Reduce Liability in Your Fitness Center, Part 3

To help ensure user safety in your fitness facility, use signage. Signs can both safely guide the exerciser through their workout and warn the user about safety hazards in the room. Here are a couple tips to help you maximize your signage effort:

• Signs should be displayed prominently
  
• Signs should use plain language that's clear and easy to understan

Here are some ideas on what types of signs you could post in your facility:

• Who is able to enter and use the facility
• Whether or not supervision is available
• Hours of operation
• A phone number to report emergencies, defective equipment and/or dangerous conditions
• A disclaimer that users are exercising at their own risk
• A disclaimer that users should consult their physician before beginning any exercise program
• Muscles worked during certain exercise
• Stretching exercises and tips
  

You should also make sure that the equipment itself has easy to locate and easy to understand consoles and placards, especially on strength training equipment.

If you have any questions about creating and posting signage in your fitness facility, please contact us! We're happy to help you. Next week's topic to help you reduce liability in your fitness center: Equipment Maintenance.

Reduce Liability in Your Fitness Center - Part 2

So we're talking about how to reduce the risk of liability in your commercial fitness center. Today's topic is flooring.

- When selecting flooring for your fitness center, be sure to think about tripping hazards and potential wet spots. Your goal is to keep these to a minimum.

- Interlocking rubber flooring, which looks nice and is fairly easy to install, is a great choice. It's simple to clean and can effectively cover a large area while helping to reduce potential hazards. Tip: Be sure to select a product that's at least 1" think to ensure they edges don't curl up over time.

- If you have industrial carpet in your facility, we recommend putting rubber floor mats under each piece of equipment (especially cardiovascular machines) so that carpet fibers don't work their way up into the electronics.

- You may also consider roll-out flooring. This comes in 4-foot rolls and can be cut to fit any size space.

This most important thing to remember is to protect your users from falls or slips and to protect your equipment from debris. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask us!

Check back next week for Reducing Liability in Your Fitness Center - Part 3: Signage.

Reduce Risk of Liability in Your Fitness Center!

Before building your new fitness center, it's important address safety issues. This will reduce your risk of liability, save you time and money in the long run and, most importantly, provide a safe exercise environment for your clients.

Today we are starting a 5 part series on reducing the risk of liability in your fitness center. Over the next several days, we'll cover everything from equipment safety to flooring considerations and maintenance tips to security concerns. At the end of this series, you'll have a bullet-pointed checklist of all the items you should consider when first designing and furnishing your new fitness center to ensure you're providing a safe, exciting and user-friendly exercise environment for your clients.

Today's topic is the safety of your fitness equipment.

FITNESS EQUIPMENT

• All fitness equipment in your facility must carry a commercial warranty.
  If your equipment is not commercial grade and does not carry a commercial warranty, you are leaving your business open to great financial risk. If an exerciser is injured in your fitness facility, you may be charged with acts of negligence. In addition, if the equipment breaks down, you will need some type of recourse and accountability for the performance of the products.
  
  
• All fitness equipment should include prominent safety features.
  Cardiovascular machines like treadmills and ellipticals should offer prominent stop mechanisms. Strength machines should include weight stack shrouds, which are casings that enclose the weight stack during its travel up and down the guide rods, to prevent exercisers from getting their fingers or clothing trapped between the weight stack plates.
  
  
• Post instructional placards to ensure the fitness equipment is used properly.
  Each piece of fitness equipment should include an instructional placard (either on the machine or nearby) to help the exercise use the machine properly. This is especially important to do in unsupervised facilities where there is a greater risk of mis-use or injury.

Check back tomorrow to learn more about reducing liability exposure in your fitness center.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Momentum Fitness Solutions blog!

We are experts in creating commercial fitness facilities that help people exercise where they work, live and travel. We created this blog to help you maximize your fitness amenity by offering real-world strategies, solutions and tips for:

• Selecting the right mix of equipment for your fitness facility
  
• Financing your new commercial fitness equipment
  
• Refreshing the look & feel of your facility
• Maintaining your fitness equipment
• Training your fitness staff in the use and operation of your new fitness equipment
  
• Understanding commercial equipment warranties
  
• Reducing your liability exposure in your fitness room
• Marketing your fitness amenity
• Enhancing your user's experience in your fitness facility
  
• Choosing the right commercial fitness equipment dealer for your needs

We'll also keep you abreast of industry trends, product innovation and special offers. We invite you to subscribe to our blog and join our mailing list to ensure you're always in the know!

Our team has over 100 years of combined experience in the commercial fitness industry. This is our passion and we're profoundly committed to serving you. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!