Running your park’s daily operations and attracting new guests likely takes up the bulk of your time. However, there are a few legal questions that you’ll need to answer to keep your visitors and your parks safer. Specifically, do you need waivers? 

Waivers are ultimately tools to help protect your park from liability as you and your visitors establish a formal agreement about specific risks associated with participating in various activities. Of course, some activities and some guests will be more risk-prone than others. After all, a park that hosts sporting events for kids will definitely have a different level of potential risk than one hosting a community picnic. 

To help you determine if waivers make sense for your park, this article will explore three things to consider, including the level of risk of your activities and the general abilities of your guests, as well as why your park should consider waivers in the first place. Let’s get started. 

1. Level of Risk

Waivers are only necessary for activities that carry a degree of risk. For some parks, assessing their degree of risk is easier than for others. For example, an adventure park with obstacle courses and zip lines will undoubtedly need waivers, whereas a park where guests are expected to stay on pathed trails with only benign wildlife nearby may not. 

Of course, there are some gray areas in which your park will need to more closely consider an activity’s inherent risk, the potential risk caused by human error, and worse case scenarios. 

For instance, a park with bike rental services wouldn’t need waivers if guests follow all proper safety guidelines and use their rented bikes responsibly while on park grounds. However, if a guest decides not to wear a helmet and ends up falling off their bike, this park will be better off if they had visitors sign waivers beforehand. 

2. Guest Demographics

Some guests will naturally be at a higher level of risk than others. For instance, activities at an adventure park may be a bit rougher on a guest who has a bad back. Given that your park likely welcomes a wide range of visitors every day, you’ll have to account for many varying levels of risk. 

Of course, there are a few groups that will almost always need a waiver. These include:

• Children. Camps, youth sports and any other activity at your park that involves children participating in events may need a waiver, especially if their parents will not be present. Be sure to make the waiver available to their parents or guardians well in advance of their visit to your park. 

• Visitors with medical conditions. Some guests will be at a higher level of risk than others due to pre-existing conditions. For example, a guest who is allergic to bees will be at a higher risk of injury at a nature park than other visitors. Additionally, some parks host programs specifically for visitors who have a specific medical condition, some of which may impact their level of risk based on the activities they will participate in. 

• Visitors who are part of another organization. If your park is hosting visitors from another organization, they might require drafting a waiver. For instance, parks that host team-building activities for corporate teams will likely need a formal waiver to attract businesses to their program. 

Given that many risk factors aren’t visible, many parks opt to have all visitors sign waivers. This approach can simplify your entrance process and also protect the privacy of guests who might otherwise need to share sensitive information about themselves to stay safe. 

3. Protection and Transparency 

When deciding whether or not your park needs waivers, always keep waivers’ main purpose in mind: protecting your park and your visitors. 

Waivers help protect your park from liability by ensuring that all visitors are properly informed about potential risks and are able to provide their informed consent when they decide to participate. This helps maintain transparency and build trust, as visitors will have a chance to learn and ask questions about all potential risky scenarios, even unlikely ones. 

Additionally, tools like online waivers can help improve transparency further. Guests might feel prompted to scan through a waiver quickly and not read the fine details if they only have a chance to view it at your park’s entrance. By putting your waiver online, visitors can thoroughly review its contents, conduct their own research, and reach out to your park for more information if they need help making the best decision for them. 

Providing your guests with a fun experience while also keeping them safe doesn’t need to be a challenge. Ensure your guests are informed about any risk associated with your park’s activities so they can make informed decisions about their participation if they need to sign a waiver. 

Daryl McCarl (he/him) is the director of business development at Smartwaiver.