Discussion: Question about legal implications of emergency cell phone contact number

Several people in our club are advocating that the club maintain a cell phone for use at the start/finish area of local meets (probably an inexpensive (unless you use it a lot) pay-as-you-go phone), to serve as a way of communicating to the start/finish area if anyone on the course, who chooses to carry a cell phone, has a need to contact the start/finish area.

Reasons to contact the start/finish area might include:

1. An orienteer is injured and needs assistance.
2. An orienteer is lost and would like assistance.
3. An orienteer is neither injured or lost, but their course is taking a lot longer than they anticipated and they won't be back by the course closure time (but presumably are heading directly back!).

Several board members expressed concern about creating a legal liability for the club by having a contact number that we give out to people doing the course (perhaps an implied implication that by calling that number, the club is responsible for adequately dealing with any issue that the person may be having).

My question for AP readers is whether any other clubs have a policy of giving out a cell phone number to orienteers, whether they have had any concern about creating a legal liability by doing so, and whether any AP readers (some of whom surely have more legal background than I do, which is nothing) have any guidance on this topic.

Thanks for any input.

I have sent poeple out on metro orienteering courses with my phone number to cover the 3 points listed above, but I'm a high school teacher (in Australia) and it was the only way I could get permission to let the kids loose on the streets.
Not used as far as I know by our local O association. We do have a satellite phone at events so that we can contact emergency services (but competitors aren't given the number)

...expressed concern about creating a legal liability for the club...

Why don't you ask our insurance provider? In any personal injury suit, I can see arguments on either side of this issue. Perhaps if clubs did NOT provide an emergency cell phone number they'd be found to be negligent by a jury, especially if cellular coverage was available in the competition area.

By providing a cell phone contact you're not opening a big door for trouble, generally. But there is no way to foresee every possible scenario and guarantee you this, so the answer is, as it almost always is, "it depends".

But don't let that answer stop your club from doing something that may keep it's members safe. The law occasionally creates ridiculous outcomes that make the news from time to time, but generally the system works. The results reflect the generally practicing population, most attorneys and judges are intelligent and reasonable.

Of course, if the club answers the phone, the caller reasonably relies on your action, and then the club forgets or does something stupid and the caller ends up hurt (especially if caller would not have otherwise), then the club could be in trouble. That's as far as you're opening up the door.

Again, I would encourage the club to make the decision based on the safety of it's members, not on fear of our litigious society.

In Canada, it is very common for adventure race maps to include the race director's cell phone number. It is made clear that there is no guarantee of cell phone service but it is one more tool in the arsenal to improve racer safety. I don't know about the U.S. but generally the concern here is to avoid negligence and to behave in any situation as a reasonably prudent person would do.

Normally on orienteering courses, we send people out with a mandatory whistle. I doubt the odds of receiving appropriate assistance in a timely manner are higher using a whistle vs. a cell phone but I've never heard any concern about liability related to whistles.

I hate questions like this. Screw fears of liability, use common sense: yes, provide a phone number. If the person has a cell phone, they can call somebody, and I can't see an argument that you're improving the situation by intentionally depriving yourself of information. Sure, if they call and then you leave them out there to die, that's a problem, but you shouldn't leave them out there to die anyway. If providing a cell phone number creates a legal problem, then I'm just giving up.

...I hate questions like this. Screw [your] fears...

Geez...the OP was merely asking for a bit of cross-pollination: what are other clubs doing? I think it is entirely appropriate to ask such questions in this forum.

But I think OP's idea of buying a separate cell phone, to dedicate to potential emergency use might be going a bit far, since it might suggest a more elaborate SAR organization than actually exists. What's wrong with merely printing the Meet Director's cell phone number on the day's clue sheets as many other clubs do?

JJ - if I use my cellphone as a backup light for the WHNO, will you come rescue me before dawn?

Although I tell people that I won't look for them before dawn, if somebody really didn't come back, I would not be without concern.

Now, if you had the ability to tell me where you were (GPS coordinates or location on the map) and could call me with your location, the rescue crew would be on its way immediately. It's not sending out a rescue party that's a problem, it's sending out a search party in the dark. The latter would likely be an exercise in futility.

If someone had a real emergency, I would expect them to first call 911, and then maybe call the start/finish. I'm not sure this should be posted at the start/finish or be an actual written policy, though. It's more common sense.

Depending on the nature of the emergency and the location of the meet, the organizers might be able to provide assistance in a much more timely manner than the people who answer 911 calls. It's even possible that in some cases, a call to 911 might delay the response, if the professional responders prohibit the orienteering organizers from helping.

Side note: instead of buying a dedicated cell phone, just get a Google Voice number that you can configure before each meet to ring through to one or multiple cell phones belonging to the meet organizers. The organizers' personal numbers don't get exposed that way (if that's a concern).

A couple years ago, I called in 911 to assist with the evac of a very large JROTC cadet who had dislocated his knee. I was surprised that they were almost immediately able to pinpoint my location within the park just from my cell signal. They told me they'd come to the mountain bike parking lot. At that point, I politely but firmly explained that there was a large ravine between the MB lot and my location, and that the victim was large and heavy and could not be transported across the ravine, and that they should approach from the other side and meet me on Park Road 3 instead. Although there are horror stories of professionals not working well with orienteers, in this case their cooperation was immediate and complete, and the cadet and his instructor were quickly on their way to the hospital.

A different country and legal environment, but my club has a policy for MTBO riders and rogaine teams to carry a cellphone. The number of the organiser who is detailed to respond to emergencies is printed on the map. For foot-o we earlier instituted a similar policy in respect of whistles. There are doomsayers who said that the whistle policy might create a liability if we didn't check compliance (which we don't usually do unlesss there is a higher risk such as bad weather). OTOH there are land authorities which require safety plans:-))

Of course these measures might or might not help in a particular case, but we think they are simple cheap and appropriate. Responsibility for dealing with any issue? Well yes, that's a given.