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Preventing Sport Becoming a Crime
How safe is your sport?
Are you confident that someone in your sport won’t suffer legal liability resulting from a sporting accident? Are you prepared to bail them out?
Can you afford the time and expense of fighting a legal battle?
Do you have the time, focus and expertise to put together risk management plans?
Does your insurance adequately cover you and your members in the event of accidents occurring and there being legal liability issues to address?
Last year in New Zealand, ACC reported that sports injuries alone cost the government $100million in compensation. Civil damages suits elsewhere in the world can be crippling to any organisation.
Why risk management gets ignored
Implementation of risk management initiatives could easily turn into another financial burden with no conceivable gain. With sporting institutions often struggling to finance their sport, risk management can be seen as an unnecessary and costly evil. However, that’s only if you look at risk management from a compliance perspective. At the Sports Risk Management Group we look at risk management initiatives as a way for you to regain ownership of your sport and increase your registered membership base. By implementing our six step system into your sport we give you the opportunity to increase membership numbers and create a profit centre for your sport. By creating a profit you eliminate your cost.
But risk management is common sense, so why do sporting organisations need risk management plans? Unfortunately, in sport, as in other areas, common sense often gets overlooked, especially under the pressures of competition.
That’s why at the Sports Risk Management Group we document that common sense into easy to implement templates and checklists, so you don’t have to. We will work with you and guide you through the whole process using our 6 step system called the Sport Audit. With the Sport Audit you won’t have to put off keeping your sport safe because it gets put in the “too hard basket”. Instead, you can make use of our expertise to get the job done quickly.
The Sport Audit: Your 6 step solution for risk prevention
The Sport Audit is an innovative six step system for making your sport safe, delivered by experts in legal, risk management and insurance.
Here is how it works:
Step 1: The Sports Liability Seminar
The Sports Liability Seminar is an entry level seminar designed for everyone involved in sport, from participants to sports administrators.
This seminar runs for two hours and is designed to give an overview of the liability issues facing sports events organisers, teams, clubs and all others involved in running sport, including individual coaches. It is divided into three sections. The first section deals with legal liability in New Zealand and concentrates primarily on the decision in R v Andersen. There is also a brief overview of similar cases overseas and helpful predictions are made as to how New Zealand law will develop in this area.
The second section deals with risk management. Here we discuss the practical issues of what should go into a risk management plan, the process of putting a plan together, implementing the plan and keeping it updated.
The third section deals with protecting the consequences of legal liability. In this section we survey the insurance products available in the New Zealand market for sports organisations, how to choose the right insurance broker and how your risk assessment should be presented to an insurance provider.
The seminar concludes with an open forum where the delegates have an opportunity to ask questions of the panel.
Our seminars have been run in Auckland, Napier, New Plymouth and Taupo and all delegates walked away with a CD of materials.
Here’s what one delegate said about the Auckland seminar:
We thoroughly enjoyed the Sports Liability Seminar last night. If you’re a sports manager, as I am, or a sports club administrator, or one of those many unpaid volunteer helpers then you should attend one of these seminars. When we originally received the information about the seminar it was not a case of "can the club afford this”, but the club "can’t afford" not to send someone to this seminar. So two of us went for good measure
Step 2: The Sports Risk Workshop
This workshop is designed for National and Regional Sporting Organisations only and is tailored to a particular sport. The purpose of the workshop is to identify the risks associated with your sport and the best ways of minimising them.
Participation in the seminar is at the discretion of the NSO or RSO. However, we recommend the seminar be attended by a representative of each of the 6 gatekeepers of sport. They are:
1. Athletes / participants
2. Coaches
3. Clubs
4. Referees and umpires
5. Event organisers
6. Administrators
During this workshop, you will also learn how risk management initiatives can increase your membership base and create a revenue stream for your sport.
Step 3: Insurance and risk management implementation
At this stage we implement a sports specific insurance policy for your whole sport covering every organisation and participant affiliated to you. Such a policy is designed to be purchased by the NSO in order to obtain affordable premiums through group rates, a proportion of which is passed on to the clubs, participants and other affiliates.
At the same time we work with you to put together risk management templates for your sport. These templates are a key requirement for keeping your insurance premiums low. Once completed, these templates are made available to your clubs and affiliates for download via your web site and ours.
Step 4: The “Risk Management in Action” Seminar
This seminar is designed for clubs and affiliates who have downloaded our risk management templates, who have their own plan, or who are new to risk management planning. The purpose of the seminar is to assist clubs and affiliates to tailor our template for their specific club and to give instruction on how to monitor risk on an ongoing basis.
All clubs and affiliates who attend will be given a certificate of attendance. This certificate of attendance is vital to provide documentary evidence that risk management plans are being implemented in the organisation in question. To read what delegates have had to say about this workshop click here.
Step 5: Continuous assistance
If a club or affiliate has attended the Risk Management in Action seminar they can then obtain independent help implementing their plan and keeping it up to date. Updates to the templates to take into account new legislation and changes in best practice will be available to download.
Step 6: Revalidation
Keeping up to date with risk management and ensuring your plan is operating effectively are just as important as putting the plan in place. To ensure this occurs, we will train members of each RSO to revalidate clubs on a yearly basis to ensure their plans have been implemented properly and are up to date.
A certificate will be provided on revalidation to add to the legal paper trail necessary for compliance requirements.
Risk Management Planning is Like Flying a Jumbo Jet
To fly a jumbo jet you need training. The same applies to risk management planning. It may seem like common sense, but if that is the case why do so many people find it so hard? At SRMG we provide the training through our seminars and workshops.
However, even once you are trained you need to keep sharp. Before taxiing down the runway our pilot must run through numerous checklists and procedures before he is allowed to take off. We expect that degree of thoroughness because our pilot is responsible for all his passengers. If you run a sports event you are responsible for all those participating in your activity. That's why you need a risk management plan so you can be confident that everything will run smoothly. Ignore risk management planning and you are leaving things to chance and exposing yourself to legal liability.
What people have to say about our seminars
The first Sports Liability Seminar was held in November 2003 in conjunction with Sport Auckland. It was sold out in days. Here’s what one delegate said:
In today's environment there is a much greater awareness of health and safety issues in sport. The need for advice and guidance for sports administrators and officials has never been more important. The recent Safety Seminar, which was well attended by a wide variety of sports in Auckland, made a significant contribution to meeting some of those needs. On a personal note, I was grateful for the opportunity to participate in this seminar and gained valuable information from it. Lesley Milne - Vice President NZ Rowing Association
Our Guarantee
We have researched risk management initiatives all over the world. If you chose the Sports Risk Management Group we can guarantee a watertight risk management system at an affordable cost. If you implement each step of the Sport Audit fully and have to defend a criminal prosecution which our insurance won’t cover, we will provide your initial legal advice for free.
Why the Sports Risk Management Group and the Sport Audit?
The Sport Audit is a unique system developed by three experts in legal, risk management and insurance to identify, minimise or remove and document sports risks. It is specifically designed to be affordable at all levels of the sport and allows easy implementation.
By combining a three pronged approach to risk management we can offer the only watertight system to keep you sport safe.
To find out when the next Sports Liability Seminar or Risk Management in Action workshop is happening in your area click here
To install The Sport Audit in your sport, book your place on a seminar or get an assessment of how it would apply to your sport contact:
Michael Smyth
Sportscounsel
T: +64 9 358 2725
F: +64 9 358 2715
M: +64 21 320 171
E: Michael@sportscounsel.com
John Dallimore
Legal & Professional Insurance Group
T: +64 377 3610
M: +64 21 740 266
E: john@cover.co.nz
W: www.cover.co.nz
Geoff Wood
Sportsrisk
T: +64 9 818 2052
E: gmwood@xtra.co.nz
W: www.sportsrisk.co.nz |
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Gold Medal Club Registration |
The Gold Medal
Club is a service provided by Sportscounsel.com
Registration is FREE and you will also receive a FREE e-book entitled
"Coaching is a Dangerous Sport".
GMC Members have access to members only articles
on the Sportscounsel site and can download the Red Card! newsletter
Please Note: When you click on the links above, you will leave
the Sports Risk Management site and be directed to the GMC section
of the Sportscounsel.com website. |
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Contact Sports Risk
Management
PO Box 91053 AMSC
Auckland 1030
New Zealand
P: +64 9 358 2725
F: +64 9 358 2715
M: +64 21 320 171
E: info@sportsriskmanagement.com
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