Youth Matters outlines the Government's plans to place a duty on local authorities to secure a wide range of positive activities. But the paperwork involved in ensuring that activities such as outdoor adventure pursuits are organised safely can be an "absolute nightmare", according to Sunderland Youth Development Group's award and accreditation officer, Bob Hoy. Five years ago, youth workers in Sunderland realised the need for a form of guidance on organising trips that was specifically built around their needs.
THE SOLUTION
The home-grown solution came in the form of Mark Charlton, a student of IT consultancy, who was also doing his gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award at the Sunderland Award Centre. While attending a residential to help young people get more involved in centre activities, he came away with the idea for a secure online system to help youth workers organise trips.
The result was the Electronic Trip Registration and Control System (E-Tracs), an online risk management tool for organisers of out-of-centre activities, which was introduced for use three years ago by Webtree Authoring, the company Charlton now runs.
E-Tracs is designed specifically for youth workers, guiding those who have never undertaken a trip through the process involved. Staff with more experience of trips can store and retrieve previously compiled risk assessments and information can be shared with colleagues planning similar trips.
Hoy says the system is also useful when compiling reports. If a serious incident occurs, investigating staff have immediate access to information.
Youth workers need about half a day of training, as well as ongoing support.
THE OUTCOME
The result, says Hoy, is far fewer headaches for youth workers involved in trips. He says: "It's the risk management side that youth workers tend to struggle with. It makes things much quicker, faster and a lot safer as well, because people can view other risk assessments and see what other colleagues are doing."
E-Tracs earned Sunderland Youth Development Group an award in June from the National Forum for Risk Management in the Public Sector.
The city council's outdoor education department now plans to introduce this system to schools across the city.
WHAT'S YOUR CHALLENGE?
Contact Emily Rogers on 020 8267 4721 or emily-jane.rogers@haynet.com
TOP TIPS
- Try to ensure the workplace has a blame-free culture where people are encouraged to share their near-miss experiences, so all staff can benefit
- Ensure that risk assessment consultations include a broad range of people and especially young people
- Check out the web sites of the national governing bodies for different activities, as well as the Adventure Activity Licensing Authority (www.aala.org) and the Health and Safety Executive (www.hse.gov.uk)
- Start your planning early and include all leaders involved in the trip
- Thanks to Bob Hoy, award and accreditation officer, Sunderland Youth Development Group.
