Indemnities and the '7 Tiers of Protection' Part 3

My first two inserts on this topic addressed three of the 7 tiers namely common law and customer briefing. I will now address the remaining four tiers  

TIER #4: Most of the above are aspects to be addressed and managed 'at the coal face' but what is important is what and how you do it. This includes clear signage upon arrival and in your rooms/tents, briefing upon arrival, care taken with e.g. slippery surfaces and unfenced pools, rivers, insects, snakes, staff training, first aid and evacuation. One of the ‘coal face’ aspects highlighted in the Webinar and the incident discussed, is an in depth knowledge and awareness of the risks you venue and/or activities may entail. It underpins the duty of care I alluded to in the first insert and it is crucial you are personally completely aware of the various risks prevalent at and/or that may arise at your premises and/or activities. As the saying goes ‘New brooms sweep clean’ but then it is also natural to become blasé and comfortable with your environment and activities. However in the context of risk awareness and management you can simply not afford this ‘luxury’ and you should refresh the awareness on an ongoing basis or get an objective outsider to do that for you. 

TIER #5: T&C are often not dealt with properly. Again I've written detailed articles about why these are important. Over and above dealing with T&C in the context of section 49 of the CPA as illustrated above, here are some of the reasons you need proper T&C which must be accepted by the customer:

• Limitation of liability 
• Extraneous but very problematic aspects such as visas, health physical requirements for activities
• Jurisdiction
• Applicable law
• Interest on late/non-payments
• Legal fees
• Exclusion of promises, perceptions, advertising etc
• Capacity/authority to accept the T&C

TIER #6: As with some of the topics above, I have written many articles and presented talks on indemnities and signage - again section 49 of the CPA is crucial. The very common observation about indemnities 'It is not worth the paper it's been written on' definitely is not without merit BUT that depends on how it has been worded, managed and the implementation of the other tiers. I will elaborate on this tier in a third insert.  

TIER #7: Finally there's insurance. It is important to note that it is a crucial part of the '7 Tiers' and not mutually exclusive to any of the above and in fact the better you deal with the other 6 issues, the more likely you are to obtain insurance at all, be in a position to negotiate lower premiums and high deductibles thus making the entire risk management per my '7 Tiers' worth your while!    

Next year I’ll address the impact of the CPA on indemnities       

May I take this opportunity of wishing all my readers a very happy Festive Season & hope that 2022 will be a Covid free year with a major upswing on tourism!