In the past, I have been called to consult with health club members who have felt that their club had an inadequate flooring system which was so poorly constructed it was actually causing members to become injured. Unfortunately, these folks always seem to feel that because their club has a floor that they believe to be substandard, then their club is somehow liable for any injuries that participants receive from just being engaged in normal exercise. While I’ve stated in the past that, in my opinion, a certain type of flooring system may not be ideal for preventing injuries, we can’t forget that not so many years ago, we were doing high-impact activities on floors that were simply tile over concrete.
Liability is a strong term, and one that does not typically apply to sports flooring. Flooring in itself is seldom solely responsible for injury. Historically, the cases in which injury has occurred have been because the flooring was damaged and it had become an obvious hazard, or the flooring was inadequately maintained and the facility was aware that there was the possibility that someone could be injured in the area. Recently, I asked an expert in insurance for the health and fitness industry, Ken Reinig of Association Insurance Group, if he’d ever heard of a claim based on improper flooring and his response was, “We have had plenty of slip-and-fall claims, but it usually involves wet areas or tripping hazards.” He added that to his recollection, he has never encountered a claim that dealt strictly with improper flooring.
There are so many factors that could cause injury in group exercise and court sports that isolating it to the floor is awfully difficult to establish. The type of footwear can be inappropriate. The floor can be improperly maintained so that a coat of oil makes it slick.
The routines that the instructor presents may be too physically challenging for the clientele. Any one of these examples could lead to an injury, but none of them relate to the performance of the flooring.
What is important is to let your members know that your club has invested in a professional flooring system appropriate for the type of activities conducted in the area, and that the flooring has been safetytested for those activities.
The folks who had called me with concerns about their club’s flooring were probably not on an unsafe floor per se, but rather it was a floor they believed was causing injury because it was not of a construction recognized as being appropriate for the activities being conducted there. What is significant is that if a club invests in quality flooring that is recognized as appropriate, that facility is less likely to have disgruntled members who move on to another club that has already invested in a floor system with a recognizable name and reputation in the industry.
If your club has made an investment in a flooring system that is known in the industry, or you invest in flooring from a manufacturer that you can show has made their own investment in testing their floors in a commercial laboratory, members are much less likely to blame your facility for having an unsafe area. If members do find themselves injured, they are much more likely to search for other issues that may have caused their injury – like improper footwear or technique – rather than something that you, the owner, has failed to do to prevent their injury.
While I admire the ingenuity of some club owners who try to devise their own sports flooring (including the incredible story of a gentleman who created his own aerobic floor by gluing carpet to sheets of plywood, which he then placed over old tires) you may be indicating to your members that you value your own cost-savings over their safety. That’s simply a message that you can never afford to project. Prospects will always look for a club that does not cut corners at their expense.
If you already own a flooring system that is recognized in the industry as being safe, there’s no reason you shouldn’t use this as a marketing tool and identify every area with the brand name flooring you’ve installed there – whether prospects recognize the names or not. It will at least indicate that you’ve invested in products that most people, who are more seasoned in the industry, would recognize. After all, every club member and prospective member appreciates knowing that you have a club which has invested in the best available products – doing this gives you a noticeable, competitive advantage over those clubs that have failed to do it.
Steve Chase is the General Manager of Fitness Flooring. He can be contacted at 866.735.5113, or by email at exerflex@exerflex.com, or visit www.exerflex.com.
