Jun 1, 2008 12:00 PM

The 24-hour key-card club model is put to the test by a city ordinance as well as state laws that mandate AEDs in every health club.

Spa 23, which opened in 1980, is not a key-card club and has a limited 24-hour schedule. The club is open from 5 a.m. Monday until 8 p.m. Saturday, and open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

At least two staff members are on the premises at Spa 23 at all times, says Adler, who adds that all 150 part-time and full-time employees of the club are AED and CPR certified.

“We had an AED years before it was required,” Adler says. “Within a year of having the AED, we saved a guy's life.”

So far, no regulatory agencies in any of the AED states have fined key-card clubs for not having staff on duty at all times. IHRSA is trying to get the state mandates to apply a “staffed business hours” clause for 24-hour key-card clubs, says Joe Moore, executive director of the association for for-profit club owners. He adds that IHRSA is “committed to accommodating the schedule of all of those who wish to attend a gym. [24-hour key-card] clubs have specialized operating plans that warrant specific legal protections. IHRSA is working to ensure these facilities are able to operate without running afoul of the law.”

Strait says it is the responsibility of Snap Fitness franchisees to familiarize themselves with the rules and regulations in their respective territories. If a local official contacts Snap Fitness about a possible violation, the company will then contact the franchisees in that area and make sure they are in compliance with the law, he says.

“Furthermore, we are always quick to err on the side of caution as it pertains to the safety of our members,” Strait says, “and we recommend to all of our franchisees that they should invest in an AED — regardless of whether or not it's a requirement.”

In 2002, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), along with the American Heart Association, urged fitness clubs to install AEDs and train their staff to use them. In ACSM's third edition of facility standards and guidelines, published last year, the organization made AED installation and training a requirement. However, the ACSM guidelines are not law.

Doyice Cotten, professor emeritus of sport management at Georgia Southern University, monitors AED state laws as they relate to health clubs. Although he has not examined the AED laws related specifically to 24-hour key-card clubs, he says that if the law states that all health clubs must have an AED-trained staff member in the club, then the 24-hour key-card clubs must obey the law.

Richard Lazar, the president of AED Risk Insights, a Portland, OR-based firm that provides information about AED laws and legislation, does not agree with most AED laws that single out 24-hour key-card clubs.

“Statutes or ordinances that impose requirements on these key-card clubs are frankly silly,” Lazar says. “These kinds of requirements for facilities with such low density, such few users in the wee hours of the morning, just make no sense to me from a public health or a public policy perspective. The probability of sudden cardiac arrest in a health club is only slightly greater than a sudden cardiac arrest elsewhere in the community. If public policymakers believe that AEDs are important, then they should broadly require them and not cherry-pick require them. [AED laws] make policymakers feel good but don't do much good from a public health perspective.”

A situation involving a sudden cardiac arrest has never occurred in one of Cowan's Snap Fitness clubs, he says. If it does, Cowan is confident that other members in the club could figure out how to use an AED in an emergency. Although Cowan is for mandating AEDs in health clubs, he doesn't want to be required to have an AED-trained staff member in his club during all hours of operation.

“What is the purpose of that person on staff?” Cowan says. “Are they there sitting around waiting for someone to have a heart attack? If they are, they're going to be waiting a long time. The bottom line is, the model does not work staffed.”
The model of 24-hour key-card clubs, based on operating without staff in the club at all hours of the day, has not been an easy one for insurance companies to come to a consensus. Some insurance agencies have created policies to cover these clubs. Other insurance companies are just now beginning to consider insuring these clubs.

Insurance Companies Becoming More Comfortable With Key-Card Clubs

Several features at Anytime Fitness and Snap Fitness have eased insurance companies’ concerns, such as having a panic button on the wall that contacts a security company, which then contacts 911. Other features include telephone numbers of the club owner or manager posted in the club, necklaces that members can wear during their workouts and 24-hour surveillance cameras.

George Spanjers of Spanjers Insurance Agency, which merged last year with Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services, works with Anytime Fitness and Snap Fitness, as well as the new World Gym 1440 All Axcess 24-hour key-card clubs. Spanjers/Gallagher claims to be the first broker to develop an insurance program specifically for 24-hour key-card clubs.

At first, key-card clubs in general were required to pay higher premiums, Spanjers says, but his company has reversed that requirement.

"Because of the safety devices in place, the risk management we’ve done and the removal of hazards that cause the claims … [24-hour key-card clubs] don’t pay higher rates," Spanjers says.

VeNita Schnebele, area president of Arthur J. Gallagher, says that insurance companies have distinct differences in the types of risks they will insure. The 24-hour key-card clubs are perceived as higher-risk, lower-premium operations, she says, if they are treated on an individual basis.

"While we won’t see a high frequency of losses, the opportunity for a very large loss exists," Schnebele says. "Therefore, we work with insurance companies who understand that they will write thousands of the clubs who collectively will generate enough premium to offset the occasional very large loss."

Insurance costs vary from club to club, but according to Spanjers/Gallagher, the cost for property and liability coverage for average-sized key-card clubs is between $2,500 and $4,000 per club annually.

Ken Reinig, senior vice president of Association Insurance Group, a broker that connects insurance companies to their clients, says his company has been insuring 24-hour key-card companies for more than two years.

"They’re not as dangerous as we once thought," Reinig says. "We’re starting to welcome the 24/7 clubs and are trying to convince our underwriters to actually show a rate reduction if they have all the necessary things in place. You have to have the video. You have to have key access or fingerprint access. You have to have the proper waiver, which we provide to them. As long as we have those things in place, we’re absolutely OK with them."

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