Risk Assessments
As an instructor we have certain responsibilities and one of those is to ensure that we conduct the activity that we are doing in a safe manner. To be able to do this you need to think about what might cause harm to people and decide whether you are taking reasonable steps to prevent harm.
This is known as a Risk Assessment and as an organisation its our responsibility by law to carry out Risk Assessments. Risk Assessments not only for the participants but for YOU as the instructor or any visitors that might visit the water sports centre.
Therefore as the scope is very wide we need to concentrate about how accidents and ill health could happen and concentrate on the real risks – those that are most likely and which will cause the most harm.
Lets take a simple risk that could happen on a water sports activity-
Drowning it’s a major risk as the consequence is DEATH
So who could be harmed? Well it could be the instructor or a participant
What can we do that is’reasonable & practical’ to make it safe?
Wear a buoyancy aid or life jacket – it may still not in certain circumstances prevent drowning, but you / we have evaluated the risk and taken a sensible and practical approach to control the risk.
Please remember the Risk Assessment might not cover everything and it’s your responsibility as an Instructor or Senior Instructor to read & understand the risk assessment but more importantly undertake a dynamic risk assessment on the day and ongoing during the activity session. Things that might alter the generic assessment could be the weather, is it too hot, too cold, to wet, are there storms approaching, the participants ability, something else that happens in the session, the behaviour of the group or an individual participant. These are all things that could cause you to deviate from your original session plan and therefore alter the risk or likelihood of something happening.
You need to consider that you might need to read two or more risk assessments for an activity, for example sailing does not cover the use of the power boat as that has a separate risk assessment. Therefore you need to read and understand the use of a power boat risk assessment as well. There might not be a risk assessment for everything that we do, for instance I have seen sailing and paddling sessions finishing off with a ‘jump off the pontoon’ a pretty reasonable activity but currently there is no written risk assessment for this activity, does it need one?
Do you know the risks?
Is your dynamic risk assessment OK?
Do you have experience of controlling the activity?
If in doubt or have a nagging feeling then do not do it.
If you find that we have missed something that you think should be included in the risk assessments or we are doing activities that do not have a risk assessment then you have a duty to report it to the Principal at Priory SC so that it can be updated and communicated to other instructors. It is no good after the event saying “I knew about that”, “I thought that might happen”, “I wish I had told somebody about this”.
Priory Water Sports Centre Risk Assessments
General Risk Assessment for around the Centre (August 2024) Centre – General Risk Risk Assessment
Fire Risk Assessment (August 2024) Fire Risk Assessment
Priory Sailing Club list of Risk Assessments
Dinghy Sailing (June 2024) Dinghy Sailing Risk Assessment
Windsurfing (June 2024) Windsurfing Risk Assessment
Use of Power Boat & Power Boating (June 2024) Use of Power Boat Risk Assessment
Priory Sailing Club Course Completion Documents
Adult Dinghy
Adult Windsurfing
Powerboating
Youth Dinghy
Youth Windsurfing