Archery & The Safety at Sports and Recreational Events Act 2010
The Safety at Sports and Recreational Events Act 2010 seeks to ensure the safety of people attending events (including sporting events), as well as their property, and is largely in response to incidents that have taken place in which spectators were injured or killed. In many ways, Archery is probably ahead of the organisers of other events in that safety is very definitely viewed as a priority and in fact is one of the responsibilities of the judges. Notwithstanding our view on safety, we still have to comply with the Act. In a nutshell, the Act requires that all events are required to be categorised according to the perceived risk. There are three risk categorisations, namely High Risk, Medium Risk and Low Risk. The requirements for all three differ significantly although there are some similarities. For instance, all three risk categorisations provide for joint and several responsibility by the controlling body, the event organiser and the venue owner. A brief explanation is available in the Ministers letter.
The Act further provides that:
• the designation and categorisation of events takes place annually; • some form will be required, dependent of the categorisation of safety and security measures at events; • safety certification and grading of Stadiums and Venues must be undertaken by local Authorities; and • that every event must be covered by compulsory public liability insurance.
The Act further sets out to identify safety and security role-players at events, establish where required Planning Committees, prohibit events due to safety and/or security risks, exclude spectators where applicable and stipulate offences and penalties.
In discussions with the various role-players from the Department of Sport, SASCOC and the SAPS, archery is, in the main, a low risk event.
Whilst there is a far greater requirement for compliance in respect of medium and high risk events, we will concentrate on the risk categorisation which will apply in respect of tournaments held under the authority of the SA National Archery Association.
General requirements of the Act:
An event Organiser must have the necessary capacity, resources and experience to host an event. Where the organiser is a natural person he or she must be older than 18 years of age.
No event may be organised unless a risk categorisation assessment has been made and public liability insurance is in place for the event.
No person may obtain tickets to resell for commercial purposes, directly or indirectly sell or promote event tickets without the prior authority of the event organiser.
In the submission, the SAPS consider amongst other things, historical data regarding the event, relevance of the event, venue, location, expected attendance, suitability of the stadium or venue, certifications and crime statistical trends. Factors also considered are day of the week, time of day, sport event factors, medical history and age profiling of attendees, international, domestic or local socio economic, political or security related factors, weather and natural conditions leading up to and during the event.
Important to note is that the Act does not work in isolation. The Local Authorities play a pivotal role in this process, and general safety certificates for existing stadiums and venues, safety certificates and grading certificates must be obtained where applicable.
It is important to note that event categorisation requires a minimum of 6 weeks (Section 6.3). If applications are submitted too close to events, there is a strong possibility the SAPS will not categorise the event and SANAA will be unable to issue an organising permit. The solution is to ensure that events are planned well in advance. Much of what is required is already contained in the permit application, however some additional information is required. The requirements are broken up into three sections and Clubs and Organisers must supply SANAA with the following information now required in terms of the Act when applying for permits:
Section 1: Event Details. 1. The local authority certified safe spectator capacity of venue/stadium (where applicable). 2. GPS coordinates (where applicable). 3. Nearest SAPS Police Station
Section 2: Responsible Persons. 1. Organiser details including addresses and contact details 2. Archery range owner details.
The new legislation may seem bulky and complicated, but all Clubs and Organisers already do most of what is required by the Act.
The real changes are the involvement of Local Authorities where applicable to obtain certificates as required in the Act, and to ensure that the correct and required additional information is provided.
For low risk events, Clubs and Promoters simply need to supply the additional information. The Act requires that for these events a Safety or Disaster Plan is kept at the archery range. The Director of Shooting would be the responsible officer who performs this function in any event.
It is important that Clubs, Promoters and Officials that embrace this new legislation, which is here to stay. Failure to adhere to the legislation may have far reaching consequences. There are liability and risk management issues in terms of the Act. There is an edictal liability on the Federation, Clubs and Organisers as well as Officials, and we must all ensure a reasonable standard of care. The net covering events is extended in the Act and the spectrum of what is covered is far wider. What this means is that we must all manage the risk. We must where possible delineate responsibility, alert others to the World Archery obligations, obtain appropriate indemnities and insurance and be cognisant of other legislation, like the Consumer Protection Act. Remember Sect 51 of the SREA Act makes it clear there is no exclusion for gross negligence so all stakeholders must actively apply the highest level of care with safety and security at events.
