Gym and fitness club insurance is a comprehensive policy that covers gym equipment, its employees, gym trainers, and fitness instructors from litigation against negligence or third-party damage. But a qualified personal trainer, health coach, or part-time gym trainer should always check with their employer whether they are covered in the gym insurance policy or not.
The following two covers are crucial for gym trainers and fitness instructors if they are employed by any gym:
1. Public liability cover: When somebody gets injured due to your professional services or if the third-party property gets damaged while you are rendering your professional services, public liability cover provides protection by covering the litigation cost and settlement. Nowadays, litigation costs are very expensive and lawsuits also can damage your professional reputation. Such expenses are taken care of by gym insurance.
2. Professional indemnity cover: Professional liability coverage protects you when you are found to be at fault for some specific event such as wrong advice, negligence, or errors and omissions. Gym and fitness studio insurance covers you against the risk of legal charges and compensation. For instance, you asked your client to perform deadlift exercises, even after knowing that he suffered a lower back injury in the past. After exercise, he suffers from severe lower back pain and sues you for improper training and advice. In such cases, gym insurance can shield you against legal costs and compensation.
Read: What is covered under Gym Insurance?
If you provide training to your client in a rented place or you are a part-time fitness instructor, you should consider buying gym insurance in order to protect your professional services from bearing the full cost of defending a negligence claim made by a client and damages awarded in such a civil lawsuit. Every fitness professional should check with their employer about professional indemnity insurance if they are working in the gym.
Providing assistance or guidance might be a daunting walk as sometimes it backfires in a lawsuit that put allegations on your professional services. A slight negligent act in the gym might cause severe injuries which put a great strain on your services and invite a financial crisis.
If your client gets injured by using the equipment incorrectly and blamed you for not providing proper training, you have no option left but to accept it and pay the compensation amount or fight the lawsuit. In both instances, you have to bear financial expenses. Hence, it is important for every gym and health club to buy gym insurance for optimal protection.
Also Read About: Malpractice Insurance for Fitness Professional
Case: B.Y. Gym appointed one part-time certified Zumba trainer to provide weekend special Zumba sessions. He is assured that he works in a reputed fitness studio so must be protected by gym insurance. Later, a client sued the personal trainer for providing negligent instructions irrespective of knowing the medical conditions of the client and asked him to perform complex exercises which go beyond sore muscles and fatigue. So the high-intensity exercises developed a dangerous muscle breakdown.
Luckily, gym insurance bought by B.Y. Gym covers part-time employees. Hence all the litigation expenses caused due by to claim by the client will be covered by the gym insurance policy, hence protecting the trainer and the gym’s reputation.
Gym owners should always buy gym and fitness studio insurance before rendering professional services and also make sure that all the employees such as personal trainers, part-time fitness trainers, health coaches, gym trainers, professional aerobic trainers, and yoga instructors are covered under the policy.