Personal trainers, sport instructors or coaches are certified experts in sport such as fitness, yoga, tennis, running and many more. Risks are inherent to physical activities and bodily injuries could happen. If this is happening under the supervision of a personal trainer, is he/she liable to pay a financial compensation to the third party? Does it mean that personal trainers need insurance? In this article below, we are explaining the reasons why personal trainers need liability insurance.
1- What are the tasks performed by personal trainers?
Personal trainers get paid in exchange for their advice and knowledge by one or several participants who want to reach a specific goal whether it is losing weight, gaining muscles, or reaching a certain performance in sport. To accomplish their job, a personal trainer has many roles and responsibilities.
A personal trainer is:
- Collecting health information about clients and identifying risk factors.
- Performing fitness / sport assessment to gauge the fitness/ sport level and follow the improvements.
- Designing specific workout plans tailor-made to his/her client’s goal, needs or capabilities. This is not one-size-fit-all workout routine. The plan should be adapted in case client has specific issues such as bad knees or back problem.
- Giving proper instruction to perform each exercise movement and correct the posture or technique.
- Providing general dietary recommendations.
- Maintaining client confidentiality
Even if all the above tasks are correctly performed, accident happen every day when practicing a sport which could cause minor injuries or serious and adverse health outcome.
2 – What type of accident could happen?
There is a multitude type of accident that can take place during a coaching session
- The participant could suffer injury on the medium/long term because of a specific exercise wrongly performed.
- A participant, such as a kid who requires specific attention, slips and gets injured during the session.
- The released of photos of participants on social media without their agreement might trigger some privacy issues.
- While using equipment in a rented venue, the personal trainer or the participant damage the equipment they are using to perform the exercise.
The above are just few examples of how accident could happen during a training session. contract a
3. Is the personal trainer liable to pay financial compensation in the above situations?
By giving advice and sharing their knowledge, personal trainers have the potential to change the life of their clients who are on their side looking forward to getting positive results. To get these positive results, personal trainers must take proper care of their clients and create an environment of trust and confidence.
There is no doubt in this situation that the duty of care is strong and heavy.
Therefore, if an accident happens under the supervision of a personal trainer leading to financial losses for the client (medical expenses, loss of revenues …), he/she has certainly the right to start legal proceedings.
The outcome of the complaint and the compensation awarded will vary depending on each situation. What is certain is that, whether at fault or not, the personal trainer will have to pay legal fees to defend his/her position.
Looking for a personal trainer insurance
If you are a personal trainer looking for some information about public liability insurance and a professional indemnity insurance, please don’t hesitate to send us an email with your contact details.
You can also visit our website to find out about the other insurance services we offer.
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