Managing the Risk of COVID-19 in your workplace
“What if someone contracts COVID-19 in my studio?”
“If I ask clients to clean equipment and someone gets infected, will I be liable?”
With the focus for many on returning to face to face teaching the PAA support team are beginning to field questions about liability and insurance. We posed some of these to BMS Insurance for their feedback:
The members need to follow the guidelines provided by Government and Safework Australia and do whatever is reasonable to keep their workplaces clean and safe.
If a client or staff member contracted the disease or passed it on to someone, and there was a resulting complaint, we would recommend the member put in a Notification with the PAA and their Insurer.
There is no COVID exclusion under the policy but the situation and outcome will vary greatly, and cover will depend on what happened, what precautions were in place, what the complaint is, etc. etc.
In such circumstances notes and records about the safety processes and procedures in place on site, or even a risk assessment, would be fantastic. The more precautions taken, the better!
The PAA are recommending that, once Pilates is allowed to resume, members follow guidelines by Safework Australia for cleaning and disinfecting.
Safework Australia also advise putting together an assessment of the possible risks present in the workplace in relation to COVID-19. Creating a COVID-19 Risk Assessment for your business will give you a clearer understanding of the range of issues you might encounter and provides an opportunity to plan the actions you could take to manage them effectively.
If something does go wrong, a Risk Assessment can go a long way towards demonstrating your commitment to the safety of your clients to insurers and other business stakeholders. It shows that you have thought ahead, prepared carefully and planned well to minimise and address future consequences.
General information on Risk Assessments
Key considerations for undertaking a risk assessment – COVID-19
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/key-considerations-undertaking-risk-assessment-covid-19
Template and example COVID-19 Risk Register:
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/template-and-example-covid-19-risk-register
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