In Defense of Checklists

Fitness Management has published a lot of articles that deal with checklists. Equipment maintenance checklists, cleaning checklists, locker room checklists … the list goes on and on. I have to admit, after seven years, I’d gotten tired of them. Isn’t this common sense? I’d think. Don’t all fitness centers use checklists? Can’t we stop writing about them?

After reading a Fox News article about a dead man left overnight in a fitness facility’s steam room, I think it’s safe to say that the answer to these questions is a resounding NO.

Sixty-six-year-old Thomas Dodge, a regular member of the Coeur d-Alene Tribal Wellness Center, Plummer, Idaho, apparently suffered a heart attack in the center’s steam room after swimming. A janitor didn’t find his body until the next morning, almost 10 hours after his death.

This is inexcusable on so many levels, I don’t even know where to start.

The fitness center was likely helpless to prevent the heart attack, but it could have made a painful situation somewhat easier for Dodge’s family if staff members had found the body in a timely manner. Now the facility has made national news for poor maintenance practices, and its steam room will undoubtedly be deserted. What member wants to contemplate having an emergency in the steam room, then being abandoned by inattentive staff?

“Tribal spokesman Marc Stewart said closing procedures at the center require a walk-through to make sure no one is in the building,” reports Fox News. “Center officials will decide whether to change procedures after an investigation.”

Might I offer a suggestion? How about using … a checklist?

AEDs: A No-Brainer, Except at the Large Chains

I must be either overly naive or overly trusting. With the possibility of having a heart attack increasing exponentially after the age of 45, and the number of older adult members in health clubs increasing each year, I just assumed that all fitness facilities now have AEDs. Especially in light of the recent laws passed that 1) require AEDs in most public places, including fitness facilities (knowing that exercise increases the risk of cardiac arrest by a multiple of 20), and 2) release individuals who employ the use of AEDs to assist heart attack victims from liability. But, apparently, my risk of having a heart attack is of no concern to certain health club chain operators. Namely: Bally Total Fitness and 24 Hour Fitness.

At least that’s what the family members of Gary Fowler and Richard Eng found out. The sister of Gary Fowler was kind enough to email me about the ruling in the lawsuit on behalf of Fowler against Bally Total Fitness, which she thought might be of interest to the readers of our magazine and blog. And, no doubt, it will be (if you aren’t already in the know), especially because you won’t want to find your own facility in such a predicament.

First, let’s look at the facts about heart attacks. According to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, the majority (or 53 percent) of fitness center members are over the age of 35 (20 percent are over the age of 55). The results of several large studies have concluded that the major risk factor for having a heart attack is age. In fact, if you look at the website Health and Age, you’ll find a chart that shows the results of a 26-year follow-up Framingham Heart Study, which details the sharp increase of heart attack risk after the age of 44. It’s pretty staggering.

And, Bally Total Fitness and 24 Hour Fitness executives know this. But, they have failed to show they care. In November 2005, Fowler collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest and died while exercising at a Bally club in Gaithersburg, Montgomery County, Md. There was no AED on the premises, despite the fact that a Montgomery County ordinance in effect at the time required the installation of AEDs in health clubs. Bally’s attorneys, however, argued that, due to a Home Rule amendment in the town of Gaithersburg, the ordinance did not apply. The judge, James Eagan, disagreed:

“This Court cannot discern any logical reason why Bally would not employ AEDs at its Gaithersburg facilities, considering it was already obligated to deploy AEDs throughout the rest of Montgomery County. Such action on the part of Bally smacks of indifference to the welfare of its patrons. … There is no denying the fact that Bally knew with 100 percent certainty that dozens of its members would suffer heart attacks and die each year, and, instead of pursuing a relatively cheap and easy solution to the problem through the deployment of AEDs at its health facilities, Bally chose to consciously disregard this known risk. That strikes this Court as the very definition of gross negligence.”

And, to show just how blatantly negligent Bally’s decision to not employ AEDs is, a story on Gazette.Net reports that, “This is the sixth case against Bally for failure to have AEDs, and, in at least four of them, Bally settled for confidential amounts.” What I find even more sad is the fact that, according to the report on the Weinberg and Garber website, attorneys for Fowler, “employees did not immediately begin CPR when responding to Mr. Fowler’s collapse; instead, club members, realizing that staff would not do so, performed CPR.”

Weinberg and Garber also acted as co-counsel in the case filed on behalf of Richard Eng, a member of 24 Hour Fitness in the San Francisco area, who suffered cardiac arrest and, due to lack of prompt response, is severely brain damaged and now requires around-the-clock medical care. 24 Hour Fitness failed to have an AED on the premises. And, Weinberg and Garber report that this is despite management’s “knowledge that 20 to 40 of its members were dying of cardiac arrest each year.” What’s worse is that “24 Hour Fitness actually refused an offer, as part of an American Heart Association program, of free AEDs and training in 2001 at its northwest clubs,” says Weinberg and Garber. “The admitted reason: It might have been a basis to argue that all of its clubs should be similarly equipped.” And, even though 24 Hour Fitness requires CPR training of employees, it does not require that employees so trained actually use CPR to help a stricken member.

Again, I may be naive or overly trusting, but I believe, per my conversations with fitness center operators, that most facilities do have AEDs on their premises. But, as a member of a large fitness club chain, if I suffer a heart attack while working out, I won’t hold my breath waiting for help from the staff. Of course, I won’t have to.

Learning a Valuable Lesson in the Fitness Center

Just when your members thought it was safe to go to the gym, it is reported that a series of larcenies at fitness centers in the Ballston and Clarendon areas of Arlington, Va., is being investigated. According to a news release sent out Aug. 9, 2007, from the Arlington County Police Department, at least 10 incidents of stolen wallets and/or credit cards in locker rooms have been reported since June 20. In most cases, those items were taken from unlocked lockers, and the culprits quickly used the credit cards to make expensive purchases after stealing them.

While this string of thefts seems to be limited to the Arlington vicinity, theft in fitness centers is nothing new, and it occurs in facilities everywhere. In January 2004, our publication reported on an FBI investigation into locker room crime in an editorial titled Locker Room Crime Alert. In this operation, the thieves made it a point to not disturb any contents of lockers so that members were unaware that their belongings had been tampered with. All they would take is one credit card from each wallet, and only if that wallet contained multiple credit cards. They would then use the credit cards at casinos to make multiple cash withdrawals until the credit line on the card was reached. This string of crimes began in the early 1990s, and occurred in states all across the U.S., even those that didn’t have casinos.

While one of the perpetrators has been arrested in the Arlington investigation, the others are still up to no good. And, I am unaware of what happened with the FBI investigation, or how many other types of operations are now going on. Therefore, it’s up to fitness center management to let their members know that they need to be extra cautious about their valuables when in the facility. First of all, it would be wise for staff to suggest to members that they not bring any valuables to the fitness center. If that’s not possible, then provide a safe place for them to lock up their valuables near the front desk where they will be supervised by staff members at all times. Or, better yet, encourage members to keep their valuables on them, if possible. If they do store their valuables in lockers, by all means be sure to tell members to lock them!

Other tips for helping your members to avoid getting ripped off in your facility can be found in a recent article in FM titled Locker-Room Crime: The Aftermath.

Making Sense of Staph

At a recent industry trade show, the FM booth had a prime location: right next to Gojo Industries. People flocked to the booth next door with hands outstretched, eager for a product sample. Guess what were they were selling? No, not beer, though the product does give off a faint whiff of alcohol. Gojo Industries sells hand sanitizer and related accessories.

It’s no wonder fitness facilities are enamored with hand sanitizers. The recent drug-resistant staphylococcus aureus outbreak — and subsequent media freak-out — has shoved fitness centers into the same dark corner as school locker rooms and hospitals. Suddenly, working out in a fitness center — where people, God forbid, sweat — is now perceived as potentially dangerous to their health. Therefore, facility managers are eager to show proactivity and awareness of their members’ concerns — and complimentary hand sanitizers are an easy and relatively inexpensive way to accomplish this.

Unfortunately, the industry’s lack of regulation continues to haunt it. According to an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “There aren’t any state-mandated regulations or routine inspections of [fitness] facilities, except for those with pools, spas and hot tubs. … And they’re not required to report staph infections, because most infections are very mild and result in skin irritation.”

Still, no matter how mild a rash may be, if a member thinks they got it at your facility, you’re in trouble.

It’s likely that your facility has measures in place to combat infections of all kinds — and it’s also likely that most of them rely on members doing most of the work. You probably have signs endorsing frequent hand washing, towel requirements or services, and available disinfectant sprays. But, what should members expect from you? What are you doing to show members that you take the staph outbreak — and every disease concern — as seriously as they do?

For more information about Staphylococcus aureus, visit the CDC
website.

Will ‘Roid Rage’ Happen at Your Facility?

With two recent deaths in the pro wrestling world related to steroid use, and the scandals in baseball and the Tour de France, the fitness industry should get a wake-up call. Although most fitness center members don’t use steroids, human growth hormone or testosterone, some do — especially athletes and serious weightlifters. Even child athletes have been known to use steroids to increase athletic performance. Some estimates suggest as many as 7 percent of high school students have used steroids.

This number should shock you, especially if you work with child athletes. And, a quick search on the Internet reveals that it is surprisingly easy to buy steroids without a prescription.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the major side effects from abusing anabolic steroids can include liver tumors and cancer, jaundice, fluid retention, high blood pressure, increases in LDL (bad cholesterol) and decreases in HDL (good cholesterol). Other side-effects include kidney tumors, severe acne and trembling. In addition, there are some gender-specific side effects. For men, shrinking of the testicles, reduced sperm count, infertility, baldness, development of breasts and increased risk for prostate cancer. For women, growth of facial hair, male-pattern baldness, changes in or cessation of the menstrual cycle, and a deepened voice. For adolescents, growth can be halted prematurely. This means that adolescents risk remaining short for the remainder of their lives if they take anabolic steroids before the typical adolescent growth spurt. Scientific research also shows that aggression and other psychiatric side effects may result, including extreme mood swings and manic-like symptoms leading to violence.

While these symptoms and statistics may seem out there for the mainstream fitness industry, I assure you they are not. I know at least one woman at my fitness center has taken some sort of male hormone in her life. (Either that, or she is a post-op sex-change patient.)

So what are fitness professionals to do? To start, your facility should have clear and posted rules about selling steroids while on your property. You can also post warning signs in your locker room about the dangers of taking anything for enhanced athletic performance. Your trainers should also know the signs of steroid abuse, and warn clients about taking them. The last thing your facility needs is a member harming themselves or others because of “roid rage.”

Tanning Has No Place in the Fitness Industry

I don’t know the actual statistics, but I do know that there are still fitness centers out there that offer tanning beds to members. And, there are always several tanning bed companies represented at industry trade shows. My question is, why?

Indoor tanning used to be thought of as “safer” than being out in the sun, and tanning bed companies still try to make that claim. However, the American Academy of Dermatology, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Cancer Institute, among others, have all declared that UV radiation from artificial sources, such as tanning beds and sun lamps, is a known carcinogen.

Dr. Whitmore, Associate Professor of Dermatology, Department of Dermatology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md., says, “Indoor tanning uses UVA radiation, which leads some in the industry to claim that indoor tanning is a safe alternative to outdoor tanning. However, most salons’ bulbs still provide a significant amount of UVB radiation, in addition to UVA. Both types of ultraviolet light, whether from sunlight or indoor tanning light, cause various types of damage in the skin that may lead to skin cancer and should be avoided.”

Fitness centers are a place of “health and wellness.” They should offer sound fitness, nutrition and weight-loss advice. Many even offer ways to reduce stress, such as mind/body fitness and massage. Where do tanning beds fit into this picture? Why would a place that claims to offer healthy advice also offer a service that is known to cause cancer?

An article published in FM even suggests that members who get skin cancer from a tanning bed at a fitness center could potentially sue the facility.

The fitness industry should stay out of the tanning business. Places that promote healthy lifestyles should not also promote cancer-causing agents.

Key Board Security

Whatever happened to cat burglars? They were the Cary Grants of the burgling profession, suave and sophisticated, gliding into fancy soirees to delicately lift a heavy jeweled necklace off Grace Kelly and make off with her fortune.

Now, they’ve been replaced by a new breed of burglar: the less elegant, but just as effective car burglars. The Venice Gondolier Sun reports that car burglars are sly and swift, walking into fitness facilities to casually lift members’ keys off a key board and make off with their keys, cash and ID.

Lifestyles Family Fitness, Venice, Fla., and a local YMCA were targeted, and both provide a master key board where members can leave their keys before working out.

Gondolier Reporter Tommy McIntyre says, “Police advise members who use fitness centers to keep their car keys with them while working out, if possible.” I don’t know about you, but the sound of car keys jingling in my pocket doesn’t exactly motivate me to train longer. Heck, I don’t think my gym shorts even have pockets. But, thankfully, the Venice police offer a solution for that particular wardrobe shortcoming: A waistpack.“If the waistpack is not comfortable while working out, throw it over your shoulder as you go from machine to machine and set it down where you can watch it,” the article suggests. Sounds convenient for members. Keep track of your heart rate, your hydration and your valuables.

Why don’t these facilities provide a safe, secure area for members to leave their keys while they’re working out? Are key boards, fannypacks or gym shorts with pockets really the only options?

Does your facility use a key board? If so, why? And how do you keep it secure?

Expect the Unexpected

Several years back, when I walked into my fitness center, the front desk staffer told me that the facility was closed for a few hours because a nest of bees was found in the women’s locker room. Yikes! I didn’t get the story on how it was discovered, or if anyone had actually gotten stung, but a situation like that could be costly for a business (an injured member, loss of business, reputation, etc.).

Another unexpected emergency happened recently at a fitness center in Immokalee, Fla. The Immokalee Sports Complex was closed for three days when a leak was discovered in the chlorination tank for the pool. A hazardous materials team was called in, and three staff members and a contractor who were exposed to the vapors were taken to a hospital. A clean-up company determined that the chlorine tank was contaminated by an acidic solution.

While these two situations may seem extreme, they did happen at fitness centers, and can happen at yours. In fact, you need to be prepared for any number of strange occurrences – both in terms of member injuries or to the actual building itself. And while you can’t possibly prepare for every scenario, you can (and should) have a risk-management plan in place.

Do you and your staff members know what to do in an emergency? For some tips on how to create an emergency plan, search FM’s Article Archive for "risk management" or "safety."

Making Your Members Feel Safe

In Fort Smith, Ark., in a six-month period, female members of Bodies for Christ fitness studio allege they were sexually assaulted and raped at the facility by James Clayton Solomon. The local newspaper refers to him as a “bodybuilder.”

He is also the club’s owner.

Solomon was arrested twice for his crimes; once on suspicion of two counts of rape, and again for two counts of second-degree sexual assault on two women. All of the alleged crimes were committed at Bodies for Christ.

These women were betrayed on several levels. First, by the club’s name. “Bodies for Christ” implies that the facility is somehow associated with the Christian faith — a belief system which does not advocate sexual assault, the last time I checked.

Second, they were betrayed by Solomon. Instead of providing his members a safe, comfortable place to exercise, he used the club as his own personal hunting ground. He met the women at his club, and he attacked them there.

People have a long list of reasons why they don’t exercise. Money, time, energy and commitment are huge obstacles for potential members to overcome before they sign on the dotted line. The last thing you need is for potential members to add “distrust” and “fear” to that list.

Solomon is clearly the exception to a rule, and his fate lies in the courts. But his actions can have a very negative trickle-down effect on clubs everywhere. It is a club’s responsibility to provide a safe environment to exercise. Are you doing all you can to make members feel safe at your club?

AEDs: The Life You Save Could be Your Own

Most of you have heard by now that it is a good idea to have an automated external defibrillator (AED) in your fitness facility. In fact, many states require AEDs in fitness centers, including California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New York, Louisiana, Oregon, Arkansas, Indiana, and Washington, D.C.

What you may not realize is that having an AED could save your own life. In a strange twist of fate, one of the inventors of the AED had his life saved by one about 30 years later.

Chris Nefcy, an electrical engineer and software programmer, served as a consultant when First Medic created the first AED for public use. While playing basketball at PRO Club in Bellevue, Wash., in 2006, Nefcy had a cardiac arrest. Two club staff members started CPR, then hooked him up to an AED, which got his heart going. Says Nefcy in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “I think it’s a cool story that something I helped build saved my life years later.”

While you didn’t help build the AED, having one in your fitness center could end up saving a life — even your own. Do you have a life-saving AED story from your fitness center? Do you even have an AED?

For more information on AEDs in fitness facilities, go to Fitness Management’s Article Archive.

Hiring Gone Wrong

When hiring staff for your fitness center, there are many things to consider: experience, friendliness, hours available to work. But what about citizenship, criminal history or the potential for being creepy? An LA Fitness in the Phoenix, Ariz., area apparently didn’t care about those last requirements, considering it hired an illegal immigrant who was caught spying on women in the locker room.

According to a news item from the East Valley Tribune (May 25, 2007), a man “believed to be an illegal immigrant” who was a janitor at the East Mesa LA Fitness broke into the facility’s ceiling and watched women as they changed. Police also said that he fondled himself while peeping and, on one occasion, stole a woman’s cell phone from her gym bag. The man, Francisco Salgado Martinez, was charged with voyeurism, burglary and theft.

So, how could this have been avoided? LA Fitness should have first determined Martinez’ ability to legally work in the U.S. Next, a criminal background check should have been performed, since voyeurs tend to have committed this same crime in the past. Finally, there should be safeguards in place to keep staff members from having access to the ceilings or walls around locker rooms. At the very least, employees should be accounted for during work hours, since this guy obviously committed the crimes when the facility was open. For more information on hiring and staffing, check out past articles from Fitness Management.

Can you guarantee that something like this won’t happen at your facility? Are you thoroughly screening your employees, and then keeping an eye on them while they are in your facility? Your members expect privacy and safety while in your fitness center. If something like this happened at my fitness center, I would simply quit. I’m sure many of your members would do the same.