The word health and safety can often sound boring and complicated however ensuring the members of your clubs and societies remain free from harm is of paramount importance to the Students’ Union. This pack has been put together to ensure that not only you and your members stay safe but it also complies with legal obligations for organised activity.

We don’t expect you to be a qualified health and safety guru but you will often know some of the finite details involved with your activities that qualified Students’ Union staff will not be aware of.

We have tried to structure the pack to make it as easy as possible so each section of this pack has been set out with basic generic information for all groups. Specific sections that are marked should then be edited as required for your individual activities.

Once you have had a go at the pack please make a 1-1 appointment by emailing one of Activities Coordinators for a health and safety meeting to go through so it’s ready for approval.

SocietiesSports Clubs

Josh ElderfieldAmy Affleck

Email: ail:

Tel: 01484 471493Tel: 01484 473547

This pack will then be made available to your members as a download on your webpage.

Name of Club/Society:

Code of Conduct

(edit as required)

This code of conduct aims to establish and maintain standards towards providing a high quality service to all our members. It addresses the fundamental values that are expected from all our student group members and should be adhered at all times. This code of conduct sets out the Students’ Union’s expectations of student groups towards their members and provides a framework for addressing ethical issues in a competent and professional manner.

Expectations of your Student Group

As a student activity group, you agree to abide by all the terms and conditions of the Students’ Union’s policies and procedures and its Constitution. We also agree to abide by the following code of conduct:

  • As a committee you are jointly responsible for a high standard of behaviour in your individual roles and will strive to uphold the good reputation of the Students’ Union.
  • The Students’ Union vision, mission and values shall be reflected in your group’s activities.
  • Your group will be open to all students at the University of Huddersfield and any activities are accessible to as diverse range of students as possible.
  • As a committee you all have responsibility to uphold a duty of care to your members for all activities.
  • You understand that if you do not adhere to this code of conduct the Students’ Union has the power to follow disciplinary proceedings that may lead to your removal from a committee position and dissolution of your activity group.

Duty of Care: Common Law Negligence

This document contacts a very general and basic view of negligence. It sets out and hopefully answers the questions that you ought to be asking. The term `injury’ used herein means primarily physical injury and consequential financial loses.

  1. Where does negligence fit into our social fabric?

All of us understand that deliberately causing injury to others is a criminal offence ordinarily resulting in punishment of the perpetrator.

All of us understand that some injuries are accidental, i.e. the circumstances giving rise to them are wholly unforeseeable. No one is responsible. No compensation is payable.

In between those two ends of the spectrum are `negligent acts’ i.e., they are not deliberate, but the injury is foreseeable. The negligent person will not be punished however, the injured party may seek financial compensation as a result. The compensation is paid by the individual who has caused the loss and could amount to millions of pounds!

  1. What does it do?

The system of rules is designed to determine in any incident of injury whether an act was negligent, whether the negligent act actually caused injury, whether compensation should be paid and if so how much.

  1. How does it affect me?

Each of us owes a `duty of care’ to our `neighbours’ not to cause them injury by our negligent acts and omissions.

In order to satisfy or `discharge’ that duty of care you must behave as a `reasonable person’ would but taking into account your specific skills, knowledge and experience. For example, a `reasonable’ non-medically qualified `rescuer’ might be forgiven a medical mistake which a reasonable qualified paramedic would be expected not to make.

Your neighbours are those people whom, if you thought about it might be injured by your negligent acts and omissions.

For example:-

a)when driving a motor car your neighbours would include:-

- any passengers in your car

- other road users, drivers and their passengers

- pedestrians, cyclists etc

- owners of property adjoining the road

b)Anyone for whom you have accepted responsibility (see later for the effect of being a group leader/club’s officer)

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. Clearly, one is not expected to guarantee the safety of others, merely to act reasonably.

In short, all of us owe a duty not to injure other people by our negligent acts and omissions and that is an individual duty which each of us owe all of the time to our `neighbours’.

  1. Does ordinary membership of an activity group affect my ordinary duty of care?

Not usually. You still owe the individual duty of care to your neighbours. However, the people who are your `neighbours’ might alter and/or increase to include other group members and others with whom you may now come into contact as a result of membership of that group.

  1. Will being a group leader of an activity group affect my ordinary duty of care?

It may do. As a group leader (or team captain) you have accepted the responsibility of leading others. You owe them a duty to ensure that they are not exposed to a foreseeable risk of injury, as far as you reasonably can.

It should be noted that on any outing where a group leader has not been appointed the most experienced and or qualified person there ought reasonably to intervene and at least advise if a foreseeable risk of injury arises.

  1. Will accepting office in an activity group affect my duty of care?

Yes, it may well do so. 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 group. 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 agreed to be the equipment officer you must take reasonable inspections of the equipment to see that it is reasonably safe.

  1. Conclusion

The law of negligence seeks to ensure that as individuals we are responsible for our actions and inactions and that we consider those who might be injured by those acts and omissions.

The actual standard varies according to an individual’s skill and experience and requires us all to behave reasonably.

It is possible to lay down golden rules which, if followed, will preclude the possibility of a successful civil claim. However, behaving responsibly and considerably is likely to mean that no injury will be occasioned in the first place.

The safety net that we all hope we will never need is third party liability insurance. If a compensation claim is successfully brought then this insurance should pay out. All members of the Students Union automatically have such cover. Members of certain groups may have additional cover where affiliated to governing bodies with that facility.

© P.J. Debney, Partner, Cartwright and Lewis, Solicitors 1998

Sponsored by The Student Activities Safety Association

Student Activities Risk Assessment

(edit as required)

Name of Activity Group: Name of Assessor:

Date Risk Assessment carried out:

Potential Hazard / Who might be harmed and how? / Evaluation of risks / Precautions taken to minimise potential risk / Who is responsible for ensuring risk management is carried out?
Fire / All persons present. Resulting in smoke inhalation burns or even death / LOW / All participants are briefed on fire evacuation procedure. Fire alarm system is checked weekly. / Meeting organiser
University estates dept
Electricity / Persons using or in close contact to electrical equipment. Resulting in burns, cardio vascular problems or death / LOW / All electrical equipment is PAT tested on a regular basis.
All damage/ faults are to be reported to the buildings manager and the equipment turned off and well signed stating that the equipment is not to be used / SU Buildings Manager
Meeting organiser
Bad Housekeeping / All persons present causing slips trips and falls. Resulting in cuts,abrasions, bruising and broken limbs / LOW / All walking areas are to be kept clear of obstructions at all times / Meeting Organisers

Equipment

(edit as required)

The equipment supplied by the club is to be used as directed. Any damage must be reported to the club committee and the Student Activities Department and not used until repaired or replaced.

Please detail any specific requirements when using specific equipment.

First Aid

(edit as required)

First aid provisions are provided by the Students’ Union through the help desk. First aid boxes are provided on all coaches provided by the Students’ Union for the travelling element of our activities. First aid training is available for committee officers through the Students’ Union.

Designated first aiders for this group are:

Health Declaration

It is the intention of the committee to actively encourage everyone irrespective of Health or disability, however we would require that members disclose anything that may impede there ability to participate. This is required to allow where possible provisions to be made to allow members to participate safely. The committee cannot accept liability for any person who suffers an injury or health problems that is directly attributed to a pre-existing medical condition that has NOT been disclosed.

Emergency Procedures

In the event of a serious incident that may warrant the use of any of the emergency services, the following procedure must be followed:

  1. Ensure the safety of yourself, your group and any casualties.
  1. Treat any casualties, where it is safe to do so and you have sufficient first aid knowledge.
  1. Call the emergency services if necessary.
  1. Contact the University Security Control on 01484 472222.
  1. Inform Security Control that there has been an incident involving students, give them the number that you are calling from, and ask them to call you back.
  1. Security Control will require the following information:
  • Your name and where you are calling from
  • The name of your Student Activity Group
  • A brief description of the incident
  • The name(s) and number of students involved
  • The name of the hospital where any casualties have been taken
  • The name and number of any Police Officer involved with the incident
  1. The controller will inform you what to do next, which will usually be to wait by the telephone. They will implement the procedure for action in Huddersfield. An official from the University will phone you back and inform you what to do next.

Disclosure of Information

Cases have been reported where relatives have been contacted by the media rather than the Police following serious accidents or incidents. This is obviously a difficult situation, which should be avoided at all costs. Unofficial statements may also affect proceedings if any legal action is taken. To prevent this from happening, you should:

  • Liaise with emergency services as required. Let the emergency services have the full name(s) of any casualties and any personal details. The Police may also request the name and address of the next of kin. Give them the name and telephone number of the University official you have made contact with.
  • Do not make any statement to the media other than ‘no comment’. Do not discuss any aspect of the incident with anyone who is not connected to the emergency services.
  • Ensure that no member of the group makes a statement to the media. Innocent comments can be damaging.

On your return to the University, you must report to the Student Activities Manager who will discuss the incident with you and help in the completion of the Students’ Union ‘report of an incident or near miss occurrence’ form. This must be done as soon as it is practicably possible in order to comply with health and safety regulations.