Swim Teacher & Instructor Insurance for Swim Schools & Clubs

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In the United States, no summer is complete for families or groups of friends without spending their merry time on beaches, lakes, rivers, public swimming pools, waterparks , and other similar places. 

Being in water can be perilous without knowing how to swim. It all takes one careless mistake for an enjoyable swim to become a disaster. For this reason, a lot of people in the United States look for swim teachers. 

Swim teachers are similar to personal chefs or computer technicians in that they face certain risks while doing their job. For these risks, insurance provides the quickest solution for any arising problems. This article will discuss how helpful swim teacher insurance, swim club insurance, and swim school insurance are, their cost, and how they work. 

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Swim Teacher Insurance

Swim teacher insurance pertains to an insurance product that carriers offer for swim teachers.  Insurance for swim teachers offers liability coverage, which provides protection against legal issues. 

Teaching people how to swim isn’t that easy. Aside from giving instructions, a swim teacher also needs to make sure that the students don’t get injured. But sometimes, injuries still happen even if care is perfectly observed. Even if it’s the students’ fault for getting injured, a swim teacher still has liability. And so, facing a personal injury lawsuit is highly possible. The table below outlines the injuries swim teachers might have to pay for in personal injury lawsuits.  

The figures in the above table show that swim teachers might find it very difficult to pay for personal injury settlements using their own money. For this reason, carriers offer general liability coverage. General liability coverage in swim teacher insurance provides a minimum of $1 million for each personal injury lawsuit clients file.  With general liability coverage, a swim teacher can have the money to pay for attorney fees and compensation to the injured person. 

But general liability won’t only pay for personal injury lawsuits. It will also pay if the customer files a lawsuit due to damaged property. The coverage still works the same in this case and provides $1 million so that the swim teacher can reimburse the client equal to the cash value of their damaged belongings.

Does Swim Teacher Insurance Offer Unemployment Coverage?

Swim teacher insurance doesn’t offer unemployment coverage.  Those who want to be protected in case of unemployment must get a stand-alone unemployment policy. A stand-alone unemployment policy gives money to the policyholder on a weekly basis. Most of the time, it provides $50 - $500 or more a week to the policyholder. States offer unemployment insurance programs and it’s best to get a hold of them as soon as one starts working. 

Does Swim Instructor Insurance Cover Drowning?

Most students take swimming lessons as a deterrent for drowning accidents. But sometimes, the exact opposite happens. Students drown in swim class instead of learning how to swim.  In most cases, drowning accidents that happen during swim class might put the swim instructor at fault. And so, it’s important to ask whether or not swim instructor insurance covers drowning.

Swim teachers can use their general liability coverage if their insurance specifically lists drowning accidents as covered and if the student or any acquaintance of the student files a personal injury lawsuit. With that being said,  it’s not 100% for general liability to work on drowning incidents. 

Liability coverage that might work perfectly for lawsuits arising after a student drowned is professional liability. Most of the time,  lawsuits put the blame on swim instructors because of negligence. Professional liability coverage is a policy that provides protection when the policyholder causes damage by being negligent.

Can Swim Instructors Use Insurance to Cover Sexual Harassment Lawsuits?

Swim teachers can’t help hold their student's arms, shoulders, torso, and legs while giving instructions. The problem is, some students can overreact to these gestures. The result? Sexual harassment lawsuits.

Still, we can’t blame people for overreacting when a swim instructor makes physical contact, as the United States is a place where sexual harassment is rampant. Here are some interesting statistics:

• 81% percent of women and 41% of men report that they’ve experienced some form of sexual harassment

• Most sexual harassment victims are in their teens, usually between 11-17 years old

• Nearly a quarter of men in the U.S. experienced some form of contact with sexual violence in their lifetime

• 1 in 5 women and 1 in 5 men in the United States must have been raped at any stage of their lives

Swim instructor insurance having employment practices liability with sexual harassment coverage will protect swim teachers against sexual harassment lawsuits. Just like general liability, employment practices liability gives the policyholder $1 million with a median deductible of $5,000.

Swim School and Swim Club Insurance

A lot of studies have shown that attendance at swim schools can greatly reduce the risk of drowning in children. However, one can’t deny that unintentional drowning accidents also happen in swimming centers. Here are some examples:

• A 13-year-old student drowned in a high school swim class. It’s important to note that the swim instructor and the school management failed to maintain a clean and safe swimming environment for the kids

• A 6-year-old girl died after a near-drowning accident. Reports state that the instructor left the girl alone to look after the other kids. There were lifeguards but sadly, they failed to notice the girl drowning

• A 14-year-old drowned in a swim class. It was only after the end of the class when the swim teacher and the other students noticed the deceased submerged at the bottom of the pool

Interestingly, there were 387 fatal accidents in the United States from 2016 - 2018 that happened in pools owned by swim schools and swim clubs.

Swim schools can face legal responsibility for any injuries that happen to students. And so, it’s not only their swim teachers that need insurance but also themselves. Swim school insurance and swim club insurance offer:

• General liability coverage

• Commercial property coverage

• Professional liability coverage

• Business interruption coverage

• Public liability coverage

• Management liability coverage

Aside from what’s above, carriers also offer business owners policy for swim schools and swim clubs. Business owners policy bundles general liability and commercial property and allows the policyholder to add any additional coverages without any significant increase in rates. And so, it’s the most viable option since it’s cheap and comprehensive.

Swim Instructor Insurance Cost

• Swim instructor insurance cost is $25 a month or $300 a year for a $1 million general liability insurance

• Employment practices liability having sexual harassment coverage costs $56 a month or $672 a year 

Swim School and Swim Club Insurance Cost 

• Swim schools and swim clubs pay a median of $55.83 a month or $670 a year for a  $1 million general liability coverage

• The cost of business interruption insurance for swim schools  is $45 a month or $540 a year

• Swim schools and swim clubs who want to get a business  owners policy should prepare to pay rates starting at $84 a month or $1,008 a year