If you serve on a Member Association, Centre or Club Board or committee, risk management is one of your key responsibilities, and it’s important that you apply risk management strategies to fulfill your duty of care obligations and align with the National Child Safe Principles, specifically Principle 1 (Key action 1.5) and Principle 8 (Key actions 8.1 and 8.3).
Risk management is the process of systematically eliminating or minimising the adverse impact of all activities which may give rise to potentially harmful or dangerous situations. This requires developing a plan within which risk exposure can be monitored, mitigated and controlled.
A risk management plan ensures that risks to child safety are continually monitored and managed. Measures are put in place to reduce all identified risks, and these measures are reviewed regularly to make sure they are working.
Why this matters?
It’s essential that MA’s, Centres and Clubs take all reasonable steps to keep children and young people safe while participating in our activities. Assessing and managing risk underpins effective child safeguarding. Risks continually change and vary depending on numerous factors, so proactive strategies can help your organisation reduce risk, as well as respond effectively when issues do arise.
Additional considerations
- Statute of limitations: There is no statute of limitations and although you may be an office bearer today, it could be future Boards or Committees of your MA/Centre/Club who have to deal consequences as individuals could seek damages 10-20 years from now.
- Vicarious liability: an organisation in most jurisdictions in Australia re responsible for the conduct of their agents, volunteers, staff and people working within their organisation in the sport.
- Reverse onus of proof: the reverse onus of proof exists in many jurisdictions in Australia, says that if a young person is to come forward and say that they experienced harm or were abused in the context of the sporting organisation, the onus is on the organisation to show
- National Child Safe Principles: the National Child Safe Principles outline at a high level the 10 principles that are fundamental for making an organisation safe for children. Many states and territories have legislated this framework and have their own child safe principles, so it is an essential document to reference when creating your risk management plan as well as understanding how a risk management plan intersects with your implementation of may of the other key actions and indicators connected to the Child Dafe Principles.
Where to start?
Risk Management Plan
All MA’s, Centres and Clubs must take all reasonable steps to protect children and young people from risk of harm by adopting and implementing a child safe Risk Management Plan.
This involves:
- Understanding, identifying and assessing safeguarding risks
- Nominating an accountable person(s) and setting timeframes for actions
- Taking action to prevent the harm from occurring
- Continually monitoring the effectiveness of actions
At the bottom of this article is a link to a Risk Management Plan template. The Plan includes:
- Risk Rating Matrix – to measure the likelihood of an issue occurring
- Risk Assessment – to identify the existing risks and controls
- Risk Management Plan – to record all of the identified risks, likelihood of occurrence, mitigation strategies and set the review cadence
We recommend the appropriate leaders at your MA/Centre/Club spend some time to undertake an exercise to consider the areas of risk for your organisation and complete the templates within the Plan. It is helpful to use the Child Safe Practices as a guide.
As a reminder, the child safe practices are:
- Professional boundaries
- Use of language and tone of voice
- Positive guidance (discipline)
- Supervision
- Use of electronic or online communication
- Photographs or videos
- Physical contact
- Overnight stays and travel arrangements
- Use of, possession or supply of alcohol or drugs
- Parent/carer involvement
- Transportation
- Drop off and pick up
- Change room arrangements
If you have any questions about managing risks at your Club or Centre, please contact your Member Association or the AA Integrity Team.
