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Why you should make risk management part of your New Year’s resolutions
20/12/05 by Michael Smyth
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They say air travel is the safest form of travel. But when disaster strikes we all hear about it and the consequences are often catastrophic. But when the plane took off the runway at Auckland Airport for my Christmas trip home to London what reassured me was that prior to take off the pilot had gone through a series of pre-flight checks to ensure the flight was safe.
Are you this rigorous in your organising of sporting events? Or are you leaving safety to chance?
Sporting disasters hit the headlines too
Fortunately, really catastrophic sporting disasters are not that common either, but when they do occur they hit the headlines too. In the last year or so in New Zealand we have had the R v Andersen case and more recently the R v Jarvis case. However, unlike air travel, in sport we don’t get to hear about the very many less catastrophic events which occur on a daily basis in sport. But we know they exist because ACC keeps a record of injuries sustained through sport. The cost to the taxpayer for such accidents is large. If such accidents were to occur in the airline industry nobody would fly. People do fly because they know that airlines have stringent processes and procedures before an aircraft leaves the runway.
Sports risk management is about putting those processes and procedures in place in your sporting event of activity.
Organising a sporting event is no different to flying a plane
But is organising a sporting event really like flying a plane? Most people who run sporting activities have been doing it for years. The organisation of those events is often second nature – why have a plan? To have a plan simply creates an extra layer of administration which nobody really wants.
Before a pilot is allowed to fly a commercial aircraft he or she must have had thousand of hours of flying time under his or her belt after enduring arduous training both in the air and in a simulator. Even then, no matter how experienced he or she is, he or she must go through various pre-flight checks each time they are allowed to taxi down the runway. As passengers we expect nothing less of them. If they did otherwise it would be negligent.
Participants and spectators at sporting events also expect the same from you in terms of your organisation of your event. Accidents happen, but people will expect avoidable accidents to be avoided.
Are you avoiding the avoidable accidents in your sport?
If you don’t have a risk management plan for your sports activity or event, then make it your New Year’s resolution to write one. If you don’t you continue to expose your participants and spectators to the risk of harm. Nobody wants an accident on their hands.
However, we have all had experience of New Year’s resolutions before – they last for a month or two and then are forgotten. But, that is exactly why you need to have a written plan – by writing your plan down you are more likely to implement it. Just like the pilot, make that plan part of your system. That way you can reduce the number and severity of accidents in sport and hopefully keep those potential catastrophic ones out of the headlines.
Another safe and successful flight – well done Air New Zealand!
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