Legal Awareness II - Managing in a Recreation Environment

This training course is considered essential professional development for any recreation worker with managerial or supervisory responsibilities in a recreation setting. The increase in health and safety responsibility being adopted by every Canadian workplace is merely a gateway to the many other similar Ontario regulatory and legislative responsibilities in our industry that have the same far reaching accountability for non-compliance. This course explores the diverse legal obligations associated with recreation programs, services and infrastructure. Not knowing one’s legal responsibilities is not a legal defense. The course will encourage participants to develop and utilize hazard assessment and controls to help protect their employers and themselves from the risk of liability related to an injury or loss to someone we are legally responsible for. Workplace injuries are covered in Ontario under WSIB. This no-fault insurance coverage has strict guidelines for compensation that requires no court evaluation for compensation. Users of our facilities are not provided this same coverage and are forced to seek compensation or damages through the courts. Proving operational diligence is within reach for those who know the process and apply the tools of risk reduction. When there is an injury in your workplace either to a worker or a customer all recreational staff need to be able to prove they did everything reasonable to protect our customers. Through a mock trial, we explore the process of a typical law suit and discover what practices and procedures might improve our ability to defend ourselves.

Participants are encouraged to share their best practices, procedures and experiences from regulatory agencies, insurance companies and peers. Course facilitators will review and discuss procedures and strategies to meet industry best practice for inspection and documentation as a self-evaluation of current levels of compliance.

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Participants will leave with a renewed sense of importance of legislative compliance and an industry standard tool box of information that will play a significant role in helping maintain a safe work and play environment.