Yesterday I was working with Jon, one of the Boots n Paddles instructors. Jon was running a WoW (Walk on Water) balls session for groups of children who were attending the Easter club at Fortrose leisure centre.
After introducing ourselves to the staff running the Easter at the leisure centre we headed down to the harbour to set-up. This was fairly straight forward as there was only a generator, a couple of leaf blowers (they make very effective pumps!), some rubber mats and the two WoW balls. We then ran two sessions over two and a half hours each with around ten children.
After introducing ourselves to the staff running the Easter at the leisure centre we headed down to the harbour to set-up. This was fairly straight forward as there was only a generator, a couple of leaf blowers (they make very effective pumps!), some rubber mats and the two WoW balls. We then ran two sessions over two and a half hours each with around ten children.
As the shore was quite rocky Jon spent his time in the water ensuring that the children were careful when entering and exiting the water. Jon felt that the set-up was not ideal as the rocky shore made the sessions a bit labour intensive. However, with both of us there Jon felt the risk of injury was manageable.
We had a interesting discussion about risk assessment and risk management on the drive back. Jon, felt that the majority of incidents arising during outdoor activities are the result of poor planning and the decisions made before the activity even starts. He believes that risk assessment is mostly common sense but that it is often better to err on the side of caution. With a lot of the activities run at Boots n Paddles the consequences of an incident could be life changing for those involved. With this in mind, all the instructors are super cautious. Jon said that if they identified a risk they felt was not manageable that it would be a seriously bad idea to continue. Not only could an instructor find themselves being prosecuted for negligence but they would also have to face the guilt of having made decisions that lead another person to serious harm.
Having said that, Jon felt that, even the high risk activities could be made safe as long as the environment was familiar, all precautions and preparations were made and the instructor was experienced and well-trained enough to deal with anything that might arise on the day.
We had a interesting discussion about risk assessment and risk management on the drive back. Jon, felt that the majority of incidents arising during outdoor activities are the result of poor planning and the decisions made before the activity even starts. He believes that risk assessment is mostly common sense but that it is often better to err on the side of caution. With a lot of the activities run at Boots n Paddles the consequences of an incident could be life changing for those involved. With this in mind, all the instructors are super cautious. Jon said that if they identified a risk they felt was not manageable that it would be a seriously bad idea to continue. Not only could an instructor find themselves being prosecuted for negligence but they would also have to face the guilt of having made decisions that lead another person to serious harm.
Having said that, Jon felt that, even the high risk activities could be made safe as long as the environment was familiar, all precautions and preparations were made and the instructor was experienced and well-trained enough to deal with anything that might arise on the day.