Physical activity is a high risk endeavor. The following are recommended ways to reduce risk:

• Scan the environment: Look for any hazards that my potential cause injury. Examples include wet surfaces, standing equipment in the playing area (e.g. volleyball standards), loose clothing or bags on the floor, uneven surfaces, and weather hazards (e.g. heat, lightening).

• High risk sports : Identify the riskiest sports and take extra steps to manage risk or remove them from the curriculum. These include gymnastics, dodge ball, flag football, softball, and any contact sports.

• Playground safety:  Providing a safe and fun playground  should be a major concern at all schools. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission publishes playground safety guidelines at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/playpubs.html that should be strictly adhered to. The National Program for Playground Safety (http://www.uni.edu/playground/) and National Recreation and Parks Association (http://www.nrpa.org/playgroundsafety/) and leading authorities. 

• Supervise always: Direct supervision of students by the physical education teacher is paramount at all times. Even when giving individual instruction to students, the teacher should position themselves so that all students in the class are visible at least peripherally. And, never leave the gym or playing field unsupervised.

• Don’t play with students: While it is good to model physical activity and students like to have teachers participate, avoid doing this. The maturity and skill level disparity between teacher and student creates a potentially harmful situation, even if the teacher and student are of similar size or strength. In the event a student is injured by a teacher (e.g. physical contact, throwing a ball) the decision to participate will be difficult to defend, especially in court.

• Attractive nuisance: These are equipment and other facility features that may attract people to them (outside of class use) and, in turn, hurt themselves on the equipment. Examples include soccer goals (kids like to swing on them), batting cages, gymnastic vaults, weight lifting equipment,  and treadmills.

• Transportation caution: Travelling in official school vehicles with clear rules of conduct is very important. Contracting with transportation services are preferred to disburse liability. A teacher should never transport students in their own vehicle, since most personal vehicle insurance policies do not cover work-related accidents.

• Progress properly: Ensure that fundamental skills are learned before progressing to more advances skills, especially in high risk sports.

• Keep equipment in safe working order: Consistently inspect and replace or recondition equipment.

• Measuring up: Matched maturity, strength, and size as best possible during sports and games, especially those that involve contact.