The Promotion of Volunteering Bill fails to become law
The bill aimed to introduce a "statement of inherent risk", which volunteers
or voluntary organisations could ask the users of their services or activities to sign, to ensure that they "share responsibility
for the safe conduct of the activity". The courts would have to take account of the agreement in any legal proceedings for
negligence or breach of statutory duty.
But critics warned that the bill could do more harm than good because
the "statement of inherent risk" could discourage volunteers by asking them to accept liability, encourage bad practice in
risk assessment and generate a mountain of bureaucratic paperwork.
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