Risk assessment

Risk assessment

UHBC/ULBC Regattas – Chiswick Reach

Introduction

This assessment is designed to cover foreseeable risks in the conduct of the UH Novice regatta, UH Winter regatta, and University of London Allom Cup. These are usually held in the late autumn or winter months, at the weekend, and last for one day only. The foreseeable risks are broadly common to all three events. Boating for these events occurs mainly from University of London boathouse (ULBH), but one club boats from Tideway Scullers School boathouse (TSSBH) and crews may boat from Putney and elsewhere in the case of the Allom Cup.

The events are held in accordance with the principles set out in the recently published Rowing on the Tideway – A Code of Practice for Rowing on the Tidal Thames above Putney (CPRT) published jointly by the PLA and the Thames Regional Rowing Council (TRRC), which has been promulgated in PLA Notice to Mariners (NTM) 2006/U15. The events are marshalled in a similar fashion to the various British Rowing affiliated regattas on this stretch including Chiswick Amateur, Barnes and Mortlake and Borne and the risk assessments conducted by these regattas will have considerable overlap with the UH/UL events.

History of the UH/UL regattas.

These events have been held in this location for at least forty years. There have been no fatalities related to the conduct of these events known to the author in this period.

Established accident history.

There have been two significant incidents since 2000:

2001: A race start in the ULBC Allom Cup collided with a crew crossing against the stream from ULBH in 2001 resulting in significant injury. Issues were identified relating to the adequacy of look out on the part of the cox of the crew crossing and the failure to identify an obstruction on the part of the relevant marshal involved in starting the race.

2002: An eight capsized on the second pier of the railway bridge on a strong ebb tide whilst being marshalled in a UH regatta. There were no injuries but the boat was written off. Issues identified included the potential for foresight on the part of the relevant marshall.

There have been no significant incidents in this event since 2002 (updated August 2011).

Issues relating to watermanship:

There are often lapses in steering of boats from a variety of clubs against the stream along the Surrey side opposite ULBH as the river bends gently to Surrey, with the result that crews often swing into the centre of the steam when proceeding against an ebb tide despite the provisions of CPRT. This comment relates to all oared boats in the area.

There may be lapses in watermanship in competing crews either at the point of turning or during the race, with the possibility of crews departing from the course and potentially infringing the starboard hand rule. This is particularly likely in the case of the novice event, which involves individual competitors with limited racing experience and the ever present risk of catching crabs and similar mishaps. However the event is run on the basis of providing such experience in a relatively safe environment and all officials need to be prepared to provide appropriate support.

Issues relating to inexperienced officials:

These events rely on a number of relatively inexperienced officials to assist the chief umpire. The number involved is usually quite small and there are usually a number of more experienced officials available. A combination of a crowded race timetable and limited availability of suitably experienced officials in the 2010 Allom Cup led to a situation where the programme had to be abandoned because of lack of time. It is anticipated that the 2011 event will have a less crowded racing timetable and greater availability of suitably experienced officials.

Table of risks and control measures

Risk Assessment Matrix¹

Most likely severity of harm

Likelihood of harm

Slight harm

Moderate harm

Extreme harm

Very unlikely

Very low risk

Low risk

Unlikely

Low risk

Medium risk

Likely

Medium risk

High risk

Very likely

Medium risk

High risk

Very high risk

[1] Updated in accordance with suggested risk level estimator: Row Safe 2008 v1 section 1.2

Note that the risk assessment matrix is a subjective tool and the individual cells are numbered for reference purposes only.

	Risk	Issues	Probability of accident	Likely severity	Risk estimation	Control measures
1	Novice and inexperienced coxes. Lack of adherence to marshalling instructions	Coxswains fail to attend coxswains’ pre-race meeting	Likely	Slight harm	Medium 7	UH/ULBC sets basic minimum coxing experience criteria (min 30 outings); attendance register at coxes meeting; Coxswains and crews in general have had most of academic year to gain experience; UH/ULBC places emphasis on responsibilities of individual club captains to ensure compliance with marshalling instructions and attendance at coxswains’ meeting. Ensure marshalling launches in correct position throughout marshalling and race.
2	Radio communication failure	Immersion of handset/ severe rain Handset battery failure Handset failure.	Unlikely	Slightly harmful	Low 4	Mobile phones as back-up Total system failure will require the UH/UL control to consider suspension of event.
3	Experience of marshals	Use of relatively junior personnel	Likely	Slight harm	Medium 7	Briefing by senior umpire Use of other senior officers Adherence to radio code Ensure racing timetable suitable intervals (especially in Allom Cup - > 6 minutes)
4	Inadequate launch availability	Borrowed launches. Engine failure/ lack of petrol during event; but 4 other launches in action Launch failure prior to event, with no available spare	Very unlikely	Slight Harm	Very Low 1	The regatta will not commence without five fully functioning launches. If a launch failure occurs during the regatta, then the UH/UL control will take immediate steps to identify a reserve launch. If one is not available, then the control/JM will review whether suspension of racing is appropriate. If reduced to four launches then these will take up positions 1-4 only.
5	Inadequate launch safety equipment	Borrowed equipment (responsibility rests with the individual club captains)	Very unlikely	Moderate Harm	Low 2	UH/ULBC will not allow the regatta to start without five fully equipped launches, but if a reserve launch is brought into action then the initial check may fail to identify lack of requisite equipment. Attention must be paid by UH/UL control in checking reserve launches in advance. UH/ULBC to identify responsibility of individual club captains to provide equipment in line with British Rowing ‘Row safe’.
6	Medical facilities	· Medical cover. · First aid kit.	Very unlikely	Extreme Harm	Low 3	UHBC President and Vice-presidents medically qualified; ULBC provision of medical officer. Basic medical equipment provision, including oxygen
7	Medical evacuation	LAS ambulance. Evacuation route via ULBH	Very unlikely	Extreme Harm	Low 3	LAS outside of UH/ULBC control. Designated primary evacuation route via ULBH.
8	Navigation of powered vessels in regatta area	Navigation of other vessels must not be impeded Adequate look-out by coxes, marshals, umpires	Likely	Slight harm	Medium 7	PLA notice to mariners to cover all events Effective use of bank marshal 4 (spotter) downriver of race finish to advise of oncoming vessels; to liaise with JM. Experience of race starter/marshals TRRC recommendations regarding monitoring of VHF channel 14 by CU.
9	Watermanship of competitors proceeding to marshalling area	· Failure of cox to keep adequate look-out. · Failure to adhere to PLA byelaws (2006/U15)/CPRT	Likely	Slight harm	Medium 7	See 1 above; Supervision by 5 launches, as detailed below; Pre-race information to coxes, only experienced coxes (30 hours experience minimum) permitted to race; Care to be taken when proceeding to the marshalling zone to avoid crews proceeding in the opposite direction (i.e. racing crews); Launch 2 (ebb races) and Launch 4 (flood races) will advise crews boating from ULBH if it is unsafe to cross due to a race in progress. Supervision of CPRT rules in inshore zone
10	Supervision of marshalling areas	· Failure to adhere to rules set out in CPRT · Too many boats in marshalling area · At low tide greater risk of obstruction of in-shore zone	Likely	Slight harm	Medium 7	3 launches in marshalling area; Pre-race instruction to coxes, experienced coxes only; At low tide use extra marshal on bank in marshalling area to hold crews on the shore line (in conjunction with coxes) to keep marshalling crews out of way of other oared boats. If the frequency of races or the number of competitors increases in the marshalling area to more than SIX boats then a second launch should be made available to supervise the crews and further boats held back at ULBH until the problem is resolved
11	Turning of competitors and alignment on the stream	Failure to recognise restricted zones; Novice boats have a larger turning circle; Failure of cox to keep adequate look-out; Failure of marshalling launch to supervise turning; Crews moving too far onto the port aspect of the fairway during turning manoeuvre (especially around UL buoy)	Likely	Slightly harm	Medium 7	· Adequate supervision by marshalling launch assisted by following launch; · Pre-race information to coxes, experienced coxes only; · Flood start: Spin promptly into the fairway and paddle carefully through Chiswick bridge and easy outside the restricted zone on the appropriate station. · Ebb start: Spin tightly around the UL buoy and easy immediately; · The starter will take great care to avoid starting races when there is other river traffic in the vicinity of the start area. · Attention by marshals to keep crews on stream in correct position.
12	Conduct of the race	· Coxes’ attention drawn away from proper watermanship · Failure to keep proper look-out · Failure to adhere to PLA byelaws · Difficulty in communication between marshall & cox	Unlikely Likely	Moderate harm Slight harm	Medium 5 Medium 7	· Launches equipped with adequate megaphone and flags; · All races two abreast only; · Pre-race information to coxes
13	Race finish and turning	· Flood finish close to jetty and Railway Bridge restricted zone · Ebb finish – possibility of drifting down to Ship crossing	Unlikely	Extreme harm	Medium 6	· Umpiring launches to ensure boats able to turn safely away from restricted zone before launch returns to start area; · Ebb finish - ensure crews do not stop in Chiswick Bridge restricted zone & they exit before turning · Dedicated finish marshal · Novice crews coxed by experienced coxes; · Procedure for turning in pre-race information to coxes
14	Watermanship of returning crews	· Adherence to PLA byelaws · Failure to proceed in in-shore zone in accordance with CPRT · Crews retuning to ULBH against ebb stream crossing across racing crews	Unlikely	Moderateharm	Medium 5	· Marshalling launches to ensure crews turned and following correct course back to boathouse. · Emphasis on proper navigation in in-shore zone at coxes’ and marshals’ meeting. · Launch 3 to ensure races not started without course being clear.

Prepared by Dr J Mitchell MBBS FRCA FFICM MSc (risk management)

President, UHBC

In conjunction with ULBC

Revised Aug 11

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