Safety and Welfare

We take our responsibility for the safety, welfare, and privacy of our members very seriously. We aim to abide by the guidance issued by British Rowing with respect to the following matters to comply with best practice:

  • Water Safety
  • Safeguarding and Welfare
  • Bullying
  • Equity and Diversity
  • Transgender and Transsexual Matters
  • Data Protection
  • Grievances
  • Transportation

Our Safety Officer can be contacted at safety@robroyboatclub.org.uk

Our Welfare Officer can be contacted at welfare@robroyboatclub.org.uk

Water Safety

We aim to comply with British Rowing’s Water Safety Code, ‘RowSafe’, which can be found here https://www.britishrowing.org/about-us/policies-guidance/rowsafe/

Water Safety at Rob Roy – key points to note:

All Members

  • have a duty of care towards safe rowing.
  • should read the RowSafe guidance.
  • are required to acknowledge in writing that they are aware of their duties and responsibilities on theirs and the club’s safety.
  • should be aware of the specific local safety issues with respect to rowing on the Cam and to comply with the CRA’s safety guidance and other rules of the river.
  • must be able to swim AT LEAST 50 metres in light clothing or to wear a life jacket while on the water.
  • should ensure that they are sufficiently competent in a boat to stay safe and so as not to endanger other river users – and if they are beginners, and therefore not yet sufficiently competent, must be closely supervised by a competent coach.
  • should not undertake rowing activity while they are suffering from a medical condition which could be aggravated by rowing activity.

Coaches

  • Coaches should train their athletes on responsible conduct on the water and while training to safeguard the athletes’ health and safety and that of other river users.

Equipment

  • Members should check equipment is in good order before boating– all damage should be marked and reported to the Safety Advisor.
  • Members should report any incidents or damage to equipment to the Safety Advisor.

Coxes

  • Coxes must make themselves aware of the navigation rules that apply on the Cam (see maps on the noticeboards at the boathouse or on the CRA website)
  • All coxes must wear buoyancy aids / lifejackets for all outings.
  • Coxes should ensure that their crew know how to stop the boat quickly.

Rowing at night or in poor visibility

  • Rowing at night or in poor visibility should be avoided as much as possible.
  • When going out in the dark is unavoidable or at other times of poor visibility rowers must attach a white light to each end of the boat (and an additional red light to the stern – a CRA local safety rule)
  • Stay as close as possible to the right side of the river and do not take a clear river for granted.
  • Never row hard in high-risk areas (for example, where crews usually turn).

Juniors

  • No under-18 scullers are permitted to row without an adult bank party at any time.
  • No juniors are permitted to row in the dark at any time.

Rowing off-Cam

  • Members rowing on location away from Cambridge must ensure they are aware of specific safety requirements of that location before boating.

Safeguarding and Welfare

We aim to comply with British Rowing’s Safeguarding and Welfare guidance.

At Rob Roy we do not tolerate any form of abuse.

Our Welfare Officer is the first point of contact for any matters causing concern about welfare within the Club, whether or not to do with child protection. It is vital for the safeguarding and welfare of all members, especially juniors, vulnerable adults and adults at risk, that you report anything which has worried you, however insignificant it may seem: you may hold the last piece of a jigsaw completing a picture of potential abuse, which can then be tackled.

The Welfare Officer will:

  • provide information and advice on child protection within the Club;
  • ensure that the Club adopts and follows the BR Safeguarding & Protecting Children policy and procedures and promotes awareness of the policy within the Club;
  • act as a confirmation signatory, verifying the identity of individuals completing DBS Disclosure application forms;
  • keep records of all those who have been DBS vetted within the club to ensure that checks are updated on at least a three-yearly basis; and
  • keep the Club up to date with appropriate levels of child protection training/vetting.

Bullying

At Rob Roy we do not tolerate bullying, which is a form of abuse. We aim to comply with British Rowing’s Anti-Bullying guidance

Equity and Diversity

We have adopted the current British Rowing Equity Policy and Diversity Statement

Transgender and Transsexual Matters

We aim to comply with British Rowing’s current Transgender and Transsexual guidance

Data Protection

In accordance with British Rowing’s guidance on GDPR we inform all members of our treatment of their data and obtain their explicit consent to hold that data. Members are entitled to ask to see what information we hold about them and have the right to have inaccuracies corrected.

Grievances

We aim to comply with British Rowing’s guidance on grievance procedures and our Grievance Policy and Procedure can be found here Grievance Policy.

Transportation

We aim to comply with British Rowing’s guidance on safe transportation, including Trailer checks, Towing and Carriage Regulations. Our policy can be found here Rob Roy Rowing Club – transportation policy.