Forms · Glossary

What is a waiver form?

A waiver form is a document a participant signs before an activity to accept its risks and give up, in advance, some of their right to claim against the organiser if they are hurt. A release is narrower, giving up a specific claim or permission, such as settling an incident that already happened or allowing a photograph to be used.

People sign waivers without reading them, and organisers rely on them without knowing how far the law lets them reach. Both assumptions tend to fail at the worst possible moment, which is after somebody has been injured.

Nuwan Madhusanka · Co-founder

5 min read · Published 13 September 2026

Waiver, release and consent by use
Use	Usual document	What it does
Fun run or sports event	Waiver	Records that the risks were explained and accepted, and limits claims for injury
Gym, climbing or adventure activity	Waiver with a health declaration	Adds a statement of fitness and discloses conditions before taking part
Photography at an event	Photo release	Permits use of a person's image for the purposes stated
First aid or medical treatment	Consent form	Agrees to the treatment itself rather than giving up claims
Settling an incident	Release	Gives up a specific existing claim, usually in return for a payment
Equipment hire	Hire terms with a waiver clause	Sets out responsibility for damage and the risks of use

Waiver or release

The two words are often used as though they mean the same thing, and on many sports entry forms the document is called a waiver and release in one breath. The useful difference is timing and scope. A waiver looks forward: before anything has happened, the participant accepts described risks and agrees not to pursue certain claims that might arise. A release is usually tied to something identifiable: an incident that has already occurred and is being settled, or a specific permission such as using a photograph in a fundraising campaign. Treating a photo permission as part of a risk waiver is a common muddle, because the two answer entirely different questions and deserve separate choices.

What a waiver form contains

A description of the activity plain enough that a newcomer understands what they are doing. The specific risks, named rather than gestured at: falls, contact with other participants, traffic, heat, equipment failure. A statement that the participant is fit to take part, with a place to disclose conditions the organisers should know about. An emergency contact. The waiver wording itself, readable without a law degree. A signature, the name of the person signing and the date, with a parent or guardian signing for a child. And any separate permissions, such as first aid consent or photo use, as their own choices. Keep the whole thing short enough to read on a phone in a couple of minutes, because a waiver nobody could reasonably read is a weak record of anything.

How far a waiver reaches in Australia

Under the Australian Consumer Law, a term that tries to exclude the consumer guarantees is generally void. Section 139A of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 makes an exception for recreational services, meaning a sporting activity or similar leisure pursuit, or an activity involving significant physical exertion or risk undertaken for recreation. A contract for those services may exclude or limit liability under the consumer guarantees, but only for death, physical or mental injury, disease and similar harm to an individual, and not for significant personal injury caused by the supplier's reckless conduct. Reckless conduct means the supplier was aware, or should reasonably have been aware, of a significant risk of personal injury and went ahead anyway without adequate justification. The exception does not extend to damage to property. State civil liability laws add their own rules, which differ between states, so an organiser relying on a waiver should have its wording checked for the state where the activity runs.

Mistakes that weaken a waiver

Burying the waiver inside general terms so that nobody could say they noticed it. Listing risks so vaguely that the participant could not have understood what they accepted. Wording that tries to exclude everything, including property damage and reckless conduct, which reaches beyond what the Australian exception allows. Collecting several separate statements with a single tick. Letting a child sign. And failing to keep the exact wording each participant saw, which matters when the form has been edited between one season and the next. Most of these are fixed by treating the waiver as something the participant is meant to understand rather than a box to get past.

Building one in this form builder

The fun run example keeps its waiver in its own section near the end, with statements on the risks of taking part, fitness and release, and consent to first aid, followed by a separate photo choice, a signature and the name of the person signing. Build it as a classic form, because inline signing does not work on a published conversational form. A required checkboxes field is satisfied by a single ticked option, so each statement a participant must accept should be its own required field. An inline signature is printed into the response PDF, which gives each entrant's signed record as one document. Each response keeps the form version it was submitted against, and an older version can be opened at its own address, so the wording shown to an early entrant stays checkable after later edits.

Questions people ask

Can a parent sign a waiver for a child?

A parent or guardian should sign for a participant under eighteen, since a child's own signature on a legal document is weak at best. Whether a parent can give up the child's own right to claim is a separate and less settled question, and the answer varies by state. Treat a parent's waiver as a record of informed consent rather than a guarantee against claims.

Is an electronic signature on a waiver acceptable?

For most event and activity waivers, organisers accept electronic signatures, and a signed online form is easier to find later than a sheet of paper in a box. What matters is being able to show who signed, when, and exactly what wording they saw. Check any requirement set by your insurer or sporting body before dropping paper entirely.

Does a waiver replace insurance?

No. A waiver may reduce some claims, but it does not stop a participant claiming where the law does not allow the exclusion, and it does nothing for injuries to spectators, volunteers or passers by. Public liability insurance covers the organiser in ways a waiver cannot, and many insurers expect a waiver in addition, not instead.

How long should signed waivers be kept?

At least as long as a claim could be brought, which can run for years and can be longer where the injured person was a child. Your insurer or governing body may set a period. Keeping them in the form tool, with the version each person signed, is far easier than storing paper for that long.

Should the waiver be completed before the day?

Yes, wherever possible. A waiver signed at a registration table in a queue is exactly the kind a participant can later say they had no real chance to read. Collecting it with the entry, days ahead, gives time to read and ask questions, and leaves the morning of the event for checking names rather than collecting signatures.

Can a waiver stop a claim for negligence?

Sometimes, within limits. In Australia, the recreational services exception lets a contract limit liability for injury under the consumer guarantees, but not for significant injury caused by reckless conduct. State laws may also apply. Anyone depending on that protection should have the exact wording reviewed by a lawyer.

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Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked 13 September 2026.