Safety Management


Incidents and accidents To report or not to report, that is the question…


O


nce upon a time organisations tended to be very reluctant to report


incidents and accidents. There were many reasons for this. Fear of getting into trouble, concern over being seen to have failed and a lack of understanding as to who to report to are just a few of the reasons to sweep things under the carpet. Thankfully those days are long gone and we now tend to receive reports on most occasions where an RYA training centre encounters an accident or incident.


Why do we want to know? Quite simply, if we know about accidents we can begin to spot


patterns and in many cases this allows us to take positive steps to try and minimize the risk of it happening again. Importantly, we can inform other training centres of the risk and, where appropriate, we can adjust course syllabi and communicate direct to the boating public. If we are not informed, we have no visibility of trends and can only assume that all is well.


What do we need to know? Paper cuts, stubbed toes and sunburn are all painful but realistically not something the RYA can have much of an influence over. From a training centre


viewpoint, the following types of incident are the ones you are bound to report to us under the terms of your RYA recognition contract: » A fatality » Where the incident involves hospitalisation


» Where the incident is required to be reported to the MAIB


» Where you believe there are lessons to be learned from the incident


» Where you are in any doubt as to whether it should be reported. If we know about a serious incident we can also provide support to the training centre in terms of dealing with media,


advice on dealing with families and the authorities and also legal advice where necessary. In the aftermath of a major incident things happen very quickly. If we are in the loop we can support you in making good decisions at a critical time where the wellbeing of your staff, your members, your customers and the future of your organisation may all be at risk. If in any doubt contact RYA


Training for a chat and we can decide between us whether the incident warrants reporting or not. Our Guidance for Major Incident Procedures contains a handy reporting triggers flowchart to help you identify who you need to contact and how to reach them.


Centre Management


Welfare Officer training


B


uilding on the Safe and Fun online course launch last April, we now have


the Welfare Officers’ course, suitable for anyone with overall responsibility for safeguarding at their organisation. The course enables Welfare Officers


to support their instructors, club members or volunteers in providing a safe environment for children. The areas covered include:


» Understanding the role of a Welfare Officer


» Developing and maintaining safeguarding policy and procedures


» Supporting those who work with children


» Relevant safeguarding authorities and organisations,


www.rya.org.uk and who does what


» Recruiting the right people » Responding to concerns from instructors, members or volunteers


» Dealing with a disclosure from a child


» Taking appropriate action. Anyone with responsibility


for safeguarding at an RYA club, centre or class association is strongly advised to complete both Safe and Fun (or an equivalent awareness course) and the Welfare Officers’ course, especially if they have little or no previous experience of safeguarding. For details of costs and how


to gain access to the course, please contact Jackie Reid, RYA Safeguarding and Equality Manager at jackie.reid@rya.org.uk.


Duty of care, disclaimers and insurance


Management – the Legal Aspects’ to take account of recent legislation, including the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Act 2015. This publication is essential


T


reading for anyone organising training activities, whether in a club


he RYA Legal Team has updated its publication ‘Race, Training and Event


or commercial environment, and expands on the issues discussed in the ‘Duty of Care, Disclaimers and Insurance’ sessions at the RYA Training Conference in February. Contact the RYA Legal Team to get hold of your copy. legal@rya.org.uk or 023 8060 4223. Affiliated clubs can download a copy from the RYA website (club login required).


Insurance for training centres – a reminder


Further to Training Notice TN 07-15 issued in September 2015, new applicants for RYA recognition must now comply with updated insurance requirements. The date by which existing recognised training centres must comply is 1 February 2017. Please read TN 07-15 for details of the requirements and Training Guidance TG 12-15 for full details.


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