Waivers May Not Protect Businesses From COVID-19 Liability

Welcome to the Elevator World News Podcast. Today’s podcast news podcast is sponsored by elevatorbooks.com: www.elevatorbooks.com WAIVERS MAY NOT PROTECT BUSINESSES FROM COVID-19 LIABILITY Waivers don't necessarily protect businesses from COVID-19 liability, a litigation defense attorney says in a June 22 report by Canadian Underwriter. John Olah, whose expertise includes liability of ski resorts and hotels, said a waiver is only a part of the overall risk-mitigation strategy. Regarding the pandemic, Olah said even with a waiver, it is still “critical for commercial entities to act reasonably and appropriately in conjunction with the best medicine that we have, with best practices, whether it be wearing a mask, whether it be social distancing, whether it be cleaning on a regular basis.” Also, he said, a COVID-19 waiver must be drafted for the specific situation, rather than simply copying and pasting wording from an unrelated waiver form. Olah said the effectiveness of waivers won't really be known until they are tested in court, but if the business did not take precautions, such as sanitizing surfaces and enforcing social distancing and the wearing of masks, a court could rule the waiver unenforceable. To read the full transcript of today's podcast, visit: elevatorworld.com/news Subscribe to the Podcast: iTunes │ Google Play | SoundCloud │ Stitcher │ TuneIn