Kansas City MINI Enthusiasts

For when I lend out the club's tools - or mine for that matter? Sort of a "use it at your own risk" thing?

Mind, I don't know who they'd sue if something happened, but in this day and age I wonder if we should protect ourselves somehow, and if it would even do that - or if a high enough priced lawyer could get past it anyway.

Food for discussion.....

It couldn't hurt. The individual lending the tool likely has some insurance that one would *hope* would cover in the event of an injury, but if the injury occurs off the property, it might or it might not. A lot of clubs are just loose associations and don't carry a separate policy of insurance. Telling the person about to use a tool that using any tool has a potential for risks and advising of any particular risks of using this particular tool might help in the event of an injury. I wouldn't expect total absolution merely from handing a guy a form to sign when he gets a tool.

Better to not lend out anything that might have a high propensity for life-threatening injuries, particularly if used incorrectly (e.g., jack stands).

Leave it to the lawyers to take all of the fun out of any activity.

Is there anyplace where I could download a basic sort of document like this? My other thought with this is that I'd have a written record of who has what - not that that's been a problem so far.

Yes, what propmted this discussion was building the lift bars and the idea that someone could borrow them, not use them correctly and have thier car fall off and get damaged - I hadn't yet gotten to the injury thoughts yet. Sheesh....Couldn't any tool be deemed life threatening if improperly used, even a screw driver? Seems they all have potential if used incorrectly, and how would one know if they really know how to use it without watching them do it first? Seems I've opened my own can of worms here.

This leads to the next scary thing, what if someone works on their car - or brings it to a garage day at my shop - and something breaks, comes loose or whatever on the way home or the next day and they kill a busload of nuns and school children? Wonder if my homeowner's insurance would have any impact here? This is why I pretty much quit working on people's cars for money out of my garage, something I used to do a lot of back in the day - the liability potential today is staggering.....

We have a place in town where you can rent their lifts for like $10 an hour, and they supply all the hand tools too, Maybe I'll go by there and see what they do to protect themselves....

Minidave wrote: We have a place in town where you can rent their lifts for like $10 an hour, and they supply all the hand tools too, Maybe I'll go by there and see what they do to protect themselves....

Where is that? Maybe we should have garage day there?

It's off 119th in Olathe.....

I spent some time talking with the proprieter of this facility and I'm going to start a new thread to talk about using his shop. Here's the link to his website...

http://www.diyautorepairkc.com/3.html

When renting tools from O'reilly's do you have to sign a liability form? I have never rented from them but I don't think you do. I would assume it would be the same case for an individual lending out their tools.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to have everyone that attends a garage day sign a form, whether they're just watching or actually working on something. I'm no lawyer but I would think a good ole' john hancock would do on a piece of paper that says I am liable for my own vehicle and or myself regardless of who works on it or who's tools I use.

I won't get into the actual merits of a liability release in this situation (my firm/the states where I'm barred aren't fond of giving legal advice on the internets), but just remember that having a release doesn't mean you won't get sued and have to spend some money to defend yourself. A release will only give you a defense to the action, and the lawyer on the other side will try his damnedest to get around the release.

I had a long discussion with my insurance agent and we've come to the conclusion that as long as we aren't operating a business, the owner and his insurance will be responsible for whatever might happen with their car while on the road, and if someone drops a jack on their foot or something like that in my garage, my homeowner's will cover.

Bottom line, we're OK. Or as OK as we can be in these litigous days......

Minidave wrote:I had a long discussion with my insurance agent and we've come to the conclusion that as long as we aren't operating a business, the owner and his insurance will be responsible for whatever might happen with their car while on the road, and if someone drops a jack on their foot or something like that in my garage, my homeowner's will cover.

Bottom line, we're OK. Or as OK as we can be in these litigous days......

Good news on the liability front.

Some concerns from the safety arena -- Being involved in the property management, facility operations, and construction industry for as long as I have, I think maybe we can take some pointers from the trades.

Perhaps at the beginning of every shop day we have a 2 minute safety review covering some of the basics of fire safety (where are the fire extinguishers?), first aid (do we have a first aid kit somewhere?), and other basic topics.

It may seem like overkill to some, but I would hate for us to have an avoidable tragedy just because we didn't take 2 minutes to talk about something simple like where to go if you get something in your eye.

Looks like the club should provide a First Aid Kit -- a new sort of tool for safety

I keep a box of band aids in the top of my tool box, and of course the shop has several fire extinguishers hanging about.

For anything worse than a band aid would require, I wrap it up in a red shop rag and go to the em. room!

But that never happens.....