It is accepted that the United States of America leads the way in terms of litigation, as it is also generally accepted that Australia usually follows closely the trends of the USA.  This tendency holds true, most would say unfortunately, in regard to the increasing numbers of legal actions flooding the courts in this country.

Whilst I have not seen the numbers to support the allegation, it has been reported that the Australian state of New South Wales follows only California in the USA in regard to the incidence of legal actions.

It is useful then to look at what is currently happening in the United States to give a guide as to what will likely follow in Australia.

In the US magazine "Athletic Business" of July 1998, article author Marc Rabinoff (a professor of human performance in sport and leisure studies) wrote in regard to litigation involving health and fitness centre.  He explained that 63 cases in 23 states in which he had been retained as an expert witness had revealed distinct themes.

Whilst the circumstances of individual lawsuits can vary widely the types of claims they tend to involve are strikingly similar.  In fact, the most common claims can be broken down into three general categories:- failure to supervise, failure to warn and failure to properly instruct.

In nearly every lawsuit in which any of these three categories was involved, the method of managing the risk was very simple, yet was not performed by the facility, largely because the defendants were unaware of or ignored current industry standards of care.

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has published the second edition of it's Health/Fitness Facility Standards and Guidelines.  This publication outlines six basic standards which represent the standard of care that must be demonstrated by all health/fitness facilities towards their users.

Collectively these standards ensure that every physical activity or program offered by a facility is held in what is considered to be a relatively safe environment and is conducted in an appropriate manner.  In addition to these six standards is approximately five hundred guidelines.

The six standards are as follows:-

1. A facility must be able to respond in a timely manner to any reasonably foreseeable emergency event that threatens the health and safety of facility users.  Towards this end, a facility must have an appropriate emergency plan that can be executed by qualified personnel in a timely manner.

2. A facility must offer each adult member a pre-activity screening that is appropriate to the physical activities to be performed by the member.

3. Each person who has supervisory responsibility for a physical activity program or area at a facility must have demonstrable professional competence in that physical activity program or area.

4. A facility must post appropriate signage alerting users of those areas of a facility that present potential increased risk(s).

5. A facility that offers youth services or programs must provide appropriate supervision.

6. A facility must conform to all relevant laws, regulations and published standards.

Whilst these standards refer to facilities, they are not applicable only to commercial health and fitness facilities.  The ACSM in fact has not attempted to define precisely what types of physical activities and programs collectively constitute a "facility".  It is the position of ACSM that any business or entity that provides an opportunity for individuals to engage in activities that may reasonably be expected to involve placing stress on one or more of the various physiological systems of a users body must adhere to the six standards.

                                                                     ....Continued