Just a few examples of items of concern that may surface during the first phase of this process could include a serious injury, lack of routine safety checks of equipment, poor or nonexistent field or playground inspections, lack of a standardized process to control outside groups using your facilities, inconsistent vetting of the coach’s background or certification, an accident during an away game, lack of a clearly articulated 911 protocol in life-threatening situations, the possibility of no or inadequate insurance coverage for athletic events.
Following the risk-identification phase, the second step focuses on a triage of those risks identified. This allows you to cost out the various exposures in terms of safety, reputation, potential lost dollars, etc., so that you can concentrate on the most critical areas of risk.
Finally, your process needs to offer methods to prevent (or mitigate) these untoward events. Two of the most critical pieces are training and the creation of standard operating procedures.
At a minimum, and as you plan, your focus should include:
- Athletic mission (your purpose for having athletics)
- Communicating with students and parents
- Activities (scope, varsity, intramural, after school, etc.)
- Fields and equipment (purchase, maintenance, safety inspections, and use)
- Coaches and trainers (training, certifications, licensure, background checks)
- Sport-specific protocols (e.g., how we tackle and don’t tackle, proper use of batting cages, etc.)
- Use of personal equipment (helmets, pads, mouthguards)
- Health records (legal acquisition, maintenance, and access)
- Use of waivers (what’s legal and what’s effective)
- Response protocols: First aid (general protocols and training), and emergencies (life-threatening injuries, basic life support—BLS (CPR, AED)—and 911 emergencies
