TRAINING.

Overview

After participating in this course you will be able to:

• Understand the legal framework
• Better assess your municipality’s procedures
• Improve your practices
• Consider new methods of risk assessment
• Plan ahead for new challenges

Description
The liability of municipal corporations for their parks, playgrounds and open spaces is a broad area of concern, yet when understood from a practical level, manageable and readily approached.

This course provides staff and management with a comprehensive overview of how and why municipalities are sued for accidents or injuries on public property, with real life case examples. The interplay between legal and political imperatives is explained in A straight-forward manner. The importance of record keeping and clear objectives is emphasized.

Course Outline:

• Origins of Tort Law and the neighbor principle
• Common law and statutory duties
• The municipality as occupier
• Specifics of the Occupiers Liability Act
• Recreational trails
• Overview of the CSA standard
• General issues
• Record keeping
• Case studies

Who should attend:
Staff and Management in various public sectors including Parks and Recreation • Facility Managers • Others involved in Public Land/Building Management

Syllabus

Part I - The Law

• Origins of Tort Law and the Neighbor Principle
• Common Law Duties
• Statutory Duties

Part II - Parks

• The municipality as occupier
• Specifics of the Occupiers Liability Act
• Recreational Trails
• Case Studies

Part III - Playgrounds

• The CSA standard - overview
• Case Studies

Part IV - Open Spaces / Public Areas

• General issues
• Record Keeping
• Signage
• Case Studies

Instructor

Charles Painter is a partner at Paterson MacDougall, LLP. Since being called to the bar, he has focused on and practiced exclusively in the areas of Personal Injury, Insurance Defence and Municipal Liability and has appeared at all levels of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, including appeals before the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal for Ontario, as well as hearings before the Fire Safety Commission, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, and the Canada Pension Plan Appeals Tribunal.