A career in the fitness sector is fulfilling and has genuine dangers. Even with your good attempts to keep the safety standards and give appropriate instructions, accidents occur. A customer may fall in the course of a workout, they may get hurt due to poor form, or say that you instructed them to do something that hurt them.
In this day of litigation, you can also be sued even when you have not caused the accident. Without protection, it may cost you tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees alone to protect yourself against these claims, even when you are not guilty at all. This is where a full gym insurance is needed to cover your career and financial stability.
Knowing the Two Types of Claims
There are two types of injury claims to fitness professionals:
- First, accidental injuries are caused during regular operations such as a client stepping on equipment or a weight dropping and injuring his or her property.
- Second, negligence claims occur when the clients accuse you of professional advice or teaching that resulted in their harm. These may involve accusations of giving incorrect form of exercise instructions, prescribing wrong forms of exercises, or even not effectively evaluating the ability of a client.
These two kinds of claims have the potential of causing costly lawsuits and you require different kinds of cover to protect against them.
The Way General Liability Insurance Saves You
General liability policy insures accidents occurring in your business activities. When a client falls on the wet floor and breaks his or her wrist, when he or she trips on a dumbbell and hurts himself or herself, when the equipment collapses and ruins his or her property, that is where the general liability insurance comes in.
This coverage covers legal defense expenses and settles or pays the judgment of such accidents. The industry statistics indicate that about 50%of personal trainer insurance claims happen as slip-and-fall accidents, and so this insurance is very essential to protect you.
The Benefits of Having Professional Liability Insurance
Professional liability insurance will cover you on claims based on your experience and teaching. In the event that a client claims that you taught him/her a wrong exercise and he/she hurt him/herself, or when a client claims that you provided him/her with a wrong fitness program, this coverage will save you.
As an illustration, a client hurts the back at a workout session and tells you that you did not explain the exercise properly, or that you did not observe his/her bad form. They claim medical expenses and lost wages. In this case, an insurance for personal trainer would cover any legal defense and settlement or judgment expenses.
What is Actually Covered by Insurance
In the case of the right insurance cover, the insurance company offers a number of key covers. To start with, they provide you with an attorney to defend you and this alone may cost thousands of dollars.
Second, they deal with settlements, which could save you trial. Third, in case a lawsuit proceeds to trial, they pay all the legal expenses and damages, including to your policy limits. This is because you are not the one who has to pay these costs out of pocket. Simple liability insurance costs around $11-29 each month to most fitness professionals, a low price to pay considering the enormous losses that could otherwise occur.
The reason why Gym Insurance and Waivers are not Good Enough
Most trainers would think that their insurance or liability waivers cover them personally in their gym. This is a perilous fallacy. Gym insurance is usually a facility protection, but not an individual trainer insurance. Liability waivers are helpful but they do not deter lawsuits, they just provide an extra protection. In the case you train clients out of the gym or are an independent contractor, you are particularly susceptible to lack of your own coverage.
Conclusion
Insurance safeguards the fitness professionals against legal defense payments, settlements, and judgments when it comes to claims by clients who have suffered injuries. Regardless of whether the accident is really your fault or it is a misunderstanding, a full coverage will give you the chance to defend yourself without the risk of personal bankruptcy. To any fitness professional who is serious about safeguarding their career, proper liability insurance is not a luxury but a necessity.
