Club liability

[arawa]

i dont know much about this however, is it not as simple as obtaining signatures on a disclaimer with something to the effect of.....

"if you fall and hurt and hurt yourself, get off your phone and look where your bloody well going.
dont go out in a boat with a hole in it
dont crash bash or smoke hash in anything
dont be a dick"

I am afraid not (according to a solicitor and an insurance company).
For example, our insurance company wanted a sign on a tidal slipway saying "Caution: this slipway is slippery" but the solicitor said that could be taken to mean we knew the slipway was slippery and had done nothing about it.
Just to complicate matters further, SEPA would not let us get rid of the growth on the concrete slipway by using lime because of a pollution risk! One bag of lime in the sea.....
And then public officials wonder why volunteers are not willing to come forward to run clubs etc.

[Laxdale]

I am afraid not (according to a solicitor and an insurance company).
For example, our insurance company wanted a sign on a tidal slipway saying "Caution: this slipway is slippery" but the solicitor said that could be taken to mean we knew the slipway was slippery and had done nothing about it.
Just to complicate matters further, SEPA would not let us get rid of the growth on the concrete slipway by using lime because of a pollution risk! One bag of lime in the sea.....
And then public officials wonder why volunteers are not willing to come forward to run clubs etc.

I did not bother commenting before because your previous post was spot on.
When Stornoway Angling Association was in line for a lot of grant money to improve the River Creed and amenities, we were told, we had to become a limited company to get our hands on the money. We also got the best insurance deal we could find (the advice was to use SANA). Thankfully, the need for due diligence to be shown on the part of anyone making a claim against a club  is making a bit of a comeback!

[caorach]

i dont know much about this however, is it not as simple as obtaining signatures on a disclaimer with something to the effect of.....

Your signature on a disclaimer means nothing in the sense that your signature can't over ride the law. As an extreme example if I ask you to sign a bit of paper that allows me to beat you to death with my fishing rod this doesn't change the fact that it was murder and so the law still comes for me. Same with any other disclaimer - you simply can't sign away your rights in law. It then becomes a matter of "legal experts" and who can pay the most for one and almost every club, or person, is doing something that a well paid solicitor could contrive to paint as a failure in duty of care or similar. There is a requirement for "reasonableness" but unless you can afford to fund a legal team to prove you took reasonable precautions, or that the claim is unreasonable as any reasonable person should know that rocks are slippery, then you've no chance. 

[Inchlaggan]

All of the above on disclaimers is 100% accurate. They are utterly meaningless in law.
Nor do warning signs. obviate corporate responsibility.
Minefield (sic).

[smackinnon]

yes the previous replies about signage / disclaimers are by in large accurate, however, if you take the sign for a slippery pathway as an example, you can take care of this through "Risk Assessments"
Oh No i hear you all say, not these things. All clubs should have a RA for all the tasks they carryout, or tasks that their members may carryout.
So you identify the risk, ie trip/ slip hazard, and you put in a counter measure to reduce ( not necessarily remove) the risk,  ie wear suitable footwear , or use the handrail ( if there was one )
then this demonstrates that you have identified a risk and made a reasonable attempt  to reduce the risk by offering advice and raising awareness of the risk.
I was going to mention Health and Safety policy statements but will leave that for another day... :lol:

[Fishtales]

This might be of help.

https://www.blackfriarsgroup.com/angling-club-insurance/

[Bobfly]

Do not forget cover for Employers Liability cover. "Smployee" is cast get wide for insurance purposes eg a club work party even though no-one is paid .

[Captain conger]

None of this comes as a surprise in this modern wonderful world we live in but jeezo, it is embarrassing that the human race who managed to get to space requires a sign to tell them that a SLIPway might be slippy....
That's up there with the nut packets with warnings that they might contain nuts.
These signs and warnings are putting the future of the Darwin awards at risk. And that would be a shame.