Personal Trainer Insurance
A personal trainer works with individual clients who want help losing weight and getting fit. It is the personal trainer’s responsibility to work with their clients on a regular basis, getting to know their physical fitness level and building a personalized fitness plan around their capabilities. While this is a rewarding career for individuals with a passion for fitness and health, it also comes with its own set of risks. Liability and other types of insurance are required to protect the personal trainer from certain risk exposures such as a client getting injured during their fitness routine, getting into a vehicle accident while driving to a client’s home, or damaging gym equipment. Most fitness centers will require liability insurance from their personal trainers before hiring them, but trainers working as independent contractors should also obtain other types of personal trainer insurance.
General Liability Insurance for Personal Trainers
The most basic type of insurance is general liability, which offers basic protection to the personal trainer from a variety of risks. As a personal trainer, bodily or property injury are the biggest risks, and a general liability insurance policy can be what stands between them and having financial strain as a result of lawsuits.
- Bodily Injury – Part of the personal trainer’s general liability policy is covering bodily injury. For example, if the trainer works in an established fitness center, and while doing their fitness routine, the client gets injured by a machine that malfunctions near them and causes harm, the personal trainer can get sued for not being more careful about the nearby machinery.
- Property Damage – Claims of property damage are another risk for personal trainers, especially those who visit the client’s homes. If a personal trainer is at the client’s home, and during their stay, they knock over a valuable item and it breaks; the client can turn around and sue them for the cost of damages.
Personal Trainer Professional Liability Insurance
Aside from third party bodily injury and property damage, the personal trainer should also be protected against risks associated with their profession. With personal training, this includes injuries to the client during the course of the training session. If for example a client is asked by the trainer to do a difficult stretch, and they end up falling and spraining their ankle, they can sue the trainer for negligence. Professional liability insurance protects the personal trainer from cases associated with these types of risks.
Personal Trainer Commercial Auto Insurance
If you work as an independent contractor rather than for a local gym, then you will be driving to your client’s homes for each training session. Since you are using your vehicle for business purposes, you will need to obtain commercial auto insurance as part of your personal trainer insurance portfolio. This is to protect you in the case of an accident occurring while driving to the client’s house. If you get into an accident on the way, and you get injured or training items in the vehicle get damaged, the costs are covered by commercial auto insurance. Many commercial auto insurance policies also cover against theft or vandalism.
If you work for a local fitness center, you are already aware of the insurance policy that you need to have, but as an independent contractor, it is up to you to be properly protected. Obtain adequate personal trainer insurance policies to secure your financial assets so that you can enjoy the job you love without added worry or stress.
