Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club

P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

                        Website:   http://www.rrsrc.com.au/home/

             Enquiries:  Phone or email Committee members

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT PLAN

1. Introduction

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club (RRS&RC) conducts club sailing events with the main sailing season between September and June each year on the Richmond River. A social sailing program also runs between June and August without a designated rescue boat. All sailing involves some risk and the RRS&RC objective is to conduct events in a manner where the risks are minimized. At the same time, we endeavor to allow as many members to sail each weekend as possible, often using volunteers, family and partners to man the Control Tower and/or assist on the Rescue Boat.

In all racing situations there are 2 dedicated rescue boats available.

1)        Rescue /start boat manned by two persons.  This boat is continuously on the water at all times during racing. The operators are in constant radio contact with race tower.  There is also a backup mobile phone carried by both regular rescue boat operators.  These phone numbers are documented in the tower in vicinity of club telephone.  Both these operators have access to race tower operator’s telephone number.

2)        Rubber Duck on beach and prepped ready to be used in event it is required.  In rescue situation this boat is manned by 2 persons.  This boat also has contact with race tower by way of hand held radio.

Inexperienced sailors are never on the water without at least 1 rescue boat available.  These sailors are commonly in small numbers and in situations where the size of the group outweighs control by 1 rescue boat (such as during sail training courses) there will be a second rescue boat either immediately available with dedicated crew or on the water.

All sailors are advised regarding inexperienced sailors on the water at formal pre-race briefing. 

No person sailing or operating rescue vessels at RRSRC enters the water without being attired with an appropriate floatation device.

Inexperienced people may be required to help in an incident. This can be successfully achieved as we will always have at least two experienced members of the club involved in managing each race and any incident.

The main objective of this Incident Management Plan is to ensure that the appropriate response is taken to any incident that does occur. To assist in achieving this goal, this document outlines who does what, when and how the clubs resources are to be used in any incident.

2. RRS&RC Sailing Committee

The Sailing Committee consists of the following people:

• Vice Commodore (Chairman)
• Rescue Boat Skipper
• Commodore          and may include
  • Handicapper
  • Class Representatives

The Sailing Committee decides on the course to be sailed for the day. They also choose an Assistant Incident Manager for the day if the season appointed Assistant Incident Manager is not available. This person is declared at the briefing if required.

3. Race Management

There needs to be a quick and seamless transition from race management to incident management when the need arises. We thus start with a brief discussion of race management. This should be read in conjunction with the club’s Sailing Instructions.

Communications

A member of the Sailing Committee is responsible for obtaining the latest weather update and current wind speed. This is to be communicated at the briefing along with any warnings.

An Assistant Incident Manager may be appointed for the season. If the appointed Assistant Incident Manager is not available, then another Club Member shall be chosen before the briefing of the race to be the Assistant Incident Manager and given a portable radio if they do not have one on their boat. (It is preferable that this member sails a boat with a motor available.)

Radio communications must be established between the Tower and the Rescue Boat Skipper and the Assistant Incident Manager before the start of racing.

It is the responsibility of the Tower Operator to relay any messages or weather warnings to the Rescue Boat Skipper. The Tower Operator may also be required to contact the Police or Ambulance if outside assistance is required or a major incident has occurred.

Worsening Conditions

Racing should be postponed ashore or abandoned where the Rescue Boat Skipper or Assistant Incident Manager considers it necessary for the safety of the competitors. As a guide, racing should be postponed or abandoned if the wind consistently exceeds 25 knots or short duration gusts exceed 30 knots.

A decision to abandon the race will be signaled on both the Rescue Boat and the Assistant Incident Manager’s boat by the “Race Abandoned” flag. From this point on the Incident Management Committee takes charge of proceedings.

The Rescue Boat Skipper may delay the abandonment of a race substantially underway in order to finish the fleet approaching the finish line and if there is no indication of conditions substantially deteriorating and the remaining racing craft are not being overwhelmed by the conditions.

Retiring Boats

All sailors are required to sign on prior to participating in any race.  In order for all boats to be accounted for at the end of a race:  Race instructions also advise all sailors they must sign off if they do not finish the race/pass through the finish gate directly in front of the race tower.

It is the responsibility of individual sailors to make the race tower aware if they have withdrawn from a race.  The tower operator will also endeavor to take note of any boats retiring from the race and returning to the club.

4. Incident Management Committee

If there is a sailing incident then the Rescue Boat Operator and the Assistant Incident Manager shall be in charge of managing the incident. If the Rescue Boat Operator is not available or not experienced, then one Committee Member will be chosen on the day to make up the Incident Management Committee.  The Assistant Incident Manager is chosen by the Sailing Committee before the briefing of each race.

5. Risk Assessment

Responding appropriately to circumstances is first of all dependent upon a quick and accurate assessment of the situational risk. This is to be carried out by the Rescue Boat Skipper in the first instance or the Incident Management Committee if necessary. He may receive input from various sources.

4.1 Risk Analysis

In order of the severity of outcome combined with the urgency of the needed response, the more important risks are:

Risk	Severity	Response
Crew trapped in a capsize and pinned underwater This is an extremely rare occurrence. This makes it difficult to generalize about the type of boat or circumstance that may occur. The risk should never be underestimated for boats where only children are aboard.	Moderate Major if medical attention required	Attempt recovery immediately. Check for injuries. If injured/unconscious a member of the Incident Management Committee to ask Tower Operator to call Water Police for assistance and evacuation. If uninjured, determine ability to continue or return to club.
Member suffering sudden onset of severe illness (eg. Heart attack) This is probably more likely for adults, although allergic reactions or food poisoning could occur for younger sailors. The onset of the problem could bring about a capsize.	Major	A qualified person is to render first aid. A member of the Incident Management Committee to ask Tower Operator to call Water Police for assistance and evacuation if needed.
Injury through a collision or on board incident This may sometimes manifest itself in a capsize. It may also involve a collision with a fisherman or other river user.	Minor to Major	Sponsors