Greetings from outgoing Minister of Waivers,
I am honored to have served as the Kingdom’s Minister of Waivers for the past two years. They have been interesting, to say the least. I wish to thank my successor, the Honorable Lady Ciana Scholari di Polcenigo, for volunteering to take over the office, effective May 1st. I trust everyone will be as helpful to her as you have been to me.
Maintaining an accurate and full set of waivers is very important for protecting the Society as an organization, and its volunteer officers, from legal liability should someone be injured at an SCA event. Waivers for adults need to be kept on file for seven years (2015 to present, at this writing), while waivers for minors are kept for twenty years from the date of signature (2002 to present, at this writing). Waivers should be completed at every event or arts martial practice. Paid members with a blue membership card do not need to sign a waiver at practice or event, though they may be asked to complete a gate form or roster waiver for tracking attendance. Everyone attending an event with horses present must sign the equestrian waiver, or signed for if a minor. The kingdom has created a central archive that will make it easier to provide copies of waivers to Society, should they be needed, rather than needing local groups to archive them for years or decades.
With more and more in-person activities and events resuming, I wish to provide a reminder of the process for sending waivers. Waivers must be sent to the Minister of Waivers within 30 days of the event. This includes site waivers, minor waivers, martial activity waivers, and equestrian waivers. They can be scanned and emailed to waivers@northshield.org, or mailed to minister via the address listed on the kingdom website (search for Minister of Waivers under the Seneschal deputies). Waivers can be scanned or a photo of the waivers can be taken with a smartphone or tablet. Waivers from practices can be sent quarterly.
“Media waivers,” or more accurately, media releases for publication of creative works or permission to use photographs or videos, do not go the Minister of Waivers. Media releases for newsletters, websites, and social media platforms fall under the chronicler or webminister’s offices. Contact the Kingdom Chronicler to determine if the kingdom or local officers should store those releases.
Resources:
Adult Waivers, Roster Waivers, Youth Waivers, Youth Medical Releases, Family
Waivers, Equestrian Waivers can be found at https://www.sca.org/resources/documentlibrary/
Kingdom Gate Waivers are found at http://northshield.org/Resources/PDF/GateForm.pdf
In service,
Arnbjørn