Duty of Cares
The Union will show its commitment to ‘duty of care’ by endeavouring to:
· Where possible, promote and develop a positive ‘Health & Safety’ culture
· Where possible, provide subsidised training for club members to National Governing Body (NGB) standards.
· Where possible, provide first aid kits & subsidised first aid training for all members.
· Require pre registration & authorisation of all ‘away’ trips from clubs that are deemed ‘high risk’
· Where possible, provide affiliation to National Governing Bodies (NGB’s)
· Provide a system to report and monitor incidents
· Provide basic and adequate insurance cover, and additional compulsory insurance where necessary
· Continue to review and modify safety procedures
The duty of care requires you to consider the consequences of your acts or omissions and to ensure that those acts and/or omissions do not give rise to a foreseeable risk of injury to any other person. Clearly, one is not expected to guarantee the safety of others, merely to act reasonably.
DUTY OF CARE: COMMON LAW NEGLIGENCE
This section contains a very general and basic view of negligence. It sets out and hopefully answers questions that you ought to be asking.
The term ‘injury’ used herein means primarily physical injury and consequential financial losses.
WHERE DOES NEGLIGENCE FIT INTO OUR SOCIAL FABRIC?
All of us understand that deliberately causing injury to others is a criminal offence ordinarily resulting in punishment for the perpetrator.
All of us understand that some injuries are accidental, i.e. the giving rise to them are wholly unforeseeable. No one is responsible. No compensation is payable.
In between those two ends of the spectrum are ‘negligent acts’, i.e. they are not deliberate, but the injury is foreseeable. The negligent person will not be punished, however the injured party may seek financial compensation as a result. The compensation is paid by the individual who has caused the loss and could amount to millions of pounds.
WHAT DOES IT DO?
The system of rules is designed to determine in any incident of injury whether an act was negligent, whether the negligent act actually caused injury, whether compensation should be paid and if so, how much?
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
Each of us owes a ‘duty of care’ to our ’neighbours’ not to cause them injury by our negligent acts and omissions. In order to satisfy or ‘discharge’ that duty of care, you must behave as a ‘reasonable person’ taking into account your specific skills, knowledge and experience. For example, a ‘reasonable’ non medically trained rescuer’ might be forgiven a medical mistake which a reasonable qualified paramedic would be expected not to make.
DOES ORDINARY MEMBERSHIP OF A CLUB AFFECT MY ORDINARY DUTY OF CARE?
Not usually. You still owe the individual a duty of care to your neighbours. However, the people who are your ‘neighbours’ might alter and/or increase to include other club members and others with whom you may now come into contact as a result of membership of that club.
WILL BEING A GROUP LEADER OF A CLUB OR OTHER ACTIVITY AFFECT MY ORDINARY DUTY OF CARE?
It may do. As a Group Leader (or Team Captain) you have accepted the responsibility of leading others. You owe them a duty to ensure that they are not exposed to a foreseeable risk of injury as far as you reasonably can.
It should be noted that on any outing where a group leader has not been appointed the most experienced and/or qualified person there ought reasonably to intervene and at least advise if a foreseeable risk of injury exists or arises.
WILL ACCEPTING OFFICE IN A CLUB AFFECT MY DUTY OF CARE?
Yes, it may do so. If you accept a position you are likely to agree to carry out certain functions which may affect the safety of others both inside and outside the club. You are accepting responsibility and you must fulfil those duties to the best of your ability without negligence. That is, you must not create a foreseeable risk of injury and you must take reasonable steps to deal with any foreseeable risk of injury which exists or arises. For example: If you agree to be the Equipment Officer you must make inspections of the equipment to see that it is reasonably safe.
CONCLUSION
The law of negligence seeks to ensure that as individuals we are responsible for our actions and inactions, and that we consider those who might be injured by these acts and omissions.
The actual standard varies according to an individual’s skill and experience and requires us all to behave reasonably.
It is not possible to lay down golden rules which if followed will preclude the possibility of a successful civil claim. However, behaving responsibly and considerately is likely to mean that no injury will be occasioned in the first place.
The safety net that we all hope we will never need is third party liability insurance. If a compensation claim is successfully brought then this insurance should pay out. All members of the Students’ Union automatically have such cover where affiliated to NGB’s with that facility.
P.J Debney, Partner, Cartwright and Lewis, Solicitors 1998
Health & Safety
See Health & Safety Policy – (Student Activities), for further information. A copy if the Unions H&S Policies are available on the Union website www.bathspasu.co.uk
Participation in any activity, at whatever level, which you, as a club or society officer, will involve some element of physical risk. Risk Assessment is a way in which these physical risks can be minimised. The primary aim is to avoid harm to the health, safety and welfare of participants. Prior to any activity an Activity Participation Form should be filled out and any Disclaimer Forms.
Risk Assessments
It is necessary for all students to be aware of the health and safety policy of the Union, not only for legal reasons but also to safeguard the students themselves. Through implementing a risk assessment policy, the level of risks that clubs/societies and their members are exposed to can be reduced to the safest possible level. Preventative measures can then be introduced to avoid accidents happening.
Whilst the Union recognises that injury to people and damage to property occurs randomly, it is extremely important that risks are thoroughly thought through and appropriate action has been taken to reduce the likelihood of them occurring. The majority of accidents can be avoided with adequate attention to risk, and it is for this reason the Students’ Union requires a risk assessment to be completed for everyday activities and one-off events.
If your club/society does not consider the possible hazards and an incident does occur, the club/society will become liable for any damages. Completing and submitting an accepted Risk Assessment form, will not only decrease the possibility of an accident, but it will also shift responsibility to the Students' Union. It is therefore extremely important that you submit your Risk Assessments. You are required to hand it in 2 weeks before the event. Forms can be downloaded from the web page or picked up from the Union Office.
If a risk assessment is not completed to the satisfaction of the risk assessor (Membership Services Manager), either the activity will be stopped or your account will be frozen until sufficient steps are taken to rectify the problem. Furthermore, if a Club/Society does not implement suitable precautionary measures, Bath Spa Students’ Union has the right to step in and take action. This document aims to clarify what is considered risky and outline what action needs to be taken in order to avoid unnecessary problems.
You should try and complete the Risk Assessment form as a group, as this will allow you to identify a wide range of hazards. If an accident happens, no matter how serious, you must fill out the Union Accident Form with as much detail as possible, and as soon as possible. The forms can be found in the first aid kits and in the Union office.
Risk Assessments consist of four basic parts:
1. Identify the Hazards and Assess the Risk
This is the potential to cause harm to people, equipment, environment etc, and the level of risk of an accident occurring due to the hazard.
2. People at Risk
List groups of people at risk from hazard?
3. Existing Controls of the Risk
Have you already taken precautions against the hazards you have listed?
4. Further Steps Required to Control the Risk
What more can be reasonably done for those risks that are not already adequately controlled?
For a number of external activities, you may have to organise personal public liability insurance, but you will have to check this with the Students’ Union. The Students’ Union will also require you to develop a code of practice specific to the activities of your Club or Society. For further information speak to the VP Activities & Participation or the Membership Services Manager in the Union Office. During the early part of the Autumn Semester, training in Risk Assessment will be provided by the Union for all Club/Societies Execs. Risk assessment should not be seen as a one off event. If the rules of a game change or perhaps the environmental conditions change, then the risk assessment will also need reviewing or possibly modifying. Hopefully this reviewing will only be an annual occurrence which can be dealt with at the Club/Society Committee changeover period.
