What to do in an Emergency
It is important to know what to do in an emergency and for all involved in an activity to be on the same page with what is going to happen. It is also important to have clear processes for reporting of incidents, both locally, nationally and where appropriate to other agencies.
- Deal with the immediate situation and alert the appropriate emergency services, if required.
- Alert the District Lead Volunteer:+44 7540 721822;.
(If no one is available please leave a voicemail with your name, number and the nature of the incident and they will get back to you ASAP). - Alert the emergency contact of those individuals involved.
- If you are abroad, alert any agencies required by the insurers.
- For incidents involving air activities or water activities in coastal or deepsea waters notify the appropriate government agency.
- Inform UK Headquarters at the earliest opportunity if:
- someone suffers a personal injury or illness requiring a doctor, nurse,paramedic, dentist or hospital.
- someone requires an emergency service rescue.
- third party property is damaged.
In the event of a critical incident (one involving loss of life, near loss of life or collapse of a structure):
- Deal with the immediate situation and alert the appropriate emergency services, if required.
- Alert UK Headquarters (you will need to provide a basic overview of the incident, who is involved, where the incident occurred and Group information). A Critical Incident Manager will assist you and guide you through the management of the incident.
The contact telephone number for the Duty Media Officer at Headquarters is: 0345 300 1818
After office hours a recorded message detailing the contact telephone number of the Duty Media Officer is available.
The purple card contains essential Information to help you plan safe activities and the necessary prompts to aid you in the event of an accident. You can also get a handy pocket sized card from either the District Store or main Scout Store.
Reporting an incident
Should the worst happen and an accident or incident occur, this needs to be reported especially where a young person or adult seeks medical assistance (even after the fact) or the emergency services are involved even if they weren’t ultimately required. You have the option of reporting an incident by calling the Info Centre or by completing the online incident reporting form yourself. When reporting an incident you will need to provide the following information:
- Name of injured person, membership type, Group/Unit, District and County
- Date of incident
- Activity being undertaken
- Nature of the injury and severity (were they kept in hospital overnight)
- Any external agencies involved
- Who is reporting the incident and how can they be contacted
Please ensure your Group Lead Volunteer/14 – 24 Team Leader/Manager has been informed and incident logged with the District Team in addition to reporting to HQ.
Near Miss Reporting
As well as reporting incidents where injuries occur it is also important to log and track incidents which could have resulted in significant injury or impact or could have been much worse given a few minor changes to the situation.
The Scout Association have an online near miss form which allows members to share information about these incidents which can then be learned from to prevent future incidents.
An accident or near miss that takes place at a Doncaster Danum Facility
At Doncaster Danum Scouts, the health and safety of all our customers and volunteers is vitally important. If you experience or witness a Near Miss or Safety incident while using one of our facilities please let us know so we can ensure it can’t happen again.
Local Recording
It is important to make local records of any incidents, this will allow you to pass relevant information to parents following an incident. Recording of incidents needs to be done in a sensitive way and meeting all data protection regulations. The learns from the incident should be shared and discussed at the relevant Trustee Board and leaders meeting to help prevent it from happening again.