Liability Waivers

Guidelines for Using Liability Waivers

November 2003

The Office of Risk & Insurance Management recommends the use of waivers in the following circumstances:

• Activities of an athletic or physical nature where the participant may reasonably anticipate injury, including but not limited to: basketball, football, soccer, hiking trips, etc.
• Activities of Community Service where the participant may be in "harm's way." Examples may include projects such as Habitat for Humanity (construction projects) or survey work in high crime or industrial communities.
• Extended field trips (generally not day trips) away from the campus.

Visits to campus for projects, laboratory or classroom participation by others, even if under the age of majority, do not generally require waivers. Such waivers would not be valid unless signed by the parents and generally impose an administrative burden not warranted by the exposure.

Reviewed 2011-01-24.