My Proposed New Safety Procedures



From: Brett Davis

To: SBW committee

Subject: My Proposed New Safety Procedures

Date sent: May 28,2023



Hi SBW committee,

This should be my last email about safety! Detailed below are the changes to our procedures that I believe need to be made. Given my belief that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", our safety procedures would still be based around web pages listed under "Safety" on our website, but I would first make the changes detailed in my last email - "My critique of safety procedures on our website!"

I have only about [10] suggested procedures to add to our current safety procedures. Many of them are based on ideas put forward by the Safety Sub-committee in the proposed new safety procedures sent out to committee members by Julienne on April 29th! Yes, I know I was pretty scathing in my assessment of those procedures - especially regarding PLBs and the emergency contact sheet - but I wasn't blind to the other excellent suggestions contained elsewhere in the document!

I have spoken to quite a few walk leaders about the proposed new safety procedures who have all described them as much too complicated. From the conversations I have had, the most contentious issues revolve around the setting of "trigger times", PLBs and their myriad contacts, the sending of attendance sheets prior to the walk, and reccies. I will deal with these issues first.

Trigger Times
I propose we leave the "trigger time" for all walks as it currently stands - half an hour after dark. This means less work for leaders; it means "rescue" is actioned earlier in winter when risks associated with a "night out" are potentially greater; and it delays "rescue" in summer when there is more daylight time for people to walk out. Most walks are done in mobile phone coverage areas, and even on those that are more remote, there is usually time to have a couple of people reach a mobile phone coverage area to let people know what is happening if an incident occurs.

PLBs and their registered safety contacts
Forget the overly complicated system of having set PLBs for set walk types. Revert to the system of having two club PLBs in Nowra and two in the Bay and Basin area, and just add two simple instructions to our current procedures -

a. If a walk occurs in a "remote" area without mobile phone coverage, the leader MUST take a PLB (any PLB).
b. All emergency contacts registered with club PLBs AND leader's PLBs should be instructed to contact the relevant check-in person if they are contacted by the authorities after a PLB is activated.

Sending attendance sheets off prior to the walk
Forget the overly complicated system of sending forms to the "Walk Completion Contact" AND the first contact for whichever PLB is taken. A search and rescue operation will still be initiated by the authorities even if they don't contact any of the registered PLB contacts. A search and rescue operation will be still be initiated by the authorities even if they don't contact our Walk Completion Contact. A search and rescue operation will be still be initiated by the authorities even if they don't know the number of people on the walk or their names. Having our emergency contact sheet in the hands of someone not on the walk DOES NOT decrease the risk or improve the safety of people on the walk.

Reccies
The safety procedures for a reccie should be much more stringent for a reccie for a normal walk and this probably requires a whole new set of procedures - and a whole new web page. I haven't really thought about it beyond this realization, and I think it needs careful consideration by the committee or a properly appointed sub-committee.


Additional safety procedures needed
All of these can be simply added to the relevant web pages on the club website. They are in no particular order, and are numbered for easier reference when you tear strips off my proposals in the future.

1. Make mobile phones MANDATORY for all walkers i.e. remove them from the useful optional items list on the "Walker Responsibilities" page and add them to the "Always carry ..." list. They ARE a safety item, especially if a single person gets lost on a walk in an area with mobile phone reception, or if people need to walk to an area with mobile phone coverage if an incident happens in a no coverage area.

2. The committee should pass a motion and add it to our "Standing Resolutions" saying - "The committee must review the club's safety procedures, risk management procedures, and incident reporting procedures - and ensure those procedures are being followed - at their first meeting of the year." This is too important a job to leave it to one person - like the Risk Management Officer. Having the review at the beginning of the year means that it will be completed prior to filling out the Bushwalking Australia Inc. Insurance Underwriting Information Questionnaire.

3. Add the following to the "Leader Responsibilities" page - "If you are expecting a late return, include the time in your walk description". This is good to know for the Walk Completion Contact, and also good to know for people considering going on the walk. This is a modified version of a suggestion by the Safety Sub-committee.

4. Notify the Walk Completion Contact of any last-minute changes to the proposed walk, and any additional route information either via email or telephone (voice or sms). This is a very slightly modified version of a suggestion by the Safety Sub-committee.

5. Add the following to the "Leader Responsibilities" page - "Do a reccie if you think it will significantly improve the safety of your walkers". This is a modified version of a suggestion by the Safety Sub-committee.

6. Change the paragraph on the "Leader Responsibilities" page from "You have the discretion to limit the number of people who may participate in the activity you are leading" to "You have the discretion to set a safe limit to the number of people who may participate in the activity you are leading". This is a modified version of a suggestion by the Safety Sub-committee.

7. Change the second procedure on the "Protocol for Overdue Walkers" page from "If the leader has not reported in by a reasonable time (e.g. 30 minutes after dark), the Safety Contact will attempt to contact the leader" to "If the leader has not reported in by a reasonable time (e.g. 30 minutes after dark), the Walk Completion Contact will seek to contact the walk leader and walkers for about 30 minutes - by text as well as voice because text can go through where voice fails." This is a modified version of a suggestion by the Safety Sub-committee.

8. Add a web page and menu item to the club website under "Safety" that details the "Protocol for PLB response" i.e. what happens when a PLB is activated on a club walk. This is a modified version of a suggestion by the Safety Sub-committee.

9. There is a paragraph on the "Leader Responsibilities" that says "Make sure all walkers are carrying the required equipment" - but there is no mention of how this could be accomplished. We could add something like "Leaders can request that a walkers proves they are carrying the required equipment and can refuse to allow that person to participate in an activity if they do not have the required equipment or refuse the request.

10. Item 9 (above) shows how the club is ensuring that its walkers are following its safety procedures. We should also have a procedure where members can report leaders who don't follow our safety procedures i.e. "Inform the leader if you think that safety procedures are not being followed on a walk, and inform the committee if your concerns are not addressed during the walk."


Two little things that are really bugging me involve the titles in the procedures of the check-in people - or the horribly named Walk Completion Contacts - for Wednesday and Weekend walks, and the name of the form variously called our Risk Waiver form / sheet or our Emergency Contact form / sheet or our Attendance form / sheet. Can we agree to something simple like Wednesday Check-In, Weekend Check-In, and Attendance Form (noting somewhere in our procedures that our Attendance Form includes our Risk Waiver and the emergency contacts for those people on the walk? And maybe we change Safety Contact from being the Check-in to being those people registered as contacts with a PLB?

So that's all the additional safety procedures I think we need, although I've probably forgotten a couple that I wanted to add. Feel free to disagree or suggest others! I will not be at the next scheduled committee meeting (assuming I'm still on the committee which is yet to be determined by the committee). Karen and I will be on a Kimberley cruise, so it will be up to you guys to ensure the safety of the club at that committee meeting.

If I am still on the committee can I get the approval of the committee to be absent from that meeting? I wouldn't want to miss three consecutive committee meetings without approval again! 😀

Cheers,
Brett


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This page contains one of the seven emails sent by the Shoalhaven Bushwalkers webmaster which examined proposed new safety procedures in 2023. In a complaint by David Lord to the SBW President, these emails were described as containing disrespectful and personal attacks on Julienne McKay who helped formulate the procedures. A reading of the emails shows that the claims in the complaint were completely false.



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