POR (rule 9.1)
Before any activity the Leader must ensure that a risk assessment (FS120000) is carried out, recorded and safety instructions are communicated to all supervising adults and participants
Risk Assessments are essential for every activity whether that be doing crafts in the HQ or parascending at a local airfield. Despite what most people might think, risk assessments are not about creating huge amounts of paperwork but rather about identifying sensible measures to control the risks in your activities. They are in fact a great enabler for participating in adventurous activities, they allow you to rationalise and explain how something that, at face value might sound quite risky or unsafe, is a perfectly acceptable activity. On the flip side they also help us not to overlook things for what may sound like a low risk activity. Of course they also force us to consider how we keep all adults and young people safe which should always be our number one priority.
Activities encourage the development of young people and they can experience a great sense of achievement in completing them. Some degree of risk is unavoidable but it is – and should be – much less than the participant perceives.
In Scouts we seek to provide: Excitement but not Danger; Adventure but not Hazard.
Everything we do involves an element of risk, so we need to put a plan in place. Accordingly we need to assess and control the risks associated with activities in order to minimise the chance of injury. It is also key that once completed, risk assessments are shared with all involved.
It is good practice that all risk assessments and stored in an accessible location such as OSM or on Sharepoint.
It is the responsibility of the manager and the appropriate trustee board to ensure that risk assessments are taking place and that they are effective. For some activities and as well as nights away experiences you will be required to submit a risk assessment to the Lead Volunteer or their delegate prior to the event taking place as an objective and independent second pair of eyes to make sure nothing has been missed.