What To Do If Someone Gets Hurt At The Gym

If you own and operate a gym, you know there is potential for injuries to occur. This is only natural in a setting where people work out constantly, and continually try to push themselves to build their bodies. Knowing how you can avoid these problems, and treat them when they do occur, can give you the confidence to run your business properly. Check out these suggestions below, and see how they can help you and your clients stay safe when working out. 

Have The Right Insurance Coverage

As with any business, it is crucial to have the right type of insurance coverage. This protects both you and your company in case someone gets hurt, and decides to sue. Make sure you have coverage that protects your business, you as a business owner, and your employees. If you have certain employees, like personal trainers, it might be in their best interest to also carry insurance. You don’t want to lose your company or deal with other possible hang ups that might occur because your assets are not protected. Talking with insurance companies and finding the proper coverage for your situation matters and can save you money in the long run. 

Ensure Staff Know How To Respond

If an accident occurs, it is important that your staff knows how to respond if they witness it. This might mean providing first aid, giving CPR, or even using an AED device. When hiring staff, make sure everyone is trained in these practices, even if they are just working at the front desk. You never know when an accident will occur and what you will need to do in order to help a customer. Make sure everyone knows if the phone system requires dialing out in order to get emergency services. That way you can feel confident an emergency situation will be managed properly even if you are not present. 

Create a Process If Someone Gets Hurt

When a customer, employee, or anyone else who uses the gym gets hurt, it is important to have a process documenting what happened, what was done, and if there is a specific resolution that needs to occur for the problem to be properly handled. Using incident management can help document these problems and even provide guidance on what to do if they occur in the future. Having documentation of how problems were handled can be powerful evidence when dealing with insurance companies, or if your gym gets sued because of someone injuring themselves. 

Get Feedback

After you have set up your systems and determined what should be done when accidents occur, it is important to get feedback from others to see if there are any areas for improvement. Find out if there is anything missing that would affect compliance, or if there is a need to follow up with the injured party, insurance company, or someone else. Getting feedback from others allows you to see areas that might be missing, and find ways that you can offer better solutions.

If you own or run a gym, it is likely that an accident will occur and someone will get hurt at one point or another. Before this happens, it is important to have a system in place so you know how to deal with such accidents. Make sure everyone, including personal trainers, has insurance coverage or is covered by your company insurance. Getting staff properly trained is another crucial aspect of running a gym since they are most likely to assist someone who has been hurt. Having an incident management system of some kind is necessary too, since it can help you pinpoint any issues. Finally, get feedback from your staff, and find out if there are ways that your current system could be changed for the better. Keeping these tips in mind can make it easier to run your gym, and ensure that everyone is ready when an injury does occur. 

Mikkie Mills

Mikkie is a freelance writer from Chicago. She is also a mother of two who loves sharing her ideas on interior design, budgeting hacks, and DIY. When she’s not writing, she’s chasing the little ones or rock climbing at the local climbing gym.