Health & Safety & Yacht Clubs

alexrunic

alexrunic

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We are in the process of writhing various risk assessments etc. Has any one got an example of a yacht club health & safety policy and or any sort of induction you might give members before helping at work parties?

We have took advice and we are concerned we don't have every thing in place we should have. Any help would be very gratefully received.
 
alexrunic said:
We are in the process of writhing various risk assessments etc. Has any one got an example of a yacht club health & safety policy and or any sort of induction you might give members before helping at work parties?

We have took advice and we are concerned we don't have every thing in place we should have. Any help would be very gratefully received.
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The RYA should be able to help you with this.

Probably a good reason on it own for affiliation to the RYA.
 
alexrunic said:
We are in the process of writhing various risk assessments etc. Has any one got an example of a yacht club health & safety policy and or any sort of induction you might give members before helping at work parties?

We have took advice and we are concerned we don't have every thing in place we should have. Any help would be very gratefully received.
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Way of the world these days.

http://www.rya.org.uk/infoadvice/cl...ages/healthsafetyfoodhygieneandequipment.aspx

We have tried for a light touch but some members appear to want to be nominated for a Darwin Award!
 
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Have you asked your insurer? Most of them supply templates and examples of H&S policies as a cheap way of reducing their risk.
 
If you private message me with your email address, I will send you my clubs H&S doc.
It was drawn with the input from a personal claims solicitor. My club is on a lake but it will give you a good basis to write your own.
 
My sympathies.

I have always felt that teaching health and safety was the job of parents and is just a new insurance claim lead cop out term for common sense.

It's a shame that good people have to waste so much time writing this stuff that the vast majority of sensible people just throw in the bin.
 
Formulating a Health and Safety Policy and carrying out risk assessments are two different things.

The Policy should have:

- a basic statement of intent,
- outline of the organisation (management structure, supervision etc) and,
- the arrangements for implementation

For a small organisation with this can be a straightforward document with no need to get solicitors or insurers involved.

Go to the HSE website www.hse.gov.uk and search for safety policies, risk assessments etc.
 
Yacht club Health and safety

Our club call it the operations manual and other things.
It is divided into sections for different activities. ie training race management rescue boat driving emergency management marina use and a whole host of other things.
I would not so much call it a Health and safety document but what it is is a statement by the club as to how things should be done.
If this gives reasonable instructions to people and they choose to not comply then the club has a certain umbrella of protection. So if a person is volunteer working on a jetty or pontoon the club might say that he should be wearing a lifejacket. If he does not and falls into the water the club can point to the instruction.
Likewise the training manual might say " don't do sail training in small boats in winds over or forecast 15 knots." It is a way of giving specific instruction in writing to instructors.
So you have to give reasonable requirements to the operatives and provide every opportunity for them to comply. ie provide dust masks or gloves for paint chipping. You must say the obvious if there is any doubt but also comply with reasonable standards. You then must publish the requirements. (Some of ours are on the web site with more to come) and of course operate by example. It should be a living ie frequently revisited documents. http://www.efyc.com.au/club-documents-and-publications/ClubDocuments.aspx.
There is nothing very special or magical but it must be your own. To copy someone else's is to invite disaster in that it may have too much verbage and never be read. good luck olewill
 
Also, if you copy someone else's, the HSE won't regard it as due diligence if it does go wrong.
 
We are not looking to copy any ones, just get a few ideas on what to put in them for a yacht club. Thanks for the help so far.
 
William_H said:
Our club call it the operations manual and other things.
It is divided into sections for different activities. ie training race management rescue boat driving emergency management marina use and a whole host of other things.
I would not so much call it a Health and safety document but what it is is a statement by the club as to how things should be done.
If this gives reasonable instructions to people and they choose to not comply then the club has a certain umbrella of protection. So if a person is volunteer working on a jetty or pontoon the club might say that he should be wearing a lifejacket. If he does not and falls into the water the club can point to the instruction.
Likewise the training manual might say " don't do sail training in small boats in winds over or forecast 15 knots." It is a way of giving specific instruction in writing to instructors.
So you have to give reasonable requirements to the operatives and provide every opportunity for them to comply. ie provide dust masks or gloves for paint chipping. You must say the obvious if there is any doubt but also comply with reasonable standards. You then must publish the requirements. (Some of ours are on the web site with more to come) and of course operate by example. It should be a living ie frequently revisited documents. http://www.efyc.com.au/club-documents-and-publications/ClubDocuments.aspx.
There is nothing very special or magical but it must be your own. To copy someone else's is to invite disaster in that it may have too much verbage and never be read. good luck olewill
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Yes this is it exactly!
 
SolentBoy said:
I have always felt that teaching health and safety was the job of parents and is just a new insurance claim lead cop out term for common sense.

It's a shame that good people have to waste so much time writing this stuff that the vast majority of sensible people just throw in the bin.
Click to expand...

I used to think like that but, 25 years ago, the company I worked for was taken over by Shell who were obsessed with safety. They imposed their safety systems on us.....much against our will! However, after a couple of years we began to see our accident records improve, even though they weren't particularly bad in the first place. After a couple more years they had improved dramatically.

I now believe that accidents are usually caused by something, they don't just "happen".

Whilst there is a lot of rubbish surrounding H&S it certainly can be managed to everyones benefit.
 
Rigger Mortice said:
I used to think like that but, 25 years ago, the company I worked for was taken over by Shell who were obsessed with safety. They imposed their safety systems on us.....much against our will!
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When I joined Shell well over 30 years ago deaths of employees occurred pretty much every year and could be predicted in some numbers for contractors. I remember at least 10 deaths on offshore installations in the late 1970s and early 1980s (not flying accidents). We also resisted the ever-encroaching safety rules and regs, but deaths and serious accidents are now mercifully rare. Unfortunately there is a tendency by safety officials to take things too far, which can tend to get up one's nose.
 
penfold said:
Nasal cavity maintenance? That's an enclosed space! Where's your gas-free certificate and have you completed the PTW correctly? ;)
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:D

Amongst current unsafe (!) activities:
Walking along a corridor using a mobile phone
Ascending or descending stairs without holding the hand rail
Hanging decorations on a Xmas tree
Carrying an un-lidded coffee cup
 
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