Concussion Code of Conduct in Ontario - Rowan’s Law (Sample Included)

In March 2018, Ontario passed a new concussion safety law, named Rowan’s Law (Concussion Safety), 2018, which regulates sports organizations and how they deal with the issue of concussion suffered by their players.

So, there is a new level of responsibility imposed upon all sports organizations.

In short, sports leagues and organizations have to implement at least these 3 steps:

1.    Annual Review of Concussion Awareness Resources

2.    Code of Conduct

3.    Removal-from-Sport Protocol and Return-To-Sport Protocol

Annual Review of Concussion Awareness Resources

This is the most onerous step and, basically, the league has to ensure/get confirmation from all of their players that they have reviewed the concussion awareness resources within 12 months of registering with the league. It appears that this will turn out to be an annual requirement, to review the concussion awareness resources.

As a result, leagues would be well advised to implement a system whereby participants are required to review documentation during the application phase and also confirm, during the application, that they have reviewed those resources.

For children’s leagues, the league will be responsible for ensuring that they have the parent/guardians acknowledgment that the concussion awareness resources have been reviewed within 12 months of registration.

In addition, it will be necessary for the league to ensure/keep records that coaches, officials, and others involved with the league have reviewed the concussion awareness resources. Again, it appears that this will need to be updated annually.

Code of Conduct

This should not be difficult for a league to comply with and, over time, it is anticipated that leagues will generally gravitate toward the same type of inclusion of terms, within their respective codes of conduct.

Sample: Hockey Canada is leading the way and has published their concussion policy, which you can find here.

For ease of reference, additional concussion awareness resources might consider the following:

·         Concussion Awareness Training Tool (CATT)

·         Canadian Guideline on Concussion in Sport (2017)

·         Concussions in Ontario

·         Ministry of Health - Concussions and here

·         Rowan’s Law

·         CATT for Coaches

·         Concussion Response Tool

·         Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport – Concussion Guidelines

·         Parachute

·         Coaches Association of Ontario

·         Sport4Ontario

·         Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation – Concussion Tool

Removal-from-Sport Protocol and Return-To-Sport Protocol

This is the “heart” of the legislation and while it is anticipated that all leagues will gravitate toward the same general protocol, I think that league should put some thought into ensuring that their protocol/procedure meets with the legislation requirements (and regulations, when those are prescribed).

The wording of the legislation is as follows (emphasis added):

4 (1) Every sport organization shall establish a removal-from-sport protocol for its athletes that,

(a) establishes, in accordance with such requirements as may be prescribed, a specific process to implement the immediate removal of an athlete who is suspected of having sustained a concussion;

(b) designates persons who are responsible for ensuring that,

(i) an athlete is immediately removed from further training, practice or competition if the athlete is suspected of having sustained a concussion,

(ii) if the athlete is under 18 years of age or such other age as may be prescribed, the parent or guardian is informed of the removal,

(iii) such persons or entities as may be prescribed are informed of the removal, and

(iv) once removed, the athlete is not permitted to return to training, practice or competition, except in accordance with the sport organization’s return-to-sport protocol;

(c) sets out the responsibilities of other prescribed persons if they suspect that an athlete has sustained a concussion during training, practice or competition; and

(d) satisfies such other requirements as may be prescribed.

Return-to-sport protocol

(2) Every sport organization shall establish a return-to-sport protocol for its athletes that,

(a) applies in circumstances where the sport organization becomes aware that one of its athletes has sustained a concussion or is suspected of having sustained a concussion, regardless of whether or not the concussion was sustained or is suspected of having been sustained during a sport activity associated with the sport organization;

(b) establishes, in accordance with such requirements as may be prescribed, a specific process to implement the return of an athlete to training, practice or competition after the athlete has sustained a concussion or is suspected of having sustained a concussion;

(c) designates persons who are responsible for ensuring that,

(i) an athlete who has sustained a concussion or is suspected of having sustained a concussion does not return to training, practice or competition until permitted to do so in accordance with the return-to-sport protocol, and

(ii) such persons or entities as may be prescribed are informed that an athlete is permitted to return to training, practice or competition;

(d) sets out the responsibilities of other prescribed persons; and

(e) satisfies such other requirements as may be prescribed.

Protocols to be made available

(3) A sport organization shall, in accordance with the regulations, ensure that its removal-from-sport protocol and return-to-sport protocol are made available to the prescribed persons.

Each league will have to consider whether they will have medical personnel available, during play, to evaluate a potential concussion.

Most leagues do not, obviously, have a medically trained person present at games.  Therefore, the question then becomes who will evaluate the injured player and enforce the concussion protocol? Some thought should be given to this question (including their qualifications).

Regarding the evaluation itself, there seem to be a number of different resources that are available. Leagues may want to do their own research to find an appropriate evaluative tool - be careful about what reliance you are placing upon a document or checklist (i.e. for what target audience was the checklist created and is it appropriate to your situation? Has this been created by a qualified medical professional?)

Merely as a guide, some may consider using Concussion Response Tool to evaluate a possible concussion.  For those qualified to use (ie health professionals), they may consider using SCAT 2 or SCAT 3 to assess.

Gregory Chang

Toronto Insurance and Personal Injury Lawyer

Insurance Law Geek

Uber Offering E-Bikes? Provide Insurance Coverage to Protect Your Riders!

I just read an article indicating that Uber has purchased a small e- bike-sharing startup.

In Toronto, we already have Bike Share Toronto, which has been around for many years. The difference with the Uber purchase is that it will be that much easier/faster for their patrons to get around Toronto, with the assistance of an electric bicycle. As our 2009 blog entry argues, who realistically can bicycle and maintain a speed at approximately 32 km/hour (which is the maximum speed limit allowed for an e- bike)? Yet, this same person who is unable to ride a bicycle quickly can travel 32 km/hour using an e-bike - will their reflexes and skill in riding a bicycle keep up with this excessive speed?

That is, it is so convenient to travel long quickly without having to use any effort, but given that there are no licensing requirements, are these people truly able to handle any e- bike traveling at such speeds? And when they get into an accident, without insurance, then what?

E-bikes are still in someone of a grey zone, legally, in that insurance is not mandatory in order for a rider to use an e-bike. As indicated in our 2009 blog entry, our view is that this is a significant problem regarding insurance risk, which the user may not appreciate, for both the e-bike user as well as anyone that they hit while riding an e-bike.

Now, it appears that some homeowners insurer's offer some form of coverage, within the homeowners policy, for e-bikes. It may also be possible to purchase e-bike insurance specifically. While we do not know the specifics, it does not appear that this e-bike insurance is as comprehensive as you would receive if you obtained a moped insurance - i.e. there does not appear that Accident Benefits insurance, attached to the e-bike insurance coverage, is available.

Let's hope that Uber, if there looking to make money in Ontario by offering these e-bikes, is forced to offer coverage which is equivalent to the type of coverage that moped users would have.

Foreseeable Problem: whoever is renting these e-bikes, my assumption is that they would not be covered under their own personal home insurance policies for the use of these rental bikes. That is, they would be writing without any insurance, at all, unless it Uber offers coverage for their bicycles while you use them.

Uber (for vehicles), of course, loudly advertises that they offer $2 million worth of insurance coverage yet, at least in the early years, Uber left the issue of insurance coverage for the vehicle itself to their individual drivers.

Given how Uber has barged onto the market, circumventing traditional taxi regulations, let's hope that if they plan on introducing large-scale introduction of e-bikes to Ontario - which we really would be a culture change and an increase of risk for drivers and pedestrians alike - that they are forced to provide insurance coverage which is akin to the insurance coverage that moped drivers would be required to obtain (i.e. standard coverage under an automobile policy).

Like anyone else, I love the convenience that a service like Uber promises.  If they are to flood the market with e- bikes, however, then they should be held to a higher standard in terms of providing insurance coverage for those involved using their bicycles.

Gregory Chang

Toronto Insurance and Personal Injury Lawyer

Insurance Law Geek