11.02.2011

Safety & Liability

One of the biggest concerns in parkour is safety. It is the concern of beginners, of parents, adults, the authorities, owners of the properties on which we train, and yes, even myself as an instructor. “Liability” is a word often heard by practitioners. When we are asked to leave a particular training spot, it is most often because of this menacing word. You might say to yourself; “what’s all the fuss about? I wouldn’t sue anyone if I got injured training on someone’s property – it was my choice to jump/run/climb/etc.” True as that may be, property owners still need to protect themselves from the possibility of those few practitioners (or parents of!) that would sue.

In my opinion, it’s a pretty small percentile. I have never had anyone say that they would sue if they got hurt during their training. But I am also aware that that does not mean that nobody will. Parkour has some real dangers, hence our large emphasis on safety, progression, and conditioning. You may think that these property owners need not be concerned, but there are people out there looking to make a buck off of things like this. Next time you’re training at a location and you’re asked to leave for reasons of liability, please be respectful and responsible. Don’t argue against whoever is asking you to leave. Attempt to explain to them what you are doing (not by showing, they’ve undoubtedly already saw what you were doing and don’t want to see it being done again right now!) and you may even be able to negotiate a meeting with someone in charge to talk about the issue. I haven’t come across many property owners that are willing to discuss permissions and waivers, but again that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist!

We need to keep parkour in a positive light through our communities and the media if we wish to continue to train at our most beloved environments. The last thing we want to see is “no parkour” added to those signs about skateboarding and rollerblading! Stay safe!

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