Types of Risk

• Generic (always the same)
• Site Specific (specific to the location)
• Dynamic (need to be assessed on the day and continuously during the activity)

Levels of Risk

1. Trivial – No action is required and no documentary records need be kept
2. Tolerable – No additional controls are required. Monitoring required ensuring controls are maintained
3. Moderate – Efforts shall be maintained to reduce risk
4. Substantial – Work shall not be started until risk is reduced. Further controls shall be introduced and new assessment conducted
5. Intolerable – Work shall not be carried out until the risk is reduced or eliminated and new assessment conducted

---

Risk - Generic

Hazard	Who	Severity & Consequences (Potential)	ControlMeasure	Covid 19 Control
Hazard Slip on Waterside environment	All	Tolerable Bruises and broken bones up to concussion and neck injury	Educate participants about slip hazard and mandate suitable footwear or bare feet	Ensure that this is re-inforced in pre-activity briefing
Hazard Slips, Trips & Falls on route to water	All	Tolerable Bruises and broken bones up to concussion and neck injury	Educate users on Trip Hazards as well as the safe way to carry SUP and Paddle. Highlight the length of SUP’s and how to avoid hitting things when navigating with them on land.	Ensure that this is re-inforced in pre-activity briefing
Hazard Equipment failure	All	Trivial. Low initial severity if caught quickly. Raising severity if unresolved.	All Kit checked prior to session (SOP Procedure) with a spare paddle carried by Instructor to meet most common equipment failure. Maintain and inspect all club kit regularly and check any members own kit being used on courses.	N/A
Hazard Damage to property	All	Tolerable	Include handling procedures in initial safety briefing.	Ensure that participants understand limited handling described in Covid Standard Operating Procedures (Session Coach, Assistant & Compound manager are only people to handle kit before and after particpant)
Hazard Personal impact from board	All	Tolerable	Safety briefing to pupils at start of course. Boards to be secured or moved to safe storage area when not in use, never left unattended in strong winds. Boards should be left with fins down in public areas so as not to present a hazard. In blustery, squally conditions the number of boards on lochside should be minimised. Safe falling highlighted in safety briefing and shore demo to avoid impact with board whilst falling.	Ensure that boards placed on the ground, allow minimum 2m spacing and do not touch at any point.
Surface Broken glass, cans or other sharp objects	All	Tolerable Potential for minor injury	Training and rigging areas clearly defined to pupils and instructors. Training and rigging areas checked and cleaned of excrement and sharp objects before each course
Hazard Risk of drowning	All	Tolerable Risk of Death	Be able to swim 50m unaided before participating. Safety briefings, club supplied wetsuits and buoyancy aids as per BSUPA policy	Rescue must take priority. RIB may be single person crewed resulting in reduced rescue capability. Decision on conditions and participants safety, must be very cautious.
Hazard Risk of impact injury	All	Tolerable Bruises and broken bones up to concussion and neck injury	Follow RYA guidelines for teaching recognised RYA courses. This includes physical distancing of two board lengths from other craft. Safety briefings to include other water users and hazards that may cause an impact risk. Reinforce whistle messages and to adhere to them without delay. Ensure First Aid kit and EAP are up to date and on hand	Ensure that Covid medical alterations to SOP are understood and communicated to all participants
Hazard Risk of disease from animal excrement	All	Tolerable Potential for medical issue or death	Training and rigging areas clearly defined to pupils and instructors. Training and rigging areas checked and cleaned of excrement and sharp objects before each course
Hazard Risk of water borne diseases	All	Tolerable Potential for medical issue or death	Follow local guidelines for water quality and do not sail in or swallow blue green foam Shower after immersion in water Note This may be paused due to Covid restrictions. Advise showering on return home and before eating.	Clean and disinfect all kit after use.
Hazard Risk of Hyperthermia or Heat exhaustion	All	Tolerable Potential for major injury or death	Wear suitable clothing and footwear for conditions. Club provides Westuits and asks participants to bring suitable footwear.	Make decision to leave the water earlier than usual, to ensure that no contact will be needed to heat up particpants
Hazard Risk of Covid infection	All	Tolerable. Low risk if managed	Ensure that all particpants understand the Covid policy and Instructors and Covid Officer implement the Covid policy	Ensure that Covid SOP is followed
Hazard Risk of boat being operated by unqualified persons	All	Trivial	Only responsible persons allowed access to boat. Only holders of RYA powerboat level 2 to operate safety boat	Only Session Coach and Assistant, allowed to touch or operate the boat at any time
Hazard Risk of person falling out of boat when underway	All	Tolerable	Crew to be briefed in safety procedures before boarding. Crew to wear suitable clothing and PFD.
Hazard Risk of boat running out of control if cox’n falls overboard	All	Trivial	Cox’n always to use ‘Kill Cord’
Others Risk of running into person in the water	All	Tolerable Potential for major injury or death	Aim to have a minimum crew of 2 in the boat when providing rescue cover. Assess on annual basis ‘qualified safety boat’ operators and offer update refresher courses if needed
Others Risk of collision with other water craft	All	Tolerable Potential for major injury	Aim to have a minimum crew of 2 in the boat when providing rescue cover. Assess on annual basis ‘qualified safety boat’ operators and offer update refresher courses if needed	Rescue must take priority. RIB may be single person crewed resulting in reduced rescue capability. Decision on conditions and participants safety, must be very cautious
Hazard Risk of Pollution by petrol/oil spillage from boat	All	Tolerable Risk to entire lochs ecosystem and also other water users	Planned maintenance routine implemented for the boat and engine. Engine and fuel stored in a secure store with spillage berm.
Hazard Risk of petrol contamination on land	All	Tolerable	Petrol to be stored in fuel specific containers
Hazard Risk of petrol fire/explosion	All	Tolerable	BOAT operators to be RYA level 2 powerboat qualified as a minimum Appropriate fire extinguisher to be available Storage area labelled with appropriate hazard signage
Hazard Risk of pollution	All	Tolerable	Pollution control measures to be taken when disposing of engine oil. (Collected and taken to refuse centre that accepts oil)

Risks - Lochwinnoch (Castle Semple Loch: Main Site)

The Loch is quite a safe environment with most risks coming from shore hazards, wind and other water users.

Hazard	Who	Severity & Consequences (Potential)	ControlMeasure	Covid 19 Control
Surface Access road has stones that may injure soles of feet.	All	Trivial Bruised feet.	Educate and recommend footwear to avoid injury
Surface Floating Marker Buoys, Logs, vegetation and Fishing lines may all cause collision/entanglement hazards.	All water users	Tolerable Falling from board or leash entanglement. Potential for drowning	Educate water users but also use zoning to minimise time near known hazards. Ensure they understand how Leash Quick Release operates.
Surface Pontoons	All	Tolerable Bruises and broken bones up to concussion and neck injury	Educate around how slippy the pontoons can be when wet and covered in bird droppings. Ban running on them. Educate about concussion hazard if standing on board within two board lengths of the pontoons. Mandate kneeling within this distance.	Ensure that all participants understand minimum of 2m distancing required
Surface Wooden loch siding	All	Tolerable Bruises and broken bones up to concussion and neck injury	Educate around how VERY slippy the wood is along the lochside path at the car park. Mandate kneeling within two board lengths of the lochside
Surface Submerged lochside path	All Water Users	Trivial Bruises and broken bones up to concussion and neck injury	Educate water users that the path is often submerged an d forms a submerged trip hazard. Mandate they are kneeling if within two board lengths of the normal lochside. Educate as to where this is if they are unfamiliar with the loch.
Surface River Calder	All Water Users	Tolerable Bruises and broken bones up to concussion and neck injury. Drowning	Educate around how shallow the mouth of the river calder is. Highlight that tree branches and other hazards are washed down it and may cause submerged hazards. Zone to avoid but mandate kneeling if forced to cross this area (usually to avoid strong SW winds).
Others Rowers, Sailors, Kayakers, Powerboats and other SUP users	All water users	Tolerable Low likelihood of collision	These users normally follow predictable patterns and can be avoided with simple zoning and awareness given in on shore briefing (See Dynamic Risks)	Ensure that all participants understand minimum of 2m distancing required
Environment Fog can lie heavily over the lochs water surface. It may feel reasonable to enter the water but upon losing site of shore it is easy to become disoriented.	All water users	Trivial Infrequent an more prevalent in early morning sessions	Do not run sessions when there is fog on the loch. Wait for it to clear. Educate that the rowing lane markers can be used as reference points if needed.
Environment Blue Green Algae	All Water Users	Tolerable Potential for stomache upsets if ingested	Educate water users to limit ingestion of the water and to wash hands and face before any subsequent activities.	Educate on lack of washing facilities, and suggest that participants bring their own water/towel for washing hands post activity. Highlight that hand disinfectant (available in compound or safety boat) will be useful for combating Blue Green Algae.

Risks - Dynamic

Hazard	Who	Severity & Consequences (Potential)	ControlMeasure	Covid 19 Control
Surface Wind chop	All water users	Winds may raise small sharp waves (wind chop) that make it difficult for students to stand on their boards. This raises a falling hazard with a small potential for injury or Drowning	Ensure that Wind Chop is constantly monitored with a preference for going directly into or away from it. This removes the rolling moment that causes most students to fall.
Hazard Floating submerged logs	All water users	Higher risk after heavy rain	After heavy rain it is common for tree branches to get washed down the river and into the loch. This usually puts them in the middle of the loch and downriver from the River Calders mouth. Use zoning to avoid this area and make students aware in the safety briefing if they have to cross it.
Others Sailors	All water users	Collision	Educate around likely areas of meeting sailors and zone to avoid this. Sailors will congregate around route marking buoys and this is an example of a location to avoid.	Ensure that all participants understand minimum of 2m distancing required
Others Rowers	All water users	High speed collision	Educate around the high speed that rowers travel. Highlight that they are looking backwards and have very limited steering ability. Zone to avoid rowing course or training lanes where possible. If forced to cross, then do so in a managed group, that is under close supervision by lead instructor.
Others Kayakers	All water users	Low severity of impact	Kayakers rarely pose a hazard to SUP students but they do need to be tracked near dusk as they are low to the water and easy to miss.	Ensure that all participants understand minimum of 2m distancing required
Others MotorBoats	All water users	Severe impact but low likelihood	The only motorboats on the loch are rescue, training and coaching boats. They follow predictable patterns. Ensure that all instructors understand these patterns. Highlight any relevant motorboat patterns to students.	Ensure that all participants understand minimum of 2m distancing required
Others SUP boarders	All water users	Low chance of collision	Ensure that SUP boarders stay at least two board lengths apart at all times.	Ensure that all participants understand minimum of 2m distancing required
Others Windsurfers	All water users	Collision	Educate around likely areas of meeting other windsurfers Sailors will congregate around route marking buoys and this is an example of a location to avoid.	Ensure that all participants understand minimum of 2m distancing required even when racing and rounding buoys
Environment Unexpectedly poor weather	All	Low initial severity if caught quickly. Raising severity if unresolved.	Instructor to maintain a constant watch on weather conditions and curtail the session before it becomes a problem. Make students aware in onshore demo that this may happen.

Continue to EAP