Man tells devastating story of his dad's death at an Airbnb

mashable.com

9 points·zeeshanm··8 comments

That's terrible but it seems to me that you accept a certain amount of risk using airbnb. How could any set of regulations cover things like swings tied to a tree?

Agreed. This is what is called an 'act of god' in the insurance world. OSHA reports that over 100 people a year are killed by trees each year. Should we regulate trees with overhanging branches in all areas zoned as commercial or residential areas? Every year people die from falling trees onto the sidewalk.

DISCLAIMER: Living life has incurs a small risk of death.

Actually I think life has a 100% risk of death.

I haven't died yet, hoping to disprove that hypothesis (I avoid all trees)

This kind of thing is an advantage of Airbnb. Our litigious society has resulted in overly sanitized public spaces - no hotel would have a rope swing on a tree because of safety/liability concerns. We need to realize that it is not worth ruining everything to marginally improve safety.

On the other hand, fitness rooms and swimming pools (with water slides and diving boards and all) must be totally safe, because hotels have those.

Everything can be solved (or approximately so) by controlling access to a contraption, and the signing of waivers.

Really has nothing to do with Airbnb. It is simply a tragic accident that could have happened on any tree/any swing.

The homeowner likely has liability if the tree was on their property. AirBnB may also have liability.

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