Sydney, 20 April 2013
The Australian fitness industry has a critical role to play in supporting and facilitating active and healthy lifestyles for Australians. However, while regular physical activity can prevent obesity and reduce the risk of inactivity-related diseases, overly vigorous exercise can trigger adverse health events. Additionally, some programs offered by fitness providers can increase the risk of injury and this risk is heightened where there are inadequate risk management practices.
On 20 April 2013, the Australian Fitness Industry Risk Management Project presents their inaugural conference, ‘Is Your Fitness Business At Risk?’ The conference offers a forum to consider how regulation currently controls risk management and safety standards in the fitness industry; and further, what changes can be made to this regulation, and also to fitness industry practice, to reduce the risk of adverse health outcomes and injury, and the legal liability associated with those risks which can affect your fitness business.
Featuring Professor JoAnn Eickhoff-Shemek from the University of South Florida, a world-renowned expert in the field of health and fitness industry risk management, if you’re a fitness industry professional wanting to take steps towards managing and minimizing risks in your fitness business, this is an event not to be missed.
Conference Overview
12noon – 1.30pm Registration and lunch
1.30pm – 2.30pm Professor JoAnn Eickhoff-Shemek (Keynote)
‘Risk Management and Trends in the Fitness Industry: What Australians Can Learn from the US Experience’
Eickhoff-Shemek draws on her extensive experience in the US revealing invaluable risk management strategies to promote safer programs and environments. She will discuss the development of a comprehensive risk management plan that addresses legal concerns relating to emergency procedures, employment, equipment and facility issues, pre-activity health screening, fitness testing and prescription and instruction and supervision. Real life health and fitness case law examples will provide practical illustrations of negligence to help you understand and minimize legal liability.Laws and legal issues in the health and fitness arena become clear with this well-organized text. You will learn invaluable risk management strategies to promote safer programs and environments. You will discover and expand your knowledge of many legal concerns related to emergency procedures, employment, equipment, and facility issues, pre-activity health screening, fitness testing and prescription, and instruction and supervision. Real-life health/fitness case law examples provide practical and useful illustrations of negligence to help you understand and minimize your legal liability.
2.30pm – 3.00pm Q&A with Professor Eickhoff-Shemek
3.00pm – 3.30pm Afternoon tea
3.30pm – 4.00pm Professor Caroline Finch
‘Injury Risks – The Epidemiology of Hospital Treated Injuries Sustained In The Health and Fitness Sector’
Finch looks at routinely collected data on all admissions to Victorian hospitals and injury presentations to 38 Victorian public hospital emergency departments over an eight year period (2002 – 2010) and quantifies those injuries which were sustained in the health and fitness sector. She will then discuss the need for the Australian fitness industry to be informed by data about what injuries occur so that priority can be given to both the most common and most severe injuries when setting safety standards and risk management procedures in your fitness business.
4.00pm – 4.30pm Professor Patrick Keyzer
‘Legal Risk Management In The Australian Fitness Industry: Identifying The Public Law Risks’
Keyzer will provide a broad overview of the public law framework which governs liability of fitness service providers in such areas as occupational health and safety, anti-discrimination, and human rights charters and legal rules that determine when fitness operators (and more generally, the broader recreation industry) will be held legally liable for injuries that have occurred as a result of fitness activities. All designed to help you identify public law risks for your fitness business.
4.30pm – 5.00pm Panellist Q&A Session with AFIRM team members:
‘Answering your questions about risk and safety in the health and fitness industry – helping your fitness business to stay safe’
When
Saturday, 20 April 2013
Commencing at 12 noon with registration and lunch
Where
Faculty of Law
University of Technology Sydney
Cnr Quay St & Ultimo Road (opposite Paddy’s Markets)
How To Register
Conference fee: $140 (includes lunch, afternoon tea and entry to all presentations)
Discounted rate for FA registered members: $120 for Fitness Australia registered exercise professionals and fitness business managers
Early bird rate: $120 for all registrations received before 28 February 2013
Seats are limited – click below to book
Your Conference Presenters: Professor JoAnn Eickhoff-Shemek, Professor Caroline Finch, Professor Patrick Keyzer and panellist, Dr Betul Sekendiz
To view conference presenter bios, click the images on the right hand side of this page
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Conference Contact Information
Veronica Jones: vjones@bond.edu.au
Centre Manager, Centre for Law, Governance & Public Policy
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The Australian Fitness Industry Risk Management (AFIRM) project is led by Professor Patrick Keyzer of the Centre for Law, Governance and Public Policy, in conjunction with Professor Joachim Dietrich (Bond University), Professor Caroline Finch (University of Ballarat), Professor Kevin Norton (UniSA) and Dr Betul Sekendiz (Central Queensland University). The three-year, Australian Research Council funded project investigates the legal risk of adverse health outcomes and injury in the fitness industry and is undertaken in association with Fitness Australia and Sports Medicine Australia.
