17th Sept 2013

Once again, congratulations to those that passed Club Safety Boat Certificate. We have another three certificated members, Steve, Brent and myself

Our annual Health and Safety Audit went well on Sun 25th Aug, and we are the highest scoring Rowing Club, so our families can be reassured that we have some robust Health and Safety Procedures in place. I have completed a new 2013/14 H&S Plan, if anyone has any suggestions (clean), then please let me know.

First Aid

Unfortunately, we have had to cancel our First Aid course for the present. This is due to St.John’s nearly doubling their invoice from their original agreed price. We do not have the funds at the moment but after the Regatta, when we have a bit more money, than I shall look at booking it again – with a different provider. We were really pleased with the response from Club Members to this course and we had 25+ names put down. Our apologies to people who rearranged work schedules for this.

Repair Warning Signs

This is in its early days, but seems to be going well. People are using the log that Darryl kindly bound for us and it is helping to keep a record of what is happening with our Skiffs and Safety Boats. I will ask at the meeting if everyone is satisfied with this new log system.

I will make up a similar log for the Gym.

Thank you Ivan, Glenn and anyone else who helped, for putting up the new Sign In/Out table, it is a huge improvement.

Boat/Skiff Telecommunication

We have received two mobile phones for this. Thank you Mike, and Roy from my work, who I have never even met. I have $20 credit and I was also donated a free sim card, which I unfortunately broke trying to get it in. So, we still need two new sim cards, one Telecom and one Vodaphone. We are still going to trial Bluetooth ear pieces for Brian and Mike, apparently they are not universal, so we might have to purchase specific ear pieces that work with their phones. I will come back with prices, in the meantime the phones in pouches will be fine.

Oars for Coach/Safety Boats

Thank you Ivan for supplying new oars for our Coach Boats, I’ve already used them. We will purchase some new ones soon, so we can return yours.

Blood and Blisters

John P found a very interesting article which I forwarded to everybody. Burst blisters, puss and blood on oar handles could cross infect rowers with many nasty diseases, including hepititas and MRSA (great, something new to worry about). We should be encouraging our Rowers to wash their hands, properly, with soap when they come off the water. If this is unrealistic, then we should purchase some hand sanitizer for them.

I contacted Crocker about oar handle maintenance and we have begun cleaning our handles with sugar-soap solution and a goldilocks. This should be done once a week, but as it took two people

an hour to clean just the sculling handles then realistically, if this is done once a month that is better than never. This job must be done by adults or responsible Senior Rowers, because if they are not rinsed properly the handles can become slippery and we don’t want that on the water, or during a race. (Josh B kindly tried out a cleaned set on Sun and he said they were fine and not at all slippery).

Early Morning Training Skiff Lights

Early morning training will be starting soon, and Rachel found a 360degree light that attaches to the bow number bracket for $20. I have ordered one to try out and if it is good we will look at buying more for our boats. We will also need to look at our hands free, head light gear and ensure that we have enough that are working with good batteries, before am training begins.

Novice Rowers Manual

Julz has offered to help me with this, and I have already been sent a number of items that will help us produce our own manual. John H also has a draft copy that was started last year. This will be uploaded onto the WRC website and Rowers can read it from there.

If anyone has any suggestions, or sees articles of interest on health, nutrition, care of injuries etc., to go on the Health and Safety Noticeboard or Website page, please let me know.

Rowing accidents/incidents

Last week we had an incident on the water that resulted in damage to one of our boats. A timely reminder that Incident Report Sheets need to be completed when anything like this happens. I will pin a few on the H&S Noticeboard for people to fill out and they can pin completed forms back up for me. I don’t need to send them off, unless a rower has been injured, but we need records for our annual audits.

Emergency Contact Details

It is really important that everybody has emergency contact details. We need to start with basics and ensure that at least everyone on the Committee has numbers on their phones for Coaches, Rachel, John Pash (who is usually here during rowing times) and myself as Safety Officer.

Rachel is looking at a new Emergency Info and Contact Form that must be completed by all rowers, (incl Masters). Non-rowing volunteers might also be encouraged to fill one out in case of Emergencies. These will be kept in 2 folders, Rowers and Masters/Volunteers and will be put on the Office shelf. Files can then be picked up and taken on Regattas/camp/time trials etc. This is really important and we would appreciate the help of all Committee Members to ensure that these forms are returned promptly.

Swim Test and Capsize Drill

Has been postponed until, earliest, mid October due to the water still being too cold.

Date to be set at meeting.

Thanks for your support

Tracy