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Originally Posted by NewBie
contact Scarecrow. He he's the one with experience in Ontario starting fields.
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I'll just throw in what I know from experience.
GCL - General Commercial Liability - only works if you have a commercial entity that has posession (lease or own) of the property. Second, it will only cover things like if someone slips on banana peel on the way in and hurt themselves. GCL will NOT cover on-field game injuries. There is also no way to get airsoft classified so that it can be insured. This dogged paintball for years until enough fields got together and went to the trouble of engaging an insurance firm to undertake a actuarial analysis of paintball and give them a special package - to my understanding, it still is insurance available only through an association that represents paintball. When I called them to see if they'd insure airsoft, they already knew what airsoft was and told me I'd need to do what the paintball fields did years ago. I am doing some of that now with the OASA. It has to start there because trying to insure just ONE field would be prohibitively expensive and ultimately the clauses and riders would make the insurance useless. And from my uinderstanding, paintball fields that are hosting airsoft are taking on a risk that their insurance would not cover airsofters should something go wrong, given that we are playing airsoft and not paintball on that field (paintball field owners, please jump in if your experience is different from what I've just said).
WAIVERS - What has been said is partly right. You cannot waive your right to sue in Canada or waive your right to seek redress. That being said, waivers are useful in a court WHEN you are being sued to prove to the court that the individual engaged in the sport and event knowing full well the risks and chose to accept those risks knowingly, and that they are of age and sound mind to do so and that you did not misrepresent the risks. In most cases if the waiver is set up properly, the case will be thrown out - but not until you've spent a ton of money on lawyers to go prove that fact. Which is why the only one who wins lawsuits like those, are lawyers.
In the latest effort I've engaged in in Bowmanville (Newcastle actually), the contract I signed with the field owner for use of the private property puts the supervisor (not the host) as the sole responsible individual for what happens at the field. So, if something goes wrong, I get sued, or rather, I am obligated to defend myself and the owner at my own expense. Hence my somewhat anal-retentive speech at the first game and my lack of patience with problematic players - I cannot afford to tolerate stupidity, its as simple as that.
"How do you start a field?" Don't ask that question until you've answered the first question, which is "I am willing to take on the responsibility and liability of running a field and all it entails?" If you answer NO to that question, don't even consider trying to start a field. As to why I decided to that, I should probably seek a medical opinion on my sanity. I just love the sport and I enjoy hosting and for the most part I get satisfaction out of watching my friends have fun playing.