Safety courses compulsary from 2012 for some helpers

[frog]

Lindsay posted a bit on this on the Scottish Sprint thread but I thought I'd give it its own thread.
The BOF insurers have said they will charge more for insurance from 2012 unless organisers and controllers for level C and above events have been on a "safety course".
This means SOLs, SoSOLs and events like Scottish Sprint, 6 days etc.
A major pain in the bum.
Hilary and Lindsay have arranged a course (free to scottish orienteers) for after the sprint champs at the same church hall.
It may be cancelled if not enough folk attend which means we'll have to have a course at another time and place.
Perhaps those on the relevent BOF committees know how much difference this would make to our insurance premiums and whether its worse all the hassle, but if we are stuck with this mental rule it would be good to have more folk coming along to the safety meeting. 2012 isn't far away.
Brief details on SOA website.
What are English folk doing? Are you all attending safety meetings as well?

[Slowtochide]

No, I'm not a great fan of courses for this, that and the other but...
I went on the first Safety & Welfare course in SEOA about a month ago. It was practical and sensible. Organisers/Planners/Controllers should know the key issues when dealing with a missing competitor etc etc
One key point that was made by the presenter that seems to be overlooked is that much of the material was apparantly already in existing Organiser/Planner/Controller courses. Extracting from there and putting it in one place cuts out repetition and makes for more of a flexible building block approach.

[graeme]

What qualifications do you need to run one of these courses?

[frog]

Are you volunteering?

[Slowtochide]

What qualifications do you need to run one of these courses?

The course material is all provided in a package by BOF so, based on recent related conversations, then I would say that the answer is:
- Have attended one of the early rollout sessions
- Be an experienced Organiser/Planner/Controller so that you can set things in context
- Be a good communicator/trainer so that attendees don't fall asleep

[Scott]

Indeed, I think the current round of courses are specifically being delivered with the aim of some of the attendees being able to go back to their clubs and deliver more courses.

[frog]

Perhaps I don't want to go to the course then....

[lindseyk]

The workshop on 5 March is very unlikely to go ahead but I can assure all SOA members that attending the workshop will not mean you need to go back to your clubs and deliver it to other members. The SOA already have several willing volunteers to do this.

It would be good to hear from people who have attended the workshop to see if they thought it worthwhile. The negative comments seem to be coming from people who haven't attended one.

[LostAgain]

Is it not already difficult enough to get someone to volunteer for key roles, particularly Organiser ? This requirement will make it very difficult, almost impossible to get people to fill this role if you can only approach a list of candidates that have attended the relevant course!!!

Controllers are already required to attend courses for the requisite level, so this seems to be a duplication for them. Since the Controller oversees the Planner then this would seem unnecessary for the Planner.


To date has it not been in thr controllers remit to assure the safety and have veto over aspects regarding this?

[AndyC]

I attended an Organisers Course run by the LEIOC Chairman Chris Phillips and he gave excellent coverage of Health and Safety issues; add that to work experience managing engineering work and orienteering experience amongst the more vulnerable runners and working with experienced planners, organisers and controllers, I suspect that I am qualified enough but if I need another piece of paper.....

[Big Jon]

"The negative comments seem to be coming from people who haven't attended one"

I attended one recently and it didn't cover anything I hadn't already covered many times at controllers courses, coaching courses, real life events etc. Waste of 5 hours of my life. BOF need to get it on line so people can do it from their own home without the ned to travel and commit to certain times. Its only a tick box exercise at the insistence of the insurance company anyway.

[andy]

I attended one recently and it didn't cover anything I hadn't already covered many times at controllers courses, coaching courses, real life events etc. Waste of 5 hours of my life.

I haven't attended one and this is why I don't want to.

[Lucy.F.]

As a young person who has only had experience of co-organising the EUOC Big Weekend last year, I found the Safety course quite helpful. Of course some of it is common sense but the chance to speak to others about tricky situations and to be able to make sure you are aware of the majority of things you need to think about was useful. In that sense I view it as a similarly useful course to the child protection courses I went on last year run by the council.

I can understand many of the members of the orienteering community who have numerous years of organising experience behind them may find it a little boring or unneccesary but for the younger generation starting to take these roles on and for anyone newish to the sport - I think it's very useful. And for those experienced people it's a good chance to refresh memories perhaps of unusual situations and help out the younger folk!

[graeme]

I attended one recently and it didn't cover anything I hadn't already covered many times at controllers courses, coaching courses, real life events etc. Waste of 5 hours of my life.

I have to attend so many such things at work nowadays, but at least Im paid to do so. Taught by people with less experience then the attendees, who when faced with a genuinely difficult question simply tell you to use your judgment and common sense.
I do voluntary stuff for free. Compulsary (sic) stuff you can pay me for.

[Slowtochide]

Hmmm, I find myself somewhere in the middle on this, I definitely don't see lots of extra courses as the solution to all our ills but on the other hand some of the comments above seem to be wandering off the mark a bit. Picking up on various points in previous posts:

I definitely agree that BOF should do more to offer courses such as this online - although bouncing ideas around amongst attendees does have its place

Coming back to a point I have already made it is my understanding that this section will be pulled out from other courses - I could be wrong on that but if it happens then it is a fact of life that some people will receive the same material twice during the transition

I have always believed that the Planner and Organiser are responsible for doing their job thoroughly. And that the role of the Controller is to check and make sure everything is up to standard and safety, stepping in as necessary if things aren't up to scratch - not to instruct the Planner and Organiser on the basics. Given this then the Organiser and Planner cannot just claim that safety is an issue for the Controller

I have also been involved with Health and Safety courses at work - but they never covered the do's and don'ts of searching for lost competitors in a forest

Maybe the course I attended worked well because it was given by a highly experienced orienteer whose opinions I respect?