Athlete Specific Risk Assessments

This process is part of our Health and Safety Policy.

It applies to any club member about whom the Coach has serious concerns for their health and well-being in a training context.

All club Coaches have in place a risk assessment for their session, and this includes asking about injuries of each participant before the session starts. Coaches will also ask if athletes are also in good health at that time.

If a health condition is disclosed or suspected, and the coach is concerned there may be a risk to an athlete/other athletes’ health and well-being (whether immediately or over time) then an athlete specific risk assessment is needed.

The athlete will be invited to engage with this individual risk assessment process at a meeting with the Coach and a mutually agreed committee member. This assessment can include consideration of the risks of training while under the care of medical professionals.

The aim of the process is to mitigate risks to enable the athlete to participate safely in club sessions. If all the risks are mitigated through adjustments agreed between the coach and athlete, the athlete is welcome to join the club sessions.

The club’s Welfare Officer and Chair will be kept informed of these discussions and the outcome of the risk assessment.

There may however be situations where the Coach, Welfare Officer and Chair consider that the risk assessment cannot be completed without written confirmation from the athlete’s medical practitioner that the session would not pose unacceptable risks to the athlete. This information would be held in confidence and the risk assessment would be reviewed at appropriate intervals.

If an athlete engages with the process but does not provide this medical confirmation when requested, the risk assessment would be incomplete and the athlete would not be able to participate in the club session. The assessment would remain open and could be completed whenever the situation changed eg the medical sign-off is received.

If an athlete chooses not to engage with this process, they would not be allowed to take part in club sessions but the process could be restarted at any time the athlete so requests.