What should a liability waiver include?

by Andy Wooley in Waiver

Liability waiver form protects your business against any lawsuit if someone is injured during a business-hosted event. In other words, the liability waiver serves as an agreement between the service host and a participant. The document is signed before the actual event. The participant next agrees to excuse the host of any liability for damages and injuries.

A well- written waiver will protect your business from liability. What should a valid liability waiver include? We have discussed the important components of a liability waiver so as to help you get it right from the start. Continue reading below:

Elements of a Liability waiver

Here are the main provisions of a liability waiver. It is important to observe these guidelines to avoid future consequences in your business:

1. Formal structure

A waiver should follow a certain structure to be termed as valid:

The liability waiver should contain a descriptive title.
It should also include the business contact information and that of the participant, which is left out for filling on the actual date of the event.
The prints should be large enough to be read easily by the participant. The recommended font is Roman 12. The format should also be easy to follow through, each section should be separated by a subheading and paragraphs separated by adequate space. You may use a bold font to highlight the important sections of your waiver.
The waiver must include a warning section to prompt the reader to read the waiver carefully before signing, you can put this just after the title
The language used in the waiver should be simple and easily understood by the signer. The waiver should also provide explanations for the unfamiliar legal terms used.
Your waiver must have the date of execution; you may leave a blank space to be filled later on when the activity is taking place.

2. Risk involved section

The liability waiver protects you as a business against a lawsuit in case of damage or loss to the participant. For this reason, you will need to state why the activity is dangerous so that the participants can make an informed decision on whether to participate or not to.

You may ask other businesses in your industry the risks involved in the event that you are organizing, so as to capture most of the risks if not all.
To be on the safer side, you may want to emphasize on waiver general use. This means that regardless of the activities being performed at the time of the injuries. This is the only way to deal with several injuries at the same time.

3. Assumption of risk section

In most cases, people will assume the risks involved in participating even in the most dangerous activities. An assumption of risk section should state that the participant is not able to put blame on the event host as they knew all the risks involved but assumed them anyway.

4. Choice of law provision section

This section is very important; it means that in case the participant ends up suing you, the judge will have to determine if the signed waiver prevents a lawsuit pursuit. For this purpose, you must include the state’s law that will be in control of the interpretation of the contract. You should always choose the law that you are familiar with, in most cases the law of the state where your business is located.

5. Confirmation

This section should include some few sentences that state your participant has read and understood the waiver. You can place this above the signature line so that the signer is able to read again before they finally sign.

6. Signature

A waiver is not complete until it includes the signatures of both the event host and business owner and that of the participant. The date should also be included alongside the signatures. You may also include a signature line for a witness if necessary.

7. Respect to state laws

Each state comes with its own laws. It is therefore important not to deviate from your state laws when drafting a waiver because this will render it invalid in the court of law. Learn the laws by making use of the local legal directories or join legal organizations that are in line with your industry. Always remember that if you ended up in court the validity of your waiver shall be determined by a state judge.

Other important provisions of a liability waiver

You may also include the following sections in your waiver form to increase its effectiveness:

Insurance: State clearly that the participant is responsible or their own medical treatments in case of an injury during the event, that the business insurance does not cover participants.

Changes: state clearly that any changes to the original liability waiver should be in writing.

No admission: States that signing of the liability waiver does show the admission of any wrongdoing by either party.

Right to the attorney: The section should state that anyone has a right to consult with an attorney about the liability waiver before signing it.

Severable: Explain that the rest of the document should be considered valid even if one part of it is found to be incorrect in the court of law.

Images release: The section should state that the participant agrees to have their photographs released in relation to the events attended.

OnSpot Social App for waiver signing

Sometimes back, businesses used to print out their liability waivers for their participants to fill out. Fortunately, with the emergence of waiver form apps, the story is different. Onspot Social app is one of the best waiver form app that any business can use to sign in participants at any event. The app allows you to draft unlimited waivers for different purposes.

OnSpot Social includes top-notch security features that will safeguard your waiver documents for as long as needed. You may also transfer them to the CRM of your choice or even send them via Email for counterchecking purposes.

Final Thoughts

A liability waiver is a powerful document for any social event business. The waiver should be administered in a fair manner, allows the signer to have enough time to read, understand and consult. Having a waiver retaining system such as the OnSpot Social app allows you to rest assured that you will be able to easily produce them whenever needed. You should make an effort to review your waiver form. As time goes you should review because of the inevitable changes in your activities or state laws.