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Identifying
and Managing Liability Risks
The fear of being sued is pervasive in volunteer organizations.
While it is true that “anyone can sue an organization for any reason,”
the fear of being sued can ultimately have positive effects on an organization.
For example, some volunteer programs think about how a
lawsuit could derail their community-serving missions and take steps to
both (1) minimize the likelihood of a lawsuit against the organization;
and (2) plan the organization’s response to a legal threat before
it occurs. Although it is impossible to take steps to eliminate the possibility
of a lawsuit, every organization can take steps to achieve the above outcomes.
Hand-wringing and simply hoping for the best are poor choices for the
Volunteer Transportation Coordinator who believes his or her organization’s
mission is worthwhile. Yet managing liability risks need not be as complicated
or costly as many people believe.
The following steps suggest a way to get a handle on liability
risks that won’t bankrupt your organization or draw too much time
away from your community-serving mission.
- Consider the Context. Consider the environment
in which the organization operates, including its:
- History of lawsuits, claims and losses
– for example, has the organization defended claims alleging negligence
helping care receivers get into or out of a vehicle?
– The perspective of the organization – are they fearful
or especially concerned about certain types of losses?
– The perspective of the insurance providers for the organization
– has the organization’s coverage been cancelled or curtailed
in any way due to specific operations? Have insurance providers recommended
changes in operations or practice in order to reduce premiums or provide
coverage? You will need to have conversation with your insurance provider.
- Identify Risks: The Transportation Coordinator
looks at the risks associated with the organization.
- Prioritize Risks: The Transportation
Coordinator reviews the list of risks and ranks them according to seriousness
and importance to the organization. There is no single way to approach
this task. The goal is to develop a priority-order list.
- Decide What to Do: The Transportation
Coordinator chooses a subset – the top 10 risks – and decides
what actions the organization can take to (1) reduce the likelihood
of the risk materializing; and (2) prepare to deal with the consequences
of the risk materializing. It’s helpful to list the selected risks
on a 2-column worksheet and list action steps for each risk in the box
to the right of the risk. Examples of action steps include implementing
safety guidelines, and enforcing training.
- Follow-up and Adjust: Review the actions
taken to determine whether they should be continued, revised, or disbanded.
For example, has the new Code of Conduct requiring that volunteer drivers
obtain their own Motor Vehicle Records dissuaded a large number of prospective
volunteers from serving? What has been the response from riders about
the safety procedure for assisting riders in and out of the vehicle?
Codes of Conduct and action steps that are not working should be changed
to work (or possibly you need to re-think how you are presenting these
Codes of Conduct: keep it positive and emphasizing how many volunteer
transportation programs are doing the same. Also mention how good they
would feel if a loved one of theirs were to utilize such a well-thought-out
program. Not to overlook the potential people they may not be able to
serve because they did not have a “formal program including training
with many safety checks”).
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