The objectives of this chapter are threefold, they are to (1) alert safety and fitness professionals to the critical distinction between the long-term benefits of exercise participation and the immediate safety of exercise participants during their pursuit of those long-term goals; (2) analyze representative exercise-related personal injury case qualitatively from a human factors/ergonomics perspective in order to identify common deficiencies in the standard of care and, from these, develop a safe practice model for the delivery of exercise services; and (3) provide a safe practice model, or standard, and a checklist derived from its components as guidance for fitness professionals in order to address the ongoing safety of their clients during their pursuit of health and well-being via exercise participation. The objective of the chapter primarily encompasses issues pertaining to the administration or management of exercise service delivery rather than the structural or physical safety of equipment and facilities per se. It is these administration/management issues that appear to be the major source of participant safety concerns and the least well accommodated by current practice.
Samenvatting