Risk Assessments

All employees and management have a legal obligation to ensure the health, safety and well being of service users, other staff and themselves. Whilst it is inevitable that accidents may occur from time to time, it is in the interests of all concerned to seek to ensure that they identify potential hazards, ‘before’ they occur.

A swimming pool is a dangerous place, not just from the point of view of water hazards, but also potentially from chemicals, glass and equipment used regularly within swimming lessons.

The IoS recommend that management and relevant staff be trained to carry out risk assessments, and such assessments be carried out on a regular basis. Certain checks will be required on a daily basis other more detailed checks should occur on perhaps a monthly basis.

Where management is unsure, the IoS would recommend a suitably qualified and recognised professional to carry out such a task. Where a serious accident occurs, insurers and HSE officers are likely to ask to see copies of any risk assessments carried out over a given period. Copious records should therefore be kept.