lawyer or law student to get a more educated opinion.
In the lifeguarding courses where I taught "Lifeguards and the Law" there were three things that had to be proven for a person to be found liable for injury:
There was a Standard of Care (in this case, the public/non-experienced hooper expects a safe environment in which to play)
There was a Duty to Care (in this case, the organizer was responsible for creating a safe environment)
The injury was caused by a failure of the person with a duty to care to meet the standard of care (in this case, you knew people could get hurt by x happening, failed to keep x from happening, and a person was injured when x happened)
... and that's up here in Canada, where we have enough health care coverage that we don't need to sue people to help pay our medical bills!
Have you checked out the cost of insuring your event? It might not be soo huge, and other participants may be willing to chip in some money towards the cost of insurance.
Good luck figuring this out!
X.
That's good advice Xta. Good information too.
It bums me out that we live in a society where people do not take personal responsibility for themselves and their children. Our jam is in a public park and I've had people come up to me and ask, "Have you seen my child?" ... like it's my responsibility to keep up with their child!?! I am not a baby sitter. I am there to have fun too and have enough of my time soaked up with the responsibilities of bringing all the stuff I need and making sure the knee-biters don't destroy my hoops or use them to hit each other and helping new hoopers. Heck, I want to play too! It really gets under my skin when I feel like people not only don't respect how much I already do but actually expect even more. That's why I refuse to do anything that could make me personally responsible for anything other than loaning a hoop to someone to use when we happen to be in the park at the same time.
hmm.... thanks for your help ladies! i wasn't at all worried with liability in the park. but now that we've moved indoors for the winter, i worry that if something like that came up the community center might be sued. they just opened to the public on halloween, we started meeting there before, and i'd hate to see them fall into legal/financial woes right away! they just got off to the ground!
i'll do some more research, but maybe the best solution would be for the community center to get their own insurance that covers all activities there?
i hear ya caroleeena about babysitting! the park had enough grass coverage, that i was able to divert the kids from hoop destruction easily. plus we were near a playground, so kids of hoopers/drummers had that too and not just my "toys" to keep them occupied. i planned for ruined tape, but im still shocked at just how rough kids could be with hoops tho! i left a bunch of beaters at the community center for general use, and i have NEVER SEEN TAPE DESTOYED SO QUICKLY! and in giant chunks? not just from drops, you can tell theyre standing on them and dragging them with weight on the hoops when im not there. and i understood that when i left them there for public use. but WOW.
next time im going to sit down with the kids and have a "serious" talk about being nice to the hoops, and not running around under the feet of the adults, and spreading out all the hoops on the floor so people trip, and not playing near the drummers, so their equipment isn't damaged.
the place seemed so huge when it was empty! and there's certainly space enough, but we can hurt each other and our tools if we aren't conscious of that.
next week im going to get serious about the toys. last week my boyfriend caught one of the younger kids trying to put his contact ball down an uncovered heating vent! the ball was too big luckily. i totally understand how hoops and balls appear to be normal toys to kids. the kids from the summer have a better grasp on this, but moving to the community center for the winter introduced us to a bunch of "neighborhood" kids who hadn't attended before. it's still early, the transition to indoors
thanks again ladies!
^_______^
Yeah, last winter when we had an indoor space, we also had trouble with kiids taking lots (I'm talking 10 - 20) hoops and laying them down on the ground to play hop scotch in. I don't want to discourage play but this takes up a lot of hoops AND a lot of room. I try to persuade them to at least keep these games off to the side and out of the dance area (which was pretty small to begin with and made much smaller by having that much space taken up) but sometimes they would cry and act like I'd beaten them or something. It's hard to know how to handle those situations.
One time, these two boys kept hitting each other with the hoops. I told them twice that hoops were nor for hitting. On the third time, I took them away and this parent roared up to me wanting to know why I had taken a toy away from her child. I just flat out told her, "These are my tools that I bring to share and the only thing I ask is that people don't ruin them or use them to hurt each other. I told your son two times not to hit another child with a hoop and on the third time I took it away. And now I'm going home." It just left her there with her mouth hanging open. But, heck, she'd been there the whole time! It shouldn't have been up to me to discipline her kid. Gah. Personal responsibility, where have you gone!?!
Xta - you covered this really well!
Waivers are not just for liability (most can be trashed) but for notice to those there.
To be on the safe side, since this is a jam that seems like a regular get together with those who aren't the suing type... I would make it very clear to parents / guardians of kids that the hoops can hurt and do like a poster said and corner off a little area. Sort of an ounce of prevention thang. Could even velvet rope it and make it the cool place for younger kids to hang out. Like Tyke Reserved Hooping or some such thing.
PS: Don't take legal advice from a law student. They are not allowed (by law) to advise whatsoever. If they do, it's trouble for them - more than a hoop to the head ;-)
Disclaimer, law grad, not yet licensed, therefore, none of what I write was legal advice or should be construed as such:-)
