Standard Risk Assessment – Road Rides
Introduction
‘We never leave a rider behind’ is a positive statement of what the club is about. Some of the things contained in this document are things that we already do or what
you would consider to be common sense. There will be things as well that you may never have considered. The club does suggest members to join British Cycling as this will ensure 3rd party insurance for the individual rider. In order to comply with the requirements of the club’s insurance with British Cycling all of these things have to be formalised into what is known as a ‘Risk Assessment’.
A Risk Assessment is an important step in protecting both our members and our Club as a whole. Every time we ride our bikes we are exposing ourselves to various risks and the Risk Assessment helps us to focus our minds on these risks and hopefully help to reduce them.
As previously stated the club is required to have in place a Risk Assessment in order to manage and hopefully reduce or even eliminate the risks. It is not expected that the club eliminates all risk, but we are required to protect people as far as is ‘reasonably practicable’.
What is Risk
Assessment?
HAZARD = something with the potential to cause harm
RISK = the chance, great or small, of coming into contact with that hazard.
This Risk Assessment is a careful examination of what, in our sport, presents a hazard and could cause harm to people. Once a hazard has been identified it is then a matter of assessing what the risk is in relation to that hazard. A grid system is then used to combine the two and give a graded
level of risk LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH.
When that has been done the next stage is to think of ways to reduce / eliminate that risk. These are the control measures. Once the control measures have been implemented you are then left with the residual risk (or the risk could have been completely eliminated). The Risk Assessment can then be
reviewed on a regular basis to assess a number of things e.g. are the existing control measures working, have any new hazards been identified, have any existing hazards been eliminated.
Duties of Care
As a Committee
Member and/or Ride Captain, you have accepted the responsibility of leading others. You owe them a duty of care to ensure that they are not exposed to a foreseeable risk of injury, as far as you reasonably can. If you accept a position, you are likely to agree to carry out certain functions, which may affect the safety of others both inside and outside the club. You are accepting responsibility and you must fulfil those duties to the best of your ability without negligence. That is, you must not create a foreseeable risk of injury and you must take reasonable steps to deal with any foreseeable risk of injury, which exists or arises.
For example:
If you are a Committee Member, you must implement, discharge, communicate and review the clubs safety policy, risk assessments, training requirements etc.
If you are a Ride Captain, you have agreed to lead a ride and you must take reasonable measures to see that the ride is as safe as it can be.
It is also important to note that individual Members of the club have a duty of care not only to themselves but to members of the public and to the persons with whom they are riding. I.e. The duty of care requires you to consider the consequences of your acts and omissions and to ensure that those acts and/or omissions do not give rise to a foreseeable risk of injury to any other person.
Summary
Reading this you may be thinking ‘this is scary I am never going out on my bike again’. However, as stated earlier, most of this is common sense and is action that we already undertake. The key word in all of this is
REASONABLE. Clearly, one is not expected to guarantee the safety of others,
merely to act reasonably.
Importantly, please respect the Ride Captain. Without them, club rides would not be possible. Listen to the briefings, pay attention whilst on the road and feel free to contribute to the end of ride debrief.
Please read on and make yourself familiar with the contents of this document.
If you have any questions/comments/ideas do not hesitate to contact a member of the committee or a nominated club official.