Risk Management Worksheet

There are two primary legal issues surrounding the use of AEDs: First, which facilities are required by law to have AEDs, and second is immunity granted to those individuals using an AED in a medical emergency? While there are no legal mandates requiring AEDs in all facilities offering recreation and/or sport services, several states have adopted legislation for AEDs in certain types of facilities, such as schools, health/fitness clubs, state parks and state buildings. Immunity statutes provide protection to those non-medical persons who use an AED in a medical emergency and might be concerned about the risk of alleged negligence for AED misuse. The immunity statutes allow recreation and sport managers to create emergency response plans that include the use of AEDs without fear of liability. The bottom line: Use of AEDs in emergency care is important enough to provide immunity for the users, yet not all states have mandated AEDs for facilities where physical activity occurs.

The duty to provide emergency care would depend on the factors inherent in the situation such as the relationship of park rangers to the dare devil (he is a trespasser), the risk that the man undertook in riding over Niagara Falls in a barrel (tremendous risk!), and the foreseeability of risk of injury or death in doing so (that's why it's called the death zone!!). Duty also depends upon the social utility of the act which was thrill-seeking at best, versus the likelihood of injury which was great. Finally, the park ranger supervisor must consider the magnitude of the burden in sending his/her rescuers into the \"death zone\" to save the dare devil. [Any opinion students provide for this answer beyond identifying any or all of the factors is acceptable].

Essentially there was no plan in place. For spring practices, the athletic department would assign student trainers to different practices, but for fall practices, there were no trainers assigned. According to Gettysburg College, the coach was to first assess the athlete's injury/condition, dispatch players to get a trainer and call for an ambulance.

Two team members ran for help, but it is not known whether the coach instructed them to get help or they did so on their own. The team captain ran toward the stadium to locate a trainer. He encountered a student trainer on his way and told her that a lacrosse player was down and needed help. He continued into training room where he told student trainers what happened. One of the student trainers then phoned the gym and told head trainer about emergency. Another student ran to the College Union building where he told the student at front desk of the emergency who then called for an ambulance. Student trainer arrived on scene after hitching a ride to the practice field, but did not attempt CPR or any other 1st aid technique and only monitored victim's condition. Coach got to stadium training room, learned the head trainer had been notified and an ambulance called, and then returned to practice field at the same time as the head trainer who arrived in a golf cart. At this time, head trainer began CPR with another student (band member who was also an EMT) who chanced upon the scene. Ambulance arrives at 4:15pm when victim was defibrillated and taken to hospital where he was announced dead at 4:58pm.

1. Student trainers could have been assigned to fall practices 2. Coaches should have been CPR certified. 3. Teams could be required to conduct mock emergency situations early on in their season to reduce chaos that can occur in an emergency. 4. Athletic department could have provided each coach with a radio to call for help. 5. Student trainers should be CPR certified and run monthly emergency drills to help them react to real emergency situations. 6. AED could have been available on field with student trainers and coaches being trained to use it.

• Independent contractors - degree of liability is minimal as long as the service provider uses due diligence in selecting a contractor with a proven safety record. • Organization-owned vehicles - organization has a duty to see that vehicles are in safe operating condition and that drivers are properly qualified. Organization should have written policies, checklists, and maintenance records providing documentation that their legal duty has been fulfilled. • Privately owned vehicles: o Employee vehicles used for organizational business establish a principal-agent relationship which makes the organization vicariously liable for employee negligence. o Non-employee vehicles are when a private vehicle provided by someone not affiliated with the organization is used for transportation. This also creates a principal-agent relationship and makes the organization vicariously liable.

A risk management plan is a systematic analysis of one's operations for potential risks or risk exposures and then setting forth a plan to reduce such exposures. A good risk management plan analyzes all potential risks that an organization faces and selects the optimal method to treat each. Developing layers of protection means whenever an identified risk cannot be completely eliminated, several strategies should be used to treat the risk.

Comprehensive inspection is conducted by one or more staff members (i.e., inspection team) who walk throughout the facility trying to identify as many potential risks or hazards as possible. Periodic inspections are the ongoing program of inspection that occurs on a daily, weekly, biweekly, and/or monthly basis and is determined by the activities and usage of that particular facility.