Should We Waiver On The Value Of Waivers?

A waiver is basically a legal contract between the supplier and consumer, so that everyone knows where they stand, ie if you take part, you do so at your own risk

It is essential for all axe throwing suppliers – in order to protect them from anyone taking legal action against them if anything goes wrong

That is probably the main reason that owners state for having a waiver, but in reality it doesn’t matter whether you have a waiver in place or not. Any business can be sued if they are negligent.

There was the infamous incident in 2018 when presenter Pete Hegseth threw an axe that hit a USA army band member. Fox and Friends were sued for being negligent in setting up the target in a public area

Having a waiver in place doesn’t protect a business from that. If an axe throwing supplier is negligent then they will be liable. A waiver is not worth the paper it is written on!

It may be that a waiver wouldn’t help in the case of negligence, but accidents can happen even if the venue does everything they can to ensure safety

Sure, accidents can happen despite any safety precautions. That’s why they have insurance of course.

However, you wouldn’t expect to sign a waiver for other entertainment activities. To play ten-pin bowling for example? Why should axe throwing be different?

Axe throwing is different. Axe throwing is literally throwing heavy, sharp axes around. It is inherently dangerous!

Signing a waiver is quite usual for hazardous sports such as indoor rock climbing walls for example.

I guess you have to decide how hazardous axe throwing really is. In the contemporary surge in axe throwing over the last decade or so, there have been no serious accidents and zero litigation.

I’d argue that axe throwing should be compared with social activities like ten-pin or darts, than physical sports like rock climbing.

It is also worth noting that indoor rock climbing businesses have been successfully sued on a number of occasions, despite having waivers in place.¹

Just because there haven’t been any accidents doesn’t mean there couldn’t be any. Waivers, like insurance, are to cover exceptional circumstances (we hop e never happen)

True. Waivers are intended for exceptional circumstances, Although, they are used routinely by many axe throwing businesses, simply because that’s what everybody does. Not because there is a good reason for them

There is a good reason though: axe throwing is inherently dangerous!

But if axe throwing is “inherently dangerous” then axe throwers would intuitively know this.

This is covered by the legal maxim ‘volenti non fit iniuria’, ie if you voluntarily risk danger you cannot be recompensed for injury. No waiver is needed – they voluntarily accept the risk of axe throwing by doing it

Many people would probably acknowledge that axe throwing is dangerous – even just the name sounds dangerous.

However, we should not assume everyone is aware. If someone is going to voluntarily accept the risk, it should be clear they understand them. A waiver is a great tool to ensure this

It is true that a waiver is a useful way to ensure that someone has acknowledged the risk (however big that is) of axe throwing, but there are other options.

For example, a simple statement could be included as part of the booking process, or even just on a poster on the wall. Saying something like “axe throwing is potentially dangerous, you participate at your own risk”

Many axe throwing businesses will usually say something along those lines at the outset of a session anyway

If you are going to the trouble of publishing, displaying and/or speaking such a statement, then why not simply write it down and get the axe thrower to sign it to show they have understood, ie a waiver

There are few very good reasons for not using a waiver and simply inform participants of the risk of throwing:

1. As mentioned before, axe throwing is a relatively safe social activity. A waiver implies it is more dangerous than it is.

2. It is a money-making racket for waiver software firms

Except that many waiver forms are built into booking or axe throwing software these days. It is true that the software costs money, but probably not much more than booking software that doesn’t include a waiver

Of course, businesses can just create their own manual system. They don’t have to use expensive software

True, waiver software doesn’t have to be used. I have been to places that simply have a paper form to sign, but that leads to a further reason not to use waivers:

3. It is a waste of time and resources. It may only take a few minutes to complete a form, but it is still time that could be spent more profitably.

Paper waivers are a waste of paper

If something is important, then it will incur a cost, in time and energy. That is just the way it is

The crux being whether a waiver really is important or not! Too often a waiver is regarded as more important than it is, leading to:

4. Having a waiver could encourage careless axe throwing providers to believe they don’t need to worry about keeping people safe

Except, as we already discussed, negligent owners won’t be protected by a waiver

Exactly! So why use a waiver if it is no value in court?

Negligent owners should always be held to account, but a waiver does have value in providing a reminder to people to take care when throwing axes

A waiver is a good sign of a ‘non-negligent’ axe throwing business

For some axe throwing businesses maybe, but often there is another underlying reason for having signed waivers:

5. Waivers are simply a way to collect customer data in order to be able to send them advertising

Even if that were the case, what is wrong with that? If people have gone axe throwing once, they will likely appreciate knowing about special offers etc.

If a customer wants to be contacted, then they can explicitly say so. Signing a waiver does not imply they want to be contacted.

In Europe, the GDPR legislation require customers to provide informed consent to process their data. Using a waiver to do this by the backdoor would not comply

The purpose of the waiver is not to collect customer data. That is just a convenient byproduct for the venue, and the customer probably wouldn’t mind being contacted. They can always unsubscribe anyway.

It is a weak argument, to say if they don’t like it they can opt out – when the didn’t know they were opting in in the first place!

This leads to a related reason to ditch waivers:

6. A mandatory waiver can be used to force people to opt into other things

Most waivers are simple forms that say to the effect “axe throwing is dangerous and I take the risk”. It is very unlikely that they could be used to opt into other things

It is not uncommon for the smallprint in waivers to require customers to sign up to marketing mailing lists.

Another common misuse is to include a line that says customers agree for their image to be used in videos/photos online. (Check the smallprint sometime – I have)

The key thing is that waivers are mandatory. If you don’t sign, you don’t throw. So if you want to throw, you have to sign up for anything else that is on the waiver too!

But waivers need to be mandatory. Maybe we can agree that additional items shouldn’t be included, but people can’t pick and choose whether they sign it or not. That is unworkable

In any case, businesses may need to require a mandatory waiver to meet their insurance requirements

I have not contacted all insurance companies that cover axe throwing, but I have polled a handful – and none of them required a waiver

That is hardly conclusive. Some axe throwing businesses do report that they are required to use waivers

It is not conclusive, although it shows that it is not a universal requirement

I have heard axe throwing businesses say that a waiver is required by their insurance company

So we can agree that some insurance companies require waivers for axe throwing, making them essential?

Yes, we can agree that, if an insurance company requires it, then a waiver is essential for an axe throwing business