Mr. Broadhag

Spas, Health & Fitness

Five Crucial Hotel Fitness Center Liability Issues

By Kurt A. Broadhag, President, K Allan Consulting

Hotel fitness centers, regardless of their location, have a universal obligation to provide guests with a safe, healthy workout environment. Whether the hotel invests in the gym as a guest perk or a profit center is of little concern - the facility operations should focus around the concept of risk management.

Hotels are no strangers when it comes to liability risks. Guests are met with rules and regulations, waivers and releases to sign upon check-in all put in place to protect the hotel from risk of a potential lawsuit. Staff members are trained to constantly be on the lookout for risks throughout the facility and either take steps to eliminate the risk or inform management.

The typical health club hosts a litany of liability risks. Whether through user error or negligence on the part of the facility there are inherent risks associated with the activity of exercising. Contraindications associated with members pre-existing health conditions, often left undiagnosed, can lead to life-threatening emergencies. The act of exercising in itself places the body under extreme loads and compromising positions that can result in injury from improper instruction or equipment failure.

Although hotel gyms do not produce nearly the same amount of foot traffic as a normal gym these risks can be multiplied. Everyday health clubs have the benefit of walking new clients through the workout process - explaining the release form, defining the rules and regulations of the club, providing orientation and free workouts with equipment instruction, and always having staff on hand to deal with emergency issues. Hotel gyms are often un-staffed and tucked away inside out of the way of the front desk. As a result guests are left to monitor their own safety, figure out correct exercise equipment operations, and deal with emergency situations on their own.

As a hotel, how do you protect yourself from liability issues associated with the gym? Developing a comprehensive risk management plan and taking steps as early as the design phase to limit liability is a must in protecting your hotel from litigation arising from injury to either a guest or your staff inside the fitness center. Risk management within the gym centers on a comprehensive plan that facilities should adopt to create a clean, safe environment for both your guests and staff. Following is five crucial areas within the fitness center that should not be overlooked. With the proper planning and risk management plan in place, addressing these issues can drastically reduce your hotels liability.

1. Improper Facility Design

Risk management within the fitness center begins in the early stages of the design phase. Consideration should be given as to where the facility will be placed in relationship to the rest of the property. Placing the fitness center close to the main entrance/front desk area will not only help to promote the facility but will increase accessibility in the event of an emergency response. Since the majority of hotels do not have the ability to place the gym within eyesight of the front desk monitoring systems, such as a card swipe door entry, should be incorporated allowing only hotel guests access to the fitness facility.

Interior design components and the room's mechanical systems play an important role in liability reduction. Installing HVAC systems with automatic climate control will keep the room at a safe workout temperature and guard against dangerous overheating injuries to your guests such as dehydration and heat stroke. Lighting should be installed that allows guests to easily read all signage and equipment instructions while lighting the entire space. Flooring choices within the facility should be designed around the function of each space and guard against slip and fall injuries taking into consideration 1) issues such as sweat falling on slick floors and creating hazards, and, 2) transition elevation differences in rooms with two or more different types of flooring. Finally, other elements such as drinking fountains and emergency phones should be available.

Equipment purchasing decisions revolve solely around commercial equipment. Warranties on home equipment are not only void if used in a commercial setting but the equipment is not made for everyday wear-and-tear and premature failure may result in injury. Also, purchasing equipment from a reputable manufacturer that carries product liability insurance will protect you in case of a manufacturing defect. Finally, only trained technicians should perform the equipment installation to insure all the equipment is functioning properly and passes a final inspection.

Proper room layout will guard against potential liability issues and code compliance. Professional organizations, such as the American Academy of Sports Medicine (ACSM) have created standards and guidelines for fitness facilities that, when followed, will dramatically reduce liability. These guidelines include minimum spacing for equipment based upon function. In addition, ADA concerns in terms of minimum walkway access, turning radiuses, door access, etc. need to be addressed.

2. Lack of Preventative Maintenance Program

One of the most prevalent liability issues found in fitness centers involves injuries associated with faulty equipment. Incorporating a comprehensive preventative maintenance program will not only limit liability by enhancing the safety of your guests but will also extend the life of equipment by identifying and preventing service problems and protect your investment.

The log book serves as the cornerstone to the preventative maintenance program. The log book, developed around each equipment manufacturers maintenance recommendations, tracks maintenance performed on all of the equipment. Proper use of a log book will flag potential mechanical problems, determine the feasibility of repair verses replacement of equipment, track usage, and provide a checklist of both scheduled maintenance and daily cleaning tasks. Perhaps most important, the log book is the facility's guarantee that, if a member is injured when using a piece of equipment, it is not because the equipment malfunctioned due to neglect of the maintenance staff.

Log books break down scheduled maintenance into daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly tasks. These tasks involve cleaning, lubricating, and repair of worn or broken parts. For the preventative maintenance program to be fully operable these tasks should be performed by either a staff member or an outside service technician trained and certified by the equipment manufacturer to spot and repair any potential hazard.

3. Substandard Cleaning

There are a number of liability risks to both your guests and staff that revolve around maintaining a clean facility. The fitness center is unlike any other public place in terms of cleaning and disinfecting with environmental conditions that are ripe for breeding germs. These conditions not only place your guests at risk for coming in contact with certain diseases, some dangerous, but also your staff in terms of handling the cleanup.

There is a whole host of different types of microorganisms found commonly in the fitness center because they thrive in warm, moist environments. Most are not considered life-threatening organisms, often responsible for common illnesses and skin problems. There are other organisms, however, that are more serious such as MRSA (Methycillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) and certain bloodborne pathogens. Proper cleaning and disinfecting will prevent the spread of these from one guest to another via direct touch by thoroughly cleaning every surface clients come into contact with. In addition, adopting OSHA procedures on proper cleaning of hazardous situations will reduce the health risk to staff and reduce liability as an employer.

Reducing the health risk to both your guests and staff requires a scheduled cleaning plan with written procedures on how to handle certain cleaning situations. Cleaning schedules should be divided up into daily spot cleaning as well as more thorough cleaning after hours. Supplying guests with towels and disposable disinfecting cleaning wipes and/or spray will also lessen the daily burden on your staff.

4. Lack of Signage/Policies

Since the majority of hotel gyms are not staffed signage plays an extremely important role in bridging the gap of gym supervision. These gyms do not have the luxury of member orientation to discuss rules and procedures and equipment operation and, as a result, must rely on "written supervision" to satisfy reasonable care and reduce liability.

Signage can be divided into a number of categories, each satisfying different areas of liability issues.

Examples include:

• Rules and Regulation - explain hotel gym policies and describe steps your guests can take to limit your liability.
• General Risk - inform participants of potential risks associated with exercise and the need for a doctor's clearance if there are any pre-existing health risks
• Basic Instruction -posted on the wall or included as placards on equipment that describe basic machine function, adjustment, and safe operation.
• Emergency Procedure - guidelines guests can follow in the case of emergency that include emergency contact numbers, evacuation plans, and basic first aid procedures. Special consideration behind posting signs should hinge around content and style to provide the best protection. State and local agencies have specific regulations for certain signs in terms of size, font, and general appearance. Guidelines for rules and regulations, general risks, and basic instruction are readily available and can be found in professional organizations such as IHRSA or ACSM.

5. Ineffective Emergency Plan

Incorporating an effective emergency plan is one of the least planned for situations within the fitness center but also one of the most important. While you can drastically reduce risk of liability due to negligence, it can never be reduced 100%. It is therefore important to develop emergency plans around liability risks that are impossible to remove.

The emergency plan should cover both medical emergencies as well as events such as natural disasters. Unlike normal fitness centers, the hotel gym has the advantage of having some type of general emergency plan in place for the entire hotel. Things to include within the gym are an evacuation plan, phone for emergencies, and basic guidelines for what to do in case of emergency.

Fitness centers have the inherent risk of health emergencies and maintaining a comprehensive emergency plan can be the difference in a life and death situation. This plan centers on first aid/CPR/AED response. Since the chance of cardiac arrest increases in a fitness setting due to the increased stresses and chances of survival decrease drastically as time passes, it is important to have plan in place to be able to activate immediately.

Although requirements vary from state to state most facilities are equipping AED's in their fitness centers. Placing an AED inside the hotel gym with proper instruction on usage and training staff members in CPR/AED administration can drastically increase the chance of survival in cardiac arrest victims.

Effective emergency plans extend beyond the actual events. Incidence reports should be thoroughly completed to record effective hotel emergency response. In addition, regular testing of the emergency response system with staff members and management should be performed to assure everyone is trained in procedures to control evacuations/emergency response in a safe and effective manor.

The comprehensive risk management plan is an ongoing process. Controlling liability risks involves routine monitoring among both staff and management. Adopting a plan in the beginning stages of design sets the groundwork for controlling liability risks. Creating infrastructure based on defined scheduled tasks will help to flag a risk should it arise, determine its magnitude, and develop a plan to either reduce the risk or eliminate it entirely. If after all of these steps an incident does arise, then the risk can be transferred with a comprehensive liability insurance policy that further protects your hotel. Train your staff, walk the facility, follow the plan and be assured that you are offering your guests a safe workout environment.

Kurt Broadhag has over 16 years of experience in personal training and gym design. He is president of K Allan Consulting, a firm specializing in health club design and management. K Allan Consulting works in unison with property owners, architects, and interior designers to address fitness solutions and develop functional workout environments. The company specializes in two-dimensional and three-dimensional fitness facility renderings, consulting from conceptual design to final installation. Kurt obtained his LEED AP certification and has authored articles on green fitness center design. Mr. Broadhag can be contacted at 310-601-7768 or kbroadhag@kallanconsulting.com Extended Bio...

HotelExecutive.com retains the copyright to the articles published in the Hotel Business Review. Articles cannot be republished without prior written consent by HotelExecutive.com.