Is Your Club Liable?

Errors and Omissions

Errors and Omissions are acquisitions made by clients for inadequate work and negligent actions. They are most common in such professions as physicians, attorneys, architects, and accountants. But can these claims be put on professionals in the golf industry? The answer is yes in many different areas of the golf business. The golf professional, the board of directors, and even the publisher of your clubs website can be affected by errors and omissions.

What’s the Difference?

First we need to understand the difference between errors and omissions. Errors are providing wrongful information with or without the knowledge of doing so. For example, as a golf professional you could tell someone or coach someone in doing a motion that could fix their swing but not know it could hurt them in the future. Omissions are by leaving out information about something. An example of omissions would be having a golfer doing a select motion and knowing it could result in injury but chose to mask the information. As a business and employee we should all try to eliminate performing these errors and omissions, but we should have the right coverage just in case something does occur.

The Golf Pro

For a golf professional, he/she can be liable if they teach a wrong practice or teach a wrong movement resulting in a future injury. If someone is feels you have taught something wrong and it resulted in injury, they can hold the professional and the club liable. For example, if you the golf professional teaches someone how to hit a specific shot such as a high draw and it consists of making the golfer do a movement he/she is not use to and results to a injury in the future, you could be liable. Golf courses and their professionals must take the precautionary actions listed below in order to be secure of threats of being held accountable for errors and omissions.

The Board of Directors

The board of directors and management can be affected by errors and omissions as well. If they implement a practice and it results in injury, they could be liable. For instance, a member of the board may implement a procedure where they ask the staff to mop the floors, but do not train the worker to take the right precautionary procedures and it results into injury of the staff member or even the general public, they could be liable.

Indirect Practices

Even parts of the business that aren’t directly related can be affected by errors and omissions. A company’s website can be just as liable as the people listed above. The website can be liable for writing and posting incorrect information. Publishers and golf courses must take the precautionary actions listed below in order to be secure of threats of being held accountable for errors and omissions.

How to Prevent and Protect Yourself from Errors and Omissions

Golf clubs should take the following precautions in order to protect their employees, board of directors, and outsourced staff such as publishers:

· Put a disclaimer in small writing at the bottom of your website stating that the publisher and the company is not responsible for errors and omissions (bottom of the page: Inside Golf)

· Even when you have the policy make sure your performing all your practices with precaution and try to be reduce the risks as much as possible

· Create a waiver form whenever possible

Although you cannot fully prevent errors and omissions, it is recommended that you and your club have Errors and Omissions Insurance or an insurance policy that gives coverage for claims by clients.

Prevention, reducing the risk and having the right insurance is the most important component of errors and omissions. Having the right insurance and taking the right precautions so that you as an employee and the company as a whole are not liable for any claims presented to you. Not having implementing the recommended guideline above can result in no coverage in very expensive legal defence costs or medical costs. Be prepared and covered can save yourself and the company a lot of money in the future.

By Jeremy Fernandez