Waivers, forms and documents

Waivers are an essential component to a club’s “risk management”. Insurance companies require signed waivers because they reduce the number of claims and the likelihood of successful lawsuits. Using waivers can lower insurance premiums for the clubs and FMCBC.

In BC, properly signed waivers have been upheld by BC courts and serve as the first line of defense against lawsuits. They are therefore a powerful legal document that can bar a participant from suing for damages if they are injured, even if the injury is caused by the negligence of the club, its directors, or volunteers. They protect club directors, officers, volunteers, trip organizers and trip participants, not just the club and FMCBC.

Keep signed waivers at least 7 years.

• For minors, keep the waiver for 7 years after the person reaches the age of majority.
• Digital storage is fine as long as the files are readable, secure, backed up, and retrievable on request.

No. Keep attendance lists for every club-sanctioned activity, even when no incident is reported. Best practice is to date the list and store it together with the relevant waivers for that specific trip/event so everything is easy to find later.

For attendance lists, keep and store them with the day’s waivers. For incident reports, retain them indefinitely (or at least as long as your club’s records policy and/or legal counsel advises).

See the Waivers FAQ section for more on this topic.

Clubs should choose the waiver that covers all the activities in which their club participates, but not one that covers activities their club does not do. The waivers can be downloaded, printed, and used as is, or clubs can request to have their name included at the top. Email your request to us directly and we should have it back to you within a few days.

New! The FMCBC now offers e-Waivers for each of the printable waivers. Get your club members to complete the form digitally.

View all waivers here.

All club members and trip participants need to sign a waiver to help protect the FMCBC, its member clubs, their club members and all FMCBC and club volunteers, leaders and instructors. Note: Minors cannot legally sign waivers. Please see the following section for more details on how to handle participants under the age of 19.

Minors (under the age of 19) cannot legally sign a waiver and their parent/guardian cannot sign on their behalf to waive any claims they may have or may have in the future against the FMCBC, its member clubs, their club members and FMCBC and club volunteers, leaders and instructors. In this case, the waiver offers no protection and your club or organization will be relying on the FMCBC’s insurance policy against a claim from a minor.

The minor and his/her parent/guardian should instead sign the Acknowledgement of Risk (AR) form, which based on similar forms, the FMCBC’s Universal Waiver and the precedent set in the Wong v. Lok’s Martial Arts Centre court case. An AR form is not a binding contract or release of liability, but it does show the courts that the parent/guardian and the minor were aware of the risks inherent in the activity in which the minor was participating. The AR form also gives the club/trip leader permission to provide first aid and emergency evacuation for the minor if required.

Clubs need to make it clear to their trip leaders that neither a waiver nor an AR form will protect them in the case of a lawsuit from a minor. Both a waiver and AR form are ways to minimize the risk, but the risk cannot be eliminated. Therefore, trip leaders should be made aware if a minor has signed up to participate in their trip, and the trip leader should have the right to refuse allowing a minor to participate if he/she feels that there is too much risk involved.

The AR form should be signed on paper only and no online signing option should be made available by your club. This may change in the future, but for now the reason for this is because the AR form could be confused with a waiver, which could accidentally result in an adult participant signing the non-binding AR form by mistake. Your club needs to make absolute sure that the AR form is only used for minors.

The FMCBC’s policy for university/college clubs is for their student members who are under 19 to sign the Universal Waiver and not the Acknowledgement of Risk form. The reasons for this are:

• It can be difficult for a university student to obtain a signature from his/her parent/guardian because the student has moved away from his/her hometown to attend university.
• By only using a waiver, it ensures that no adult participant signs a non-binding AR by mistake.
• It is better to have a signed waiver than no signed form, but in reality neither are going to protect the club or the trip leader in the case of a lawsuit from a minor.

The FMCBC’s Universal Waivers can be signed annually or on a trip-by-trip basis. Technically, there is no expiry on the waiver, but we recommend having members sign it annually when they renew their membership. Signing annually ensures that all current members have a signed waiver on file with the club, shows that a club has good risk management processes in place, and reminds the member that he/she has waived their right to make a claim against the FMCBC and member club.

A copy of the waiver should be posted on your website for members and guests to review before participating in a trip. It is not advisable to surprise trip participants with a waiver they have never seen at the trailhead and which they are required to sign if they want to participate. This situation would reduce the strength of the waiver in court. Please review our best practices below for more information on how to use the Universal Waiver and Acknowledgement of Risk forms.

These best practices may seem onerous, but we have spent considerable time researching and discussing each point with our lawyer and insurance broker in order to come up with best practices that improve the enforceability of online waivers in court.

Please note: We are in the process of updating the e-waivers & best practices according to new legal advice. We will let all clubs know as soon as we have updates to share.

1. The online waiver document needs to include the exact wording from the FMCBC’s Universal Waiver with similar colour highlighting and bold text formatting.
2. The online system needs to present the waiver clearly and unambiguously as a stand-alone document that is not incorporated into the membership application form, sign-up form or any other forms.
3. Member/guest information needs to be collected and should include family name, given name, date of birth, and current email address.
4. ‘Agree’ checkboxes need to be included for each waiver statement.
5. A text string method of signing (typing of full name) needs to be used – a checkbox is not a sufficient means of signing.
6. Submission of the waiver must be restricted until each checkbox is agreed to and the document is signed.
7. A signing confirmation email needs to be sent to the signing party’s email inbox and a reply must be received to confirm the waiver signing action. An email address must be unique to the applicant and not shared by other applicants.
8. A process for securely storing, retrieving, and backing up the digital data needs to be in place.

Storage of Online Waiver Data

The following points need to be considered when designing a system for storage of online waiver data:

1. Data needs to be easily and reliably retrieved.
2. Data needs to include personal information: full name, date of birth, phone number, email address.
3. Data needs to include timestamps and meta-data.
4. Data needs to be securely stored and the owner of the data needs to have a method of proving that the data cannot be tampered with or altered.
5. A reliable off-site system for backing up the data needs to be in place.
6. As online systems are continually changing, a description of the user process must be stored with each version of the online waiver signing process.
7. Ideally, signed waivers should be stored indefinitely, even if stored electronically, because “historical” waivers demonstrate the person’s familiarity with waivers.

Additional Points to Consider When Using an Online Waiver System

1. Guests: A process needs to be in place for guests to view and sign the waiver in advance of participating on a trip. If no online process is in place for guests, then paper waivers should be used.
2. Family/Couple Memberships: Clubs who have couple or family membership categories will need to have an online waiver system in place which requires each adult member of the family or couple to sign the waiver before the membership application/renewal can be completed.
3. Minors: Unless the process for an online version of the FMCBC’s Acknowledgement of Risk (AR) form for minors is approved by the FMCBC, the AR form needs to be signed on paper because it requires three signatures (minor and his/her parent/guardian, and a witness).
4. Technical Skills and Support: To ensure that a club is storing the appropriate data, which will be their first line of defense from a claim, it is recommended that the club seeks an individual with programming experience to develop their online waiver system. The FMCBC has developed an optional system for clubs who would like to have an online waiver system in place, but do not want to develop one on their own or do not have the technical skills within their club to develop one on their own.

Visuals

• The waivers are meant to be printed or displayed online in colour so that the highly visible yellow areas draw the reader’s attention.
• The waivers fit 8 ½ x 11 letter-sizedpaper.
• Waivers should be printed double-sided to minimize the two pages becoming separated.
• When printing double-sided, heavier weight paper should be used so that the colour does not bleed through the page.

Signatures

Three signatures are required for each waiver:

Member/participant signs in two places:

• Top of first page to acknowledge that he/she has given up the right to sue or claim compensation
• Bottom of second page to confirm he/she has read and understands the waiver and has waived his/her rights

Witness signature (only for paper waivers)

• The witness needs to be an individual over the age of majority
• The witness can be next-of-kin
• The witness needs to watch the participant sign the waiver and immediately follow with his/her own signature.
• The witness should request a piece of ID (such as a driver’s licence) from the individual signing the waiver, in order to confirm the participant’s identity.
• A waiver should not be witnessed if the member/participant is intoxicated when signing the waiver.

Additional Points to Consider When Using Paper Waivers

• Ensure that the member/participant was given ample opportunity to read the waiver. By having them sign the waiver, they confirm they have read and understood it.
• Post the waiver prominently on the club website. This gives members/participants ample time to read and become familiar with the waiver.
• Don’t wait until you reach the trailhead to sign waivers. The waiver should be signed when opting out of the trip is still an option
• Don’t trivialize the waiver or downplay its legal effect (ie “Don’t worry, nothing will happen!”). It’s an important legal document that can protect your club, your volunteers and your leaders in the event of a lawsuit.
• Explain to your trip leaders the importance of the waiver and that its purpose is to protect them and the club.
• The waiver should be a separate, standalone document. It should not be combined with other documents (i.e., trip sign in list, membership registration form, health form, etc).
• The waiver should not be interpreted or explained. It is self-explanatory.
• Members/trip participants must not cross out or delete areas of the waiver. If they do, or if they refuse to sign the waiver altogether, they should not be allowed to go on the trip.

Storage of Waivers

• Ideally, signed waivers should be stored indefinitely, even if stored electronically, because “historical” waivers demonstrate the person’s familiarity with waivers.

• The AR form should be signed on paper only and no online signing option should be made available. This may change in the future, but for now the reason for this is because the AR form could be confused with a waiver, which could accidentally result in an adult participant signing the non-binding AR form by mistake.
• Clubs need to ensure that the AR form is only used for minors.
• AR forms should be printed in full colour on heavier stock paper (so the colour does not bleed).