When a winter sports organization can point to a signed waiver and a neatly filed insurance policy, it’s easy to feel like the risk box has been checked.
Brenda McClung (pictured left), assistant vice president at Markel Play, sees a very different reality.
“Policies and procedures are only good when they’re actually implemented and followed,” she said. “Having them written doesn’t mean they’re being followed. That’s where we see a lot of claims.”
In winter, especially, where ice, meltwater and cold-related impairments come into play, the gap between paper protection and real-world practice can be stark.
McClung says one of the biggest weak spots she sees is in waivers.
Organizations often rely on a generic template found online or recycled from another sport. It may reference “risks inherent in physical activity” in broad terms, but it rarely reflects the specific hazards of ice, snow and freezing temperatures.
“I find organizations often underestimate the importance of good, strong, clear waivers,” she explained. “A poorly designed waiver will weaken our defence ability. And generic waivers often don’t reflect the seasonal hazards such as ice, meltwater, or cold-related impairments.”
That disconnect matters in litigation. If an incident arises from a hazard that isn’t clearly spelled out, courts may be less inclined to view the participant as having genuinely understood and accepted the risk. The more remote the wording feels from the actual incident, the harder it is to argue informed consent.
For winter operators, that means waivers should speak directly to:
Without that specificity, the waiver looks and feels like boilerplate – and judges may treat it accordingly.
Waivers are only one piece. McClung also sees a recurring pattern where organizations can produce thick binders of policies and procedures – concussion protocols, footwear rules, cleaning schedules, safe sport and abuse policies, screening processes – yet incidents still arise because those policies weren’t actually followed.
“We find that a lot of incidents happen because they have the proper protocols in place, but staff and volunteers haven’t been trained, or they’re not consistently applying them,” she said.
In winter, that might look like:
“Having them written doesn’t mean they’re being followed,” McClung emphasized. “They’re only as good as the paper they’re written on.”
From an insurance perspective, that implementation gap can be as damaging as not having policies at all. When a claim hits, insurers and courts will look not just at what was written, but at what was actually done.
Layered on top of waivers and internal policies are the contracts organizations sign with venues.
Jeff Smith (pictured right), SVP, claims & operations at Markel Canada, points out that rental agreements often include clauses that quietly shift responsibility for snow and ice removal, interior maintenance, and even matting and cleaning practices onto the event organizer.
“A lot of those dynamics are in the small print,” he said. “It’s really important that organizers understand what their obligations are, who’s taking care of that, because that can definitely shift liability exposures and be quite costly.”
In practice, a community club might assume the municipality is handling all winter maintenance, while the contract says otherwise. If a serious slip‑and‑fall occurs in that grey zone, the organizer can find itself on the hook in ways it never anticipated.
Smith also worries that many organizations – and even whole communities – lean too heavily on the “fun” narrative of winter sports and not enough on the reality that serious injury is a possible outcome.
“Whenever we’re participating or about to participate in a sport or recreational activity, the focus is often on the fun,” he said. “As it should be – that’s really why we do that. It’s a huge part of Canadian culture, especially outdoor winter activities.”
But he argues that informed consent requires equal attention to the inherent risks of ice, speed and cold, not just the upside.
“If we only focused on the fun parts and didn’t tell people about the inherent risks, people would get severely injured and not expect that,” Smith warned. “Voluntarily participating in sports and recreational activities comes with accepting those risks, and in winter, it’s heightened. Participants need to know that that’s a potential consequence and decide whether they want to participate or not.”
