Heya,
The UT Grotto, as far as I can speak for it, deals with this by not
owning (and therefore not loaning out) any vertical gear or ropes.
As for the long story, gear's loaned out on a personal basis only,
from folks who own it. Sort of. Is that better for the individual
loaning out the gear, in terms of liability? Doubt it. But at least it
makes clear who's responsible for maintaining it, rather than it all
being in a large pool and not being tracked and/or cared for.
Cheers,
David
Quoting Mallory Mayeux <[email protected]> at Tue, 24 Jan 2012
09:49:08 -0600 in :
Good morning Cavers!
The Houston grotto is in the process of revamping a very old constitution
and updating grotto policies, and 'loaner gear' is an issue we're currently
discussing.
Rather than embark on a ton of research and re-invent the wheel, I wanted
to reach out to the Texas caving community for input. What are the
liability issues around loaning grotto-owned cave gear to grotto members?
For example, if I as a grotto officer loaned a piece of grotto-owned
vertical equipment to member of my grotto, and that equipment failed and
the member injured themselves in some way, could our grotto be held
responsible? Would signed waivers absolve our grotto of all responsibility?
Does the NSS have some sort of insurance that covers grottos in worst-case
scenarios?
How do you other Texas grottos mitigate risk when/if you loan out gear? DO
you ever loan out seat harnesses, etc? Has your grotto ever been put in a
situation where you were potentially liable for any injury? If so, is there
any advice you would give another grotto when laying out equipment
guidelines?
Thanks for the input in advance!
Mallory Mayeux
Greater Houston Grotto Secretary
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