HOTEL POLICY MANUAL

TITLE: LAW DIVISION: Recreation

No: 2 – Consent in First Aid CROSS REF. (Policy #):
PREPARED BY: Stewart Hodsoll—Health Club & APPROVED BY: Adrian Rudin-
Recreation Manager General Manager
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REVIEWED/UPDATED ON: 1 September 2007 LAST ISSUE:
DISTRIBUTED TO: General Manager, Resident Manager, and all Health Club Staff

KEY PRINCIPLES
Where possible, ask permission before beginning first aid treatment.

The implication of assault for first aid is less obvious. Before rendering first aid,
lifeguards/pool attendants must identify themselves and ask the individual’s
permission. In life-threatening emergencies the lifeguard/pool attendant should
assume consent. The consequences of acting to save an individual are not likely
to result in harm and a lawsuit.

When first aid is rendered without the casualty’s permission, reasonable care is
not a defense.

Obtaining consent in every situation is impractical, particularly where children

are involved. Technically if the injured person is a minor, and certainly if he or she
is very young, the consent could not be valid. Ideally, the lifeguard/pool attendant
should have the consent of both parent and child.

There is no simple answer to this dilemma. In controlled programs, such as

swimming lessons, blanket parent consent is often obtained by means of consent
forms and waivers. However, both are of limited use if serious harm is caused by
a first aid procedure without specific permission having been given.
Lifeguards/pool attendants must be alerted to the problem caused by such first
aid treatments.

WHILE LEGAL ISSUES ARE A CONSIDERATION, CASUALTY CARE IS ALWAYS A

PRIORITY

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