EXPECTATIONS
“Safety is a legitimate personal expectation and a consistent individual responsibility. Every member of the Rotary family and all members of the public should be able to leave a Rotary event without having suffered or caused harm to others or the environment in any way”
The public perception of health and safety (H&S) is not always good and far too often is based on misleading stories which owe more to a desire for circulation than promoting good practice. We need to be aware of this and to act or respond accordingly. This means ensuring that adequate risk assessments are carried out and followed through in order that Rotary maintains a positive image and that no participant, member of the public or any Rotarian suffers as the result of an accident or illness caused by a badly run activity or event.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this H & S Guidance is:
- Provide information on how to manage H&S requirements for Rotary events
- Ensure compliance with Rotary best-practice
- Achieve conformance with Rotary Insurance cover.
WHAT IS COMPLIANCE?
Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland, (RGBI) has established policies and guidance for all compliance matters including Health and Safety. These are laid out in the following links:
www.rotarygbi.org (members section)
http://www.rotarygbi.org/media/2015/06/Health-and-Safety-Guidance-Jan-15-v1.pdf
In addition, insurance reference documents should be reviewed to ensure adequate cover for events.
Within the Club, the HSE Officer (Paul Rogers) and the Insurance Advisor (Mike Cook) are available to assist Club Officers, Chairpersons and Rotarians on relevant matters.
It is a requirement that Rotary event organisers shall adopt the RGBI best practices as describe in the above listed documents.
RECORDING H&S ACTION
It is essential that written records shall be maintained by event organisers relating to actions taken to ensure compliance for each event. These records should include demonstration that preventative and mitigating actions required to reduce risks to an acceptable level have been applied or instigated and are, also, compliant with Rotary Insurance cover.
The hierarchy of risk management is as follows:
- Avoid or eliminate activity with risks with significant consequences (for example, death or serious injury; unnecessary damage to reputation or financial loss; consequences and losses that cannot be covered by insurance) that cannot be prevented or mitigated
- If risks can be reduced to an acceptable level by preventative or mitigating action, ensure these actions are implemented
- Ensure that if there is a significant residual risk, an emergency response action is available.
SUMMARY OF RBGI HEALTH & SAFETY GUIDANCE- 2015
The information given below has been extracted from: http://www.rotarygbi.org/media/2015/06/Health-and-Safety-Guidance-Jan-15-v1.pdf
Scope Of Responsibility Of Rotary Club Event Organisers
Organise shall be aware of the requirements of each section. The starting point should be that the responsibility for H&S shall only relate to events or parts of events that Rotary Clubs organise or control. If Rotarians attend or support events that are organised by others, they should be covered by the risk assessment carried out by the organisers. The Rotary Clubs involved in these events should establish that they are covered prior to the event and should ask for a copy of the risk assessment to see what has been assessed and if there are any potential problems for their members.
If the event involves the use of contractors (paid or not for services), the Rotary organiser shall determine and record that the contractor has undertaken a risk assessment and is implementing preventative and mitigating action to manage risk. For example, firework displays should be managed by a competent organisation which has manages its risks and carries its own insurance cover.
If fairground rides are provided by others, they should undertake risk management and carry relevant insurances.
Those contractors providing food or drink shall demonstrate competence and compliance with relevant food regulations.
The Club HSE Officer shall provide a Risk Assessment pro-forma and assist the event organiser with the assessment process.
The document shall be signed by the event organiser and the HSE Officer.
Insurance cover for the event shall be established and organised by the Insurance Advisor.
RBGI HEALTH & SAFETY GUIDANCE- 2015 CONTENT
The document is comprehensive in respect of Rotary activity. Club event organisers should review the document and identify the relevant sections.