Health & Safety and Risk Management for Sports and Social Clubs

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Health and Safety Management is critical for Sports and Social Clubs

Health and Safety ensures businesses work within a positive, safe and legally compliant environment. Managing health and safety includes monitoring risks, learning about regulations and responsibilities, and executing risk-adverse processes.

Having effective health and safety in place will reduce the likelihood of an injury at your sports club or social club. Risk management is crucial to avoiding liability claims and can help to protect your finances.

Why Health and Safety and effective Risk Management matters?

Risk management matters because risks need to be dealt with to prevent them being turned into incidents. Implementing good health and safety processes can mitigate injuries, damages, and the potential cost of legal proceedings.

Improving health and safety comes hand in hand with good leadership, planning and communication. Growing businesses require evolving health and safety policies – so keeping on top of these is essential. Equally, longstanding clubs need to ensure they are up to date with legislation and work practices.

There are a wide range of tools and resources out there to assist with your health and safety processes, review the HSE website for in-depth details.

3 Key Tips to Managing Health and Safety for Sports and Social Clubs

Health and Safety management involves a long list of processes and procedures. The main health and safety implementations should be carried out by your Health and Safety officer. Many clubs outsource their HR and H&S solutions, with Sentient being best-placed to provide professional training and guidance.

Together, with Sentient, Club Insure have put together three key tips for sports venues and social clubs to help manage health and safety and potential risks.

1. Compliance and A Health and Safety Policy

Each club has responsibilities to ensure compliance. These responsibilities can be found under the guidance section of the HSE website. All actions should be listed within a club’s health and safety policy.

A health and safety policy should contain: statements of intent, delegated responsibilities, any necessary arrangements, a list of affected parties, and how actions are monitored. Health and safety policies should be reviewed at least annually or upon an organisational change.

Health and safety outsourcing companies such as Sentient can help clubs better understand and follow their H&S obligations.

2. Carry out a Health and Safety audit, alongside Regular Checks

The best way to understand the current state of your club’s health and safety standard is by performing an audit. This will assist in updating your processes, ensuring paperwork is compliant, and monitoring your club’s progress toward a standard of excellence.

Carry out regular inspections to ensure your staff are following necessary health and safety instructions. A regular inspection report should also include fire safety procedures and reports of workplace accidents.

If you require advice on how to successfully perform and audit – Sentient is able to offer guidance, as well as full health and safety auditing services.

3. Use Sentient’s Downloadable Wall Planner

Managing and maintaining effective health and safety measures can seem like a mammoth task for any business. It involves first aid, fire risk awareness, signage, reports and risk assessments. Separating tasks and planning them out is the best way to address comprehensive health and safety tasks.

Remember – Any slip-up can result in a serious lawsuit, potentially jeopardising the future of your company. Its essential health and safety is properly managed and maintained via a schedule.

So, in combination with Sentient, we have provided a downloadable wall planner. This perpetual planner can be printed off, allowing you to mark off key dates across the year, ensuring you never miss an essential check. We’ve also added the areas in which Club Insure and Sentient can support your venue. For the remaining checks, you should review your procedures to ensure you are compliant and up to date.