california construction-law product-liability
Legal requirements to build exercise equipment?
<p>I want to fabricate a powerlifting rack for my local gym either as a donation or possibly bought to advertise my racks. It just occurred to me that there may be structural legalities when making such a piece of equipment. All the gym members signed a waiver I believe, so were something to fail and an injury is sustained, then the owners are not held liable. I’m not a certified/licensed manufacturer, but I could be, but for now I just want to fabricate cool powerlifting racks and sell them. Is there anything illegal about this? Location: California</p>

<p>There is no California law requiring you to have a license to make things. Building power lifting racks is not a regulated business so there are no specific certification or licensing requirements (there are, though, general requirements to be licensed, imposed on all businesses, and city hall is your first stop for that). However, you might be liable for damages if the device is constructed negligently. For example, if you solder the joints, and someone is consequently injured, you could be held liable since you didn't exercise ordinary care in making the product. The <a href="https://www.justia.com/trials-litigation/docs/caci/1200/1221/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">jury instructions</a> for negligence will give you a basic summary of how negligence would be judged, and <a href="http://trialattorneysofamerica.com/documents/primer2012.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a> is a more detail analysis of product liability law. However, sports injuries are in the realm of things where the would-be plaintiff assumes some risk, so your error would have to be grossly negligent or reckless (I think soldered joints would do it).</p>
