Event Safety

Paddlesafer 

British Canoeing have produced a Paddlesafer document which provides comprehensive safety information and guidance for use by all organisations, paddlers, volunteers and coaches within the sport.

A copy of the Paddlesafer document can be downloaded on the British Canoeing website by clicking here 

Events

To ensure that all events that are organised by CANI committees or clubs we have implemented new event procedures. The purpose of the new procedures are to guide event organisers through the process of creating, setting up, running and completing an event in a safe and effective way. We have an excellent event safety record and we hope this continues for years to come and that these procedures help.

What we class as an event;

1. CANI organised events and activities

These are those occasions, which are directly organised, or directly administered, or are directly within the control of CANI, which directly necessitate the use of their services or resources. Thus, this definition will include all events and activities organised or administered or which are within the control of CANI.

2. CANI committees

Events that are directly organised by a CANI Committee, and refers to all competitive events which are ranked or otherwise classified by CANI or its Committees together with recreational paddles and other miscellaneous activities organised by a CANI committee.

3. CANI Clubs

Club events involving club and non-club members run by a CANI affiliated club which is authorised by the club committee and is listed in the club’s Newsletter, diary, social media etc. This requires the club and its members to be up to date with CANI membership.

Events organised by ad-hoc groups of members are not ‘CANI / British Canoeing Events’ unless specific application is made for them to be so recognised, and agreement is received in writing from CANI, who will consult with relevant officers or committees, as necessary, before offering such recognition.

The three stage event approval procedure

As of the 1^st January 2016 if a committee or club would like to run an event the committee must follow the following three stage event approval procedure. Failure to comply with all of the requirements may result in the event not being approved and the appropriate support and insurance provided.

Stage (1)  Select and train and event safety officer;

• All committees / clubs running events (as described above) must appoint a safety officer and put in place procedures to ensure the management of event safety appropriate to the level of events that they run.
• The selected safety officer must attend a CANI event safety officer training course.
• Discipline committees (where applicable) must appoint two safety officers.
• Discipline specific events (e.g. Slalom, Surf, Polo, and Sprint) must be authorised by the relevant discipline committee appointed safety officers.

The next event safety workshops are detailed on the CANI calendar.

Following the training of an events safety offer the following procedure must be followed when planning for an event.

Stage (2) Apply for authorisation for an event;

1. Request an event authorisation number from CANI. We encourage you to notify CANI of the event as soon as you can. At this stage we recognise that the planning may not have taken place but early notification enables the event to be advertised on the CANI website and social media. Provide the following details;

• Location of the event.
• Date of event.
• Name of the event safety officer.

The inclusion of events on the CANI Calendar or their notification in CANI Publications does not, in itself, imply CANI recognition or indemnity under CANI / British Canoeing’s Third Party Liability Insurance Policy.

2. At a minimum of four weeks prior to the event the following information must be sent to CANI.

• Event authorisation form.
• Club safety review – This only needs submitted for the first event of the year.
• Appropriate risk assessment and if appropriate an Event Safety Management Plan appropriate to the scale of the event.

Failure to comply with all of the requirements may result in the event not being approved and the appropriate support and insurance provided.

 Stage (3) Complete the Post event paperwork;

Following an event the following must be submitted to CANI;

• Incident report form – If an incident took place.
• Insurance registration sheet for day members.
• Send any information that you would like added to the CANI e-zine / website.
• Contact CANI if you wish to discuss any issues with the event and we will help where possible.

Failure to comply with all of the requirements may result in future events not being approved and the appropriate support and insurance provided.

Resources to help with the running of an event;

The following documents will help when planning for an event and also includes the templates that are required at the event authorisation stage.

Please follow link for upcoming Event Safety Workshops.