About The Project: Legal Risk Management Of Adverse Health Outcomes And Injury In The Fitness Industry, ARC Linkage Project: LP120100275

Project Summary

This project will answer two important questions:

     1. How does Australian regulation currently control risk management in the fitness          industry and thereby prevent adverse health outcomes and injury, and the legal liability          associated with those risks?
     2. What sustainable changes could be made to Australian regulation for more effective          risk management in the health and fitness industry in order to prevent the risk of          adverse health outcomes and injury, and the legal liability associated with those risks?

To answer these questions, our research will:  

     1. Identify the regulation that governs risk management in the fitness industry;
     2. Analyse the operation of that regulation in its practical context;
     3. Critically review the safety practices that occur in the Australian fitness industry; and
     4. Exploit national and international expertise to workshop world’s best safety practices.

Armed with this knowledge, we will then:

    1. Develop, in consultation with our industry partners and key stakeholders, new best         practice benchmarks to improve safety in the fitness industry and reduce the risk of         adverse health and injury outcomes;
    2. Design regulation and safety practices to advance the achievement of those         benchmarks; and
    3. Develop training materials for industry use related to those benchmarks, with the         objective of increasing safety, reducing the risk of adverse health outcomes and         injury, and decreasing the prospect of adverse legal liability outcomes.

The project is led by Professor Patrick Keyzer and Professor Joachim Dietrich (Bond), in conjunction with Professor Caroline Finch (Monash), Professor Kevin Norton (UniSA) and Dr Betul Sekendiz (Central Queensland University). The Senior Research Assistant on the project is Veronica Jones.

Partner Organisations

Fitness Australia
Sports Medicine Australia

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