RUNNING HEAD: PRT 3520: Salt Lake County Risk and Liability Evaluation APA Format 1

PRT 3520: Salt Lake County Risk and Liability Evaluation

Sheldon Begay

University of Utah

Mary Sarah Wells

University of Utah
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Description of Agency/Position

The agency that I intend to be employed at is within the Salt Lake County under the

department of Parks and Recreation. The Salt Lake County is a government agency receiving tax

dollars from the state and residents of Salt Lake County. Funding is limited and often not

renewed or the same amount that may have been given from previous years, funding will always

change. Of all the funding received by Salt Lake County, it is up to the county government

officials to determine and allocate budgets for each department that functions within their

government. Often times, tax increases may be added to voter ballots to determine if the county

residents desire a certain tax increase to better a certain facet or service provided by the Salt

Lake County. Once a budget is made, each department of the county will receive a specified

amount for that certain department to function. The department I intend to be employed, is under

Parks and Recreation and more particularly, the North West Recreation Center.

The North West Recreation Center, like any other facility found under the Salt Lake

County, Parks and Recreation department will receive a budget to work with. Therefore, certain

jobs and positions will need to be coupled into one position to allow maximum efficiency for the

recreation centers given budget. One of these positions includes working with youth and adult

sports. Officially this position will be entitled “Youth and Adult Program Coordinator.” This

position will entail all the responsibilities and duties associated with youth and adult sports

leagues, youth summer camps, adult fitness classes, and day care center activities. These

responsibilities call for the programing and execution of sports leagues, employing temporary

staff to allow the function of leagues, the hires will mainly consist of referees, counselors or

instructors. In addition to managing temporary employees, facility renting must occur and the

purchasing of equipment for specified programs.

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Risk Identification

Three risks associated with a position as a Youth and Adult Program Coordinator will

include, physical, psychological, and financial. All of these risks are different in their own

unique ways but, situations will arise in the field that will encompass two or all of the risks

combined. Examples of this will be found in the three case precedents provided for this final

project. Furthermore, physical is going to be a risk that will be present in the domain of sports

management when dealing with youth and adult sports leagues. Among this risk, any physical

injury will be apparent, concussions, sprains, broken bones, climate induced injures, and death.

All of these physical risks will be crucial when identifying a physical risk within this job

position. A second risk presenting itself is psychological, this profession will give the

responsibility of caring for children and providing a safe space for all the youth participating in

the organizations services. Due to the fact of working with children, sexual predators will

become a foreseeable risk and can be detrimental if given the opportunity to strike. If successful,

a youth participant who experienced this will receive both psychological and physical trauma.

Their life will never be the same. The third risk will be financial, given the number of different

lawsuits that will occur, the organization will receive a number of claims that will result in

financial compensation. This will be a result of participants who may have experienced a level of

neglect or duty of care and will be seeking financial compensation. These are just a small portion

associated with the risks involved being a Youth and Adult Program Coordinator.

Risk Evaluation

Evaluating these three risks will determine what is needed to prepare and prevent

incidents from occurring in the future. To establish a base line for frequency and severity, each

risk and the several different situations will need to be assessed separately for the most probable
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results. The scenario provided for the physical risk, will be concussions occurring during

programmed events through the organization. Concussions are very serious and must be receive

attentively, otherwise left unchecked, it could lead to death. Using the frequency for which

concussions will occur, it will fall under the moderate range, this moderate range is used as a

gauge, assuming steps and factors are taken into consideration. This is also to ensure the safety

for participants while making sure to include the potential for accidents to occur, that may result

in concussions, regardless of preventive steps taken. The severity of this physical risk will range

form moderate to high, depending on the nature of the impact and equipment involved, a

participant may experience mild physical trauma or as far as death.

The second risk being evaluated is psychological, psychological risks will be present

when working with children. Psychological risks that need to be considered, are emotional stress,

self-worth, and determining what level and category of abuse is at play. An example of this is

considered a worst case scenario, sexual abuse occurring while a child is participating in the

program. The frequency of this risk is determined upon the rules and regulations set in place by

the organization. The frequency will be low, assuming that all rules and regulations will be set in

place to mitigate such incidents from occurring. The severity of this risk will be extremely high,

the outcomes of an incident of this magnitude will be detrimental to a child who will live with

this experience for the rest of their life.

The third risk that will be an issue and fairly common within the PRT industry, is

financial. Lawsuits may be claimed and filed at the initial results of an incident occurring or

years down an the road when an opportunity arises. Many of the clients will be seeking financial

compensation after results of an unfortunate event occurring through the services provided by the

organization. Given that this certain risk will be a secondary risk associated with an aspect of
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another risk, such as physical, or psychological, it is vital for an individual working with youth

and adult sports programs to be aware of any potential financial risk, ranging from insignificant

to detrimental claims that could potentially end an organization or program. The frequency will

range from low to moderate. A low frequency will be realistic, when assessing a range for the

several different situations associated claims wanting to be filed against a program or

organization. As far as severity, if a court finds that a duty was owed to a client and it was not

given the impact will be anywhere from moderate to extremely high. If however, preventative

steps are taken to avoid any claims for a lawsuit to occur, the results will be moderate.

Case Precedent 1: Physical-Casualty

In the PRT sport industry a physical risk will always be apparent and needs the upmost

attention to avoid any catastrophe. In 2009 a high school student athlete named Andrew Swank

died from health complications after the result of making contact with an opposing team

member, while participating in a high school football game. The events leading up to the death of

Andrew Swank involved the contribution of Swanks participation in a previous football game,

where he received a head injury eight days prior to the incident of Swanks death. On paper,

preventative measures were taken to insure the safety of the student athlete, head coach, Jim

Puryear benched Swank from continuing the game where Swank received the initial head injury,

eight days prior to Swanks death. In addition, under the Zackery Lystedt Law, found within the

state of Washington, any student athlete who has sustained an injury to the head or received a

concussion is mandated to report to a medical doctor for evaluation and must receive a singed

doctors note clearing a student athlete to participate in any further activities dealing with the

sport. After being cleared, three days later during a football game, Swank received a blow to the

head which would result in his death two days after.

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As a result of the incident, Swanks parents are seeking damages for wrongful death

through the claims of common law negligence, medical negligence, and direct violations of the

Zackery Lystedt Law. However, these claims are being sought, after three years of which the

incident occurred. The claims being filed against are head football coach Jim Puryear, Medical

Doctor Timothy Burns, and Valley Christian High School. Due to the filing of these claims being

belated, the events of Swanks death was revisited. Following Swanks, initial injury it took three

days after the injury occurred for Swanks mother to take him to see Dr. Timothy Burns. Dr.

Burns told Swank and his mother, Swank should be kept from participating in contact sports for

the duration of three days. Dr. Burns then proceeded to prescribe ibuprofen to Swank and told

Swank and his mother, if headaches continued after playing football, Swank needs to abstain

from contact sports for the entirety of one week. The headaches experienced by Swank subsided,

at request, Dr. Burns wrote a medical note clearing Swank to participate in contact sports. Swank

was scheduled to play the next game in two days, during the game Swanks performance started

great and as the game continued, Swanks quality of performance declined, drastically. During the

game witnesses of Swank claim the student athlete appeared “sluggish, confused, and slow to

respond.” After head coach Puryear pulled Swank off to the sideline to discuss Swanks

performance, Swanks Father witnessed head coach Puryear gripping the face mask of Swanks

helmet, jerking his head forcefully, Swank returned to the game. Following Swanks reentrance of

the game, Swank was hit by an opposing player. Swank suffered blows resulting in head injuries,

where he then staggered to the sideline, ultimately collapsing. Swank was evaluated at a nearby

hospital where he died two days later.

Given the time at which the claims were made against the defendants, Swanks parents

took the case to court where it was found that none of the defendants being filed against are
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responsible for the death of Swank. As a result, Swanks parents appealed the findings, where the

court found the dismissal of head coach Jim Puryear and Medical Doctor Timothy Burns from

the case. However, the court reversed the action of dismissing Valley Christian School, and

remanded the case for further proceedings.

The results of this case and the future of its final results serves as a great reminder to PRT

professionals, of the magnitude of which physical risk displays itself within the sport industry,

even more so, what a physical injury can lead to. Andrew Swank was a regular student athlete

participating in a high school football game that ultimately led to his death. There were plenty, if

not more rules and regulations in place to prevent death and injures associated with contact to the

head and concussions sustained on impact. Yet, the loss of life occurred. Following this, several

negligence claims were filed against the coach, school, and the doctor. All entities were

dismissed, with the exception of the school. This case proves that, regardless of all the

preventative steps made to put all liability and any negligence onto participants, it may not be

enough. The key takeaways that are to be learned from this case, it is to always be vigilant when

accessing any situation regarding a head injury or concussion. Seek medical help for a full

evaluation of the patient, and yield to what the medical doctor suggests as recovery time and

medicine prescribed. This step was taken and Swanks believed he felt fine for the next game,

after this incident it would be best to allow new clauses be instilled in addition to existing

mandated regulations, to ensure the safety of participants. Lastly, coaches must be able to read

and understand a situation when an athlete sustains a blow to the head or concussion. The

coaches need to know their players and notice minute signs of something being cognitively

wrong.

Case Precedent 2: Psychological-Abuse

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Physical risk will exist in the world of sport but under certain circumstances the

opportunity for psychological risk to arise will form. From 2011 to 2012 Jane Doe, 12 years old

at the time was being sexually abused by volunteer soccer coach, Emanuele Fabrizio. The setting

in which the sexual abuse occurred Fabrizio was hired as a volunteer coach for the United States

Youth Soccer Association (USYSA) which umbrellaed the California Youth Soccer Association

(CYSA). Over the course of this year Fabrizio, singled out Doe by making personal favors for

the family that allowed Fabrizio to take his opportunity. Fabrizio’s sexual actions and advances

occurred during times of when Doe was alone putting equipment away after practices, drives

home and to practices. All of this was permitted by Doe’s family, leaving their daughter to the

care of soccer coach Fabrizio. Fabrizio’s actions continued until parents started to notice Fabrizio

holding harsher practices on the girls, where he was then moved to a boys league until the

allegations of his sexual abuse arose.

Doe filled this negligence claiming that USYSA and CYSA failed to hold a duty of care

to the client, Doe. This duty of care was the process of not conducting background checks for

coaches being hired. Therefore, the defendants USYSA and CYSA could potentially see sexual

abuse as a foreseeable risk. Even more so, the fact of not requiring background checks could

potentially lead to individuals seeking to take advantage of youth soccer players while holding

the position as a coach. In addition, participants of the USYSA and CYSA trust that these soccer

leagues will hold a duty of care for providing a safe space for participants, through the

entrustment of parents allowing their children to participate.

The first court found that the defendant is not held responsible for any negligence taken

place through a third party. This finding was a result of parents allowing the coach Fabrizio to

assume responsibility of the youth participating in the league. Because of this outside agreement,
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the coach was no longer a member of the defendants organization, therefore, Fabrizio became a

third party and the court agreed that he should be treated as such, not the defendants

organization. This first finding was appealed and the new court reversed the first outcome and

remanded the matter of the case.

What the court of appeal found was, the defendant and the plaintiff had developed a

special relationship, this was the entrustment of the parents and their children to the defendants

organization. This entrustment was based on the fact of keeping the plaintiff and any other

participants protected from the onslaught of sexual predators while soccer activities occurred.

Due to the fact that the defendant is a national association and they set all expectations and

standards for which coaches are hired, there is a duty of care. Therefore, the defendants national

association was fully aware of the potential that their organization could draw sexual predators.

This case revolves around adults working with youth and demonstrates some of the worst

outcomes for when operating a youth league. The key takeaways from this case is to protect the

youth that PRT professionals will be working with. As an organization that will be implementing

youth leagues for various sports, it is crucial to ensure the safety of all youth participants, which

parents will be leaving their children in the hands of members associated with that particular

league. As the PRT organization is vital that any volunteers or employees hired to be in the same

space of children are to have criminal background checks. This preventative step will greatly

decrease the likelihood of allowing sexual predators to be in the same space of children. In

addition, parents and employees need to be aware of any red flags when adults are working with

children, any signs of favoritism, is the adult usually alone with one child? These are things that

need to be observed and reported immediately. Lastly, the psychological risk given from this

example displays the emotional scars for Jane Doe will experience for the rest of her life and
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even more so create a bad image for youth recreation sports. Parents will see this example and be

very weary of allowing their own child to participate when something so awful was allowed to

flourish.

Case Precedent 3: Financial-Compensation

Financial risks can result in any number of outcomes that arise when dealing with any

lawsuit that is filed against a PRT professionals’ organization. Plaintiffs are often looking for

compensation for whatever damages that were experienced, these damages may stem from

psychological, physical or political risks. All with the end goal of seeking some sort of financial

compensation to cover a portion, if not all the damages. An example of this is case from as far

back as 1998. Dustin Welch, 12 years old at the time participated in a local soccer league,

Sudbury Youth Soccer Association, Inc. On April 10, 1998, Welch participated in the Sudbury

soccer program on the Haskell field, when all of a sudden a metal goal post with no anchors gave

way, causing the metal goal to flip and strike Welch’s right leg. The impact of the strike to

Welch’s leg caused it to fracture, leaving Welch to seek medical attention.

Welch experienced physical and psychological trauma as a result of his right leg

fracturing. No claims were filed at the time of when the incident occurred, it was not until 2006

when Welch filed an ordinary negligence claim against the organization. Due to the fact of the

organization being a non-profit, the defendant filed to be exempt from such claims, under the

Massachusetts Legislature, G. L. c. 231, § 85V. This action was allowed and appealed by Welch,

the case proceeded to the appeals court where the defendants initial action was reversed. While

in the appeals court, the court found that Welch’s initial claim not valid, that it was not the

negligent actions of the defendant not having anchors. This finding was a result of the constant

relocation of the goals, not due to the anchorless goals. Instead, it was the improper placement of
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the goals which allowed the metal goals to flip, This was then remanded by the appeals court and

became a public nescience.

Welch then proceeded to claim, regardless if the metal goals required anchors or not, the

defendant owed Welch a duty to inform him of the possible risk that the metal goal could flip at

any time. The appeals court affirmed this motion and sided with Welch. The court found that the

soccer association owed their clients a duty of care to inform them of this foreseeable risk and

that the soccer association owed Welch financial compensation.

In this case, it is very clear that under opinion, one could speculate that Welch was

purposely seeking compensation for the damages he received regarding an incident that occurred

when he was 12 years old. This is very true in the world of PRT, an incident may occur and a

client may choose not to file any claims against the organization at that given time but see an

opportunity rise later on to claim compensation. This alone serves as a takeaway for any PRT

professional, all employees must never cut any corners when operating any facet of what the

organization offers. A risk may present itself that will need to be handled, if not future financial

risks will flourish as a result. PRT professionals will need to be aware of this occurring

potentially in the future.

Risk Treatment

A method to treat risks will be to establish an evaluation of the task at hand, once that is

completed an action can take place. For the first risk, dealing with physical and the end result of

a concussion, steps will need to be implemented to avoid any turnout resulting in a casualty. The

method that will be used to mitigate, is to simply reduce the risk for a physical head injury to

occur or advance into a catastrophic event. The first think to be done is ensure that all volunteer,
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employees or members of the organization are certified under certain accreditations to determine

whether or not a concussion has occurred. If any impact to the head was sustained a member

acting as the organization needs to immediately pull out that player(‘s) and evaluate the severity

of the injury, do they need medical attention, if not have that player abstain from the rest of the

activities until a doctor has evaluated the individual. In addition to having the individual being

cleared by a medical doctor, the individual is to be out of commission for the duration of one

week, this action will ensure recovery and allow any additional health concerns to rise under a

week. The reasoning for this approach is to maximize safety for participants, by implementing

polices that act as barriers to ensure no loss of life occur. Furthermore, the pros and cons of this

approach is unique and requires attention. The pros are, reduces the furthering injuries sustained

to head or loss of life. The cons are, it’s a timely process that will require participants to jump

through hoops when, frequently a participant appears to be fine and wants to avoid that whole

process.

The second treatment for a psychological risk and avoiding sexual abuse is to implement

polices for background checks. This attempt is made to reduce the problem, this is an issue that

can still arise regardless of the many steps taken to reduce the frequency. Background checks

will greatly decrease the likelihood of sexual predators seeking to take advantage of children.

Second, is to distribute employee, volunteer coach, members evaluation forms. This will allow

parents to express concerns regarding certain actions that may have been observed and call for an

investigation. This approach will allow action to be taken if necessary to ensure the safety of the

children. The pros of this approach, is the decrease of sexual assault or abuse and allowing

parents the peace of mind that their child is in a safe environment. The cons, this approach will

not weed out every single sexual predator. Individuals who may pass a background check my
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take their opportunity after the fact and allowing this to be their first attempt to be on record after

the terrible incident has occurred.

The third risk treatment is to reduce the opportunity of allowing unfortunate events to

occur which lead to lawsuits flourishing within financial risks. Among all the risks, this will be

the most difficult for retaining and reducing financial risks. The provided case above, regarding

financial compensation associated with an individuals fractured leg occurred years later, when

the individual felt compensation was needed. As learned in class, no programmed event will be

risk free, only prevention can occur. To do this, employees of the organization will need to be

vigilant in mitigating potential lawsuits. All employees will need to be attentive in every action

carried out at work, absolutely no short cuts. There is right way to get every single job done,

which requires a timely process. This however, will lead to multitudes of leakages to occur. The

pros of this approach is, the hiring and staffing of qualified individuals looking to work towards

the betterment of the organization. The cons are, not every hire will be in the mindset of

bettering an organization, corners may be cut and accidents are more likely to occur.

Conclusion

In conclusion risks will ever be present when providing recreational services for

individuals, both youth and adults. Physical risks will always exist no matter the scenario when

allowing physical activation to occur. Psychological risks have become more of an issue due to

the stress in which coaches have induced on children, and even more so the awful actions taken

by sexual predators seeing youth recreation as an opportunity. Finally financial risk is apparent,

whenever negligence occurs by an organization, individuals seeking compensation for the

smallest insufficient duty of care as an opportunity for financial gain. Each risk will need to be

considered when taking the position as Youth and Adult Program Coordinator.
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References

Doe v. United States Youth Soccer Assn., Inc., 8 Cal. App. 5th 1118, 214 Cal. Rptr. 3d 552,

2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 148, 2017 WL 706179 (Cal. App. 6th Dist. February 22, 2017)

Swank v. Valley Christian Sch., 194 Wn. App. 67, 374 P.3d 245, 2016 Wash. App. LEXIS 1131,

2016 WL 2869739 (Wash. Ct. App. May 17, 2016)

Welch v. Sudbury Youth Soccer Ass'n, 453 Mass. 352, 901 N.E.2d 1222, 2009 Mass. LEXIS 33

(Mass. March 9, 2009)