What Insurance Do I Need As A Personal Trainer?
Being a personal trainer is an active profession – you are on your feet every day, exercising clients, and using a range of equipment. There is little ‘desk work’ involved which is why many people choose to become a trainer, but it subsequently means it is a career with more risks. On your part, if you were to sustain an injury, albeit in a gym or not, you would be unable to train, work, and make money. On your client’s part, they could sustain an injury or be involved in an incident and chose to file a claim against you or your gym.
We’ve had a think about the most likely questions you will need to ask a trainer concerning insurance to help you decide what sort of cover you need:
1. What is Liability Insurance? 
We have liability insurance for everything – our car, house, even life itself. As personal trainers, protection against a claim is a must. This could arise from inadequate supervision or instruction, equipment malfunction, improper use of equipment, sexual harassment, and more…so it is essential to be covered! There are two levels of liability insurance: General and Public. Although General is better than nothing, we recommend a Public policy which has more coverage and is better for a nationally certified personal trainer.
Your profession involves giving fitness and nutrition advice, and it is wise to cover yourself in any unthinkable case that may arise. For example, if you suggest that a client eats more oranges to increase their Vitamin C intake, and it turns out they are allergic to oranges and fall ill, you may have a costly court case on your hands – and General Liability insurance will not cover you. Public Liability for personal trainers, by contrast, includes everything: it provides cover for injury or damage to third parties (eg. persons other than employees) or their property; includes cover for damage to premise hire, and all legal fees related with defence settlements.
At Protectivity, our policy offers you Public Liability cover up to £1m (with the option to increase up to £10m) with zero excess.
2. Do I need Professional Indemnity insurance?
In short, yes. As a trainer, your business functions around giving advice and offering a professional service. This kind of cover will protect you against the cost of a claim of negligence, or a mistake that may leave your client out of pocket. You may have done nothing wrong, but the cost of defending yourself against these claims can be high. Professional Indemnity insurance for sports trainers means you are able to give advice, instruction, and tuition to your clients without worrying about any consequences.
3. I work at a gym that is insured, so do I still need insurance?
Again, yes. Certainly, if you are not an employee of a gym, but still use it to train your clients, the gym’s insurance does not cover you and you’ll be unprotected if a client sues for something that is your fault. If you are an employee of a gym, the insurance still might not cover you and even if it does, the coverage is likely to be minimal. Remember, even if you are both employed and covered by a gym, you still will not be covered when working with a client outside of that gym (eg. in a park).
4. Am I protected if my clients have signed a waiver that exempts me from being at fault?
Unfortunately, not quite. When signing a waiver release, a client is signing their right to seek compensation under any circumstances that are foreseeable at the time of singing, within reason. Therefore, if taken to court, any client could simply claim that when they signed the waiver, they did not know that a piece of equipment was broken, for example. Although useful documentation, it is wise not to rely on waiver release forms as a means of protection.
At Protectivity, we can cover you for a range of activities, from Aqua Aerobics to Body Balance to Sports Therapy to Kettlebell Training. You simply take out a personal trainer insurance policy and you’ll be protected should a claim arise following an injury to a member of the public or one of your clients. Our expectation is that you hold a certified qualification in the activity you are instructing.
Tools of the Trade/Equipment: You can increase the value of equipment covered, should you wish, by dragging our customised slider. It provides cover for sports equipment that you specifically use to carry out the activities for which you are insured. Please note, it does not cover electrical items (eg. laptops, sound systems, iPads). The maximum value is £30,000 which has an excess of £100.
Personal Accident: You can choose to add Personal Accident cover to any policy, which means you will be protected should an accident occur whilst you are carrying out the activities for which you are insured.
Overseas Extension: If chosen, this will provide cover outside of the UK, but you must be a UK resident. Cover is limited to 30 days during the annual period. There is the option of overseas extension to Europe, or Worldwide (excluding USA).