[hackerspaces] Insurance, liability and kids

[Arclight]

If this is truly a problem, why not book a meeting room at the local
community center, library, or church for your class. These places often
have free rooms for youth programs. This seems like a good temporary
solution.

This pretty much sidesteps having to renovate your space and other related
problems. If you find this happening all the time, look at your overall
mission and reevaluate.

On that note, instead of having to make your space 100% childproof and free
of adults who aren't teachers...could you not add a "community meeting
room" to the space?

Make this space available to the people in your group with kids and let
them organize their own classes.

For insurance purposes, you have a "meeting area separate from the shop and
open to use by groups of all ages and races." This sounds easier to sell
than "machine shop that doubles as a daycare."

JN
 On Sep 4, 2013 3:14 PM, "Sam Ley" <sam.ley at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 4:00 PM, Christie Dudley <longobord at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> It's how all the crazy shit that goes on in the bay area (fire arts
>> festival anyone?) could possibly happen. (And why Burning Man has not been
>> sued out of existence.)
>
>
> Great advice, Christie and Gui! Insurance and liability are tricky
> subjects, but so important to us. Remember that as a nascent movement, we
> are going to be perceived as well as our worst members - if there were a
> few high-profile accidents and subsequent suings, it could affect
> perceptions for all of us. You aren't just protecting your space, you are
> protecting all of them!
>
> As a funny aside, since Burning Man was mentioned, there was a funny
> lawsuit several years ago (Burning Man is CONSTANTLY being sued - they just
> have very good legal representation and have written their agreements very
> carefully). A man was hanging around intoxicated near the remains of a
> burned sculpture, which was now just a pile of burning wood on the ground.
> At this point the main perimeters have all been dropped and no one is
> hanging around "monitoring" it since it can't get larger or hotter than it
> currently is. The gentleman just walked into the fire for some reason, and
> was, of course, burned. Some bystanders pulled him out and helped him get
> medical assistance. Later he sued, claiming that Burning Man was negligent,
> since no one was there to tell him NOT to walk into the fire. The brilliant
> quote from the judge who dismissed his case was (and I'm only slightly
> paraphrasing), "Are you now, and were you then, aware that fire is hot?"
> "...yes." "OK, dismissed." The ruling in that case was that because the
> danger is evident to "reasonable persons" and the event had made no
> promises regarding special people who's job it is to stop you from walking
> into piles of fire, the event hadn't acted negligently, and wasn't liable
> for the injuries. Of course, this was no accident - Burning Man spends a
> lot of energy making sure it is in the clear - as we all should.
>
> -Sam
>
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