Are your trainers certified to train people? Do they have trainers certificates? Is it necessary and why is it necessary? We cover these important questions, and more, in this article to help you protect your micro-gym business.
The Basics
There are really two basic requirements for all trainers at your gym. First, your trainers need to be certified or have a recognized trainers certificate, and second, it needs to be up to date.
Common Factual Scenario
You are a gym owner, you are running a gym that is making money, and you want to hire help from a trainer or coach. It doesn’t really matter what kind of gym you own. This could be a yoga studio, Pilates, powerlifting gym, mixed martial arts, CrossFit, etc. The point is, you want to hire someone to help you train your clients. You hire someone you think would be a good fit. That person starts working and suddenly a client is injured while training with your new employee. Now what?
Document and Call Your Insurance
Well, the first thing you need to do is document everything you can about what happened. But, we cover that in another article. The next thing you need to do is contact your insurance company to let them know that something happened. The insurance company is going to start asking questions. One of those questions is going to be whether the trainer was certified and whether those certifications are current. If the answer to either of those questions is, “No,” the insurance company will deny coverage and you will be out on your own to defend any potential injury claims from the injured client. This could be a business ending lawsuit as most micro-gyms do not have tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank to pay in defense costs, settlements, or verdicts.
This is Preventable
So, how do you prevent this from happening?
It’s pretty easy, actually. Reach out to all of your current trainers, whether they are independent contractors or employees. Ask them for a copy of their current trainer certificates or certifications. If they don’t have any, that’s problem #1 for you to solve and solve ASAP.
If they do provide you with copies, next reach out to your insurance company and confirm that your policy accepts those certificates as legitimate certifications. Most insurance companies, like Affiliate Guard, will cover certified trainers who are working for you and will not require the trainers to get their own insurance policy.
Situations like this are preventable if you know what to do and act now. At Gym Lawyers PLLC, we have over a decade of experience in the law and running our own gym. That’s why we are here to help you avoid legal issues that could impact or destroy your business.
