Sailing Club Risk Assessment Template (UK)

In brief

What the document must do

List each club activity, its hazards and the people who could be harmed.
Score likelihood and severity before and after the planned controls.
Give every unfinished action an owner, deadline and review date.
Keep a current copy where the duty officer can use it on the day.

Visual guide

Risk controls follow the whole site

Spot the hazard, name the control, assign an owner and review it after change.

Follow the marked route

Why this matters

Why your club needs a written risk assessment

A written risk assessment is one of the few pieces of club paperwork that does real work for safety, insurance and committee accountability all at once. RYA affiliation expects member clubs to operate sensibly around foreseeable hazards, and most affiliation packs ask whether a current risk assessment is in place. Insurance providers ask the same question at renewal, and the answer affects both cover and premium.

Beyond the paperwork, the assessment exists to protect your members. Sailing puts people on cold water, in fast boats, around heavy equipment, often with juniors involved. A documented, reviewed assessment is what turns "we always do it that way" into something you can actually defend. When a member raises a concern at the AGM, you can point to the document, the review date and the named owner. That is a much stronger position than relying on memory.

Committee accountability matters too. Volunteer trustees and committee members carry a duty of care. A clear risk assessment shows that the committee has thought about the hazards, agreed controls and made decisions transparently. If something does go wrong, a regularly reviewed document is the single most useful piece of evidence you have.

RYA framework

What the RYA expects from affiliated clubs

The RYA publishes safety guidance for affiliated clubs that sets the broad expectations for how British sailing clubs should think about risk. The detail of that guidance moves over time and your Regional Development Officer is the right person to confirm the current version. The principles, though, are stable: identify the hazards, decide who could be harmed, evaluate the risk, record what you do about it, and review the document.

The RYA provides practical guidance and templates, but clubs can adapt the format to their site and activities. The Health and Safety Executive's risk management guidance sets out the five-step approach (identify hazards, decide who might be harmed, evaluate, record, review) that any club document needs to satisfy. Both sources treat the document as a live working tool, not a binder filed in the office for the insurance auditor.

Treat the assessment as something the duty officer can pick up on a Saturday morning. It should answer the questions a reasonable race officer or safety boat helm might have about wind limits, launching procedure and what to do if a junior session runs into difficulty. If your current document is too abstract to answer those questions on the day, it is not doing its job, however thorough the writing.

Risk matrix

Severity x likelihood matrix

A 5x5 grid turns a subjective worry into a defensible score. Pick severity if the hazard occurred. Pick likelihood given current controls. Multiply for a residual risk score. Anything in red needs additional measures before the activity goes ahead.

Risk score		Likelihood
Risk score		Rare (1)	Unlikely (2)	Possible (3)	Likely (4)	Almost certain (5)
Severity	Catastrophic (5)	5	10	15	20	25
	Major (4)	4	8	12	16	20
	Moderate (3)	3	6	9	12	15
	Minor (2)	2	4	6	8	10
	Negligible (1)	1	2	3	4	5

1-4 Low - acceptable

5-9 Moderate - monitor

10-14 High - act

15+ Severe - stop

Worksheet

Hazard categories - the worksheet

Seven categories cover most of what a UK sailing club needs to think about. Use each card as a starting prompt. Add hazards specific to your site, edit the controls to match what you actually do, and score the residual risk using the matrix above.

Weather and conditions

Sample hazard	Current controls	Residual	Additional measures
Wind exceeding club limits during racing	Published wind ceiling, OOD authority to abandon, anemometer at race hut	6	Standing rule: average sustained wind above stated knots equals abandonment
Lightning during a session	Met Office warning checks, clubhouse shelter, no aluminium masts upright	4	Add a club-wide stand-down trigger phrase that any duty officer can call
Hypothermia from cold water immersion	Wetsuit or drysuit guidance, safety boat with thermal blanket, hot drinks ashore	6	Brief race officers on early signs and recovery procedure

Water hazards

Sample hazard	Current controls	Residual	Additional measures
Underwater obstructions and shoals	Marked hazards on club chart, pre-season survey, briefing for visitors	6	Annual walkover at low water with photographic record
Tidal exposure on cruising legs	Published tidal limits, mandatory tide plan for organised cruises	8	Cruise leader sign-off before departure
Capsize and entrapment recovery	Safety boat afloat, capsize drill in induction, mast retention checks	6	Annual capsize and recovery practice for safety boat crews

Equipment

Sample hazard	Current controls	Residual	Additional measures
Safety boat mechanical failure	Pre-launch checklist, monthly maintenance log, fuel and kill-cord checks	4	Second safety boat available for events with high participant counts
Radio or comms failure	VHF check at start of session, secondary handheld carried, mobile phone backup	4	Document call-sign and channel on the duty board
Damaged or undersized buoyancy aids	Annual inspection, sized rack for juniors, member responsibility for personal kit	4	Replace stock items showing UV damage or perished foam

Race operations

Sample hazard	Current controls	Residual	Additional measures
Course conflict with non-racing water users	Course set away from public moorings, navigation marks visible, courtesy briefing	6	Liaison with harbour master for shared waters
RIB collision with competitors	Safety boat operating zones, kill cord enforced, helm qualification gating	6	Powerboat L2 minimum for all helms, refresher every five years
Mark-rounding incidents and pile-ups	Adequate mark spacing, OOD discretion to delay starts, separate fleet starts	6	Review fleet sizes against course capacity each season

Junior programmes

Sample hazard	Current controls	Residual	Additional measures
Inadequate instructor-to-participant ratio	Published ratio per RYA programme, no session below ratio	6	Standard rule: junior session ratio not to exceed 1:6 on water
Junior unable to swim or self-recover	Swim competence declared on registration, buoyancy aid mandatory, capsize drill	6	Re-confirm competence at start of each season
Safeguarding and supervision off the water	DBS-checked coaches, visible identification, parental sign-in	4	Named welfare officer and reporting route

Shore-side

Sample hazard	Current controls	Residual	Additional measures
Boat park trip and crush injuries	Marked walkways, trolleys returned to bay, no boats over walkways	4	Annual boat park layout review
Slipway slip and fall	Anti-slip surface, handrail where practical, weed clearance schedule	6	Visual check before each launch session
Manual handling and alcohol at the bar	Lifting guidance, club bar separation from briefing area, no afloat after drinks	4	Bar staff trained on cut-off and member care

Visiting sailors

Sample hazard	Current controls	Residual	Additional measures
Visitor unfamiliar with site hazards	Mandatory pre-event briefing, site map issued, member buddy where possible	4	Briefing pack on event registration page
Equipment unfamiliarity for charter or loan boats	Equipment briefing on collection, tally system, kill cord on every helm	4	Loan log retained for the season
Visitor not registered for emergency contact	Registration form captures next of kin, signed declaration on arrival	3	Cross-check entries against signed-on list at briefing

SailHQ location and weather settings panel showing club coordinates and live conditions for the race hut — Live wind and conditions tied to the club coordinates feed straight into weather hazard controls. See live weather for the full breakdown.

Sample wording

Sample wording for control measures

Wording matters. A control measure phrased as a vague aspiration is harder to enforce and harder to audit than one written as a clear standing rule. The examples below are starting points. Adjust the numbers to match your boats, your water and your members.

All members and guests must wear an appropriate buoyancy aid or lifejacket whenever afloat at the club, including in safety boats.
A safety boat is afloat for the duration of all club racing and organised junior sessions. No racing or junior session starts without it.
The junior session ratio is not to exceed 1:6 on the water (one qualified instructor or assistant to six juniors).
Club race officers will call abandonment if the average sustained wind exceeds 22 knots at the race hut anemometer.
Powerboat helms must hold a current RYA Powerboat Level 2 certificate or equivalent. Members without a current qualification cannot launch a club RIB unaccompanied.
All members are required to sign on before launching and sign off after returning. The signed-on list is the basis for any rescue response.
The kill cord must be attached to the helm whenever a powerboat engine is running. There are no exceptions.
Members under 16 are not permitted afloat without a parent, guardian, or club-approved supervisor present at the club.

SailHQ duty types with required qualifications attached to safety boat and OOD slots — Qualification gating on duty types enforces wording like "Powerboat L2 minimum" automatically. See duty management for the full breakdown.

Review cadence

When to review the assessment

The review schedule is the single most important habit. A live document looks alive; a filed binder looks ignored. Set a review on at least these triggers:

Annually, before the start of each sailing season, signed off by the committee.
After any reportable incident or near miss, with the relevant section updated.
When introducing a new programme, such as a junior squad, foiling fleet, or open meeting.
When the site or equipment changes - new pontoon, new safety boat, slipway resurface, dredging works.

Where SailHQ helps

How SailHQ supports clubs on safety

A written risk assessment is the policy. The platform underneath has to enforce it. SailHQ is built around the controls clubs actually apply on the day.

Qualification gating on duty types

Powerboat L2, First Aid, and any custom qualification can be tied to a duty type. Members without a current ticket are blocked from claiming the slot. See duty management.

Live weather widget

Each club has a configured location with conditions visible alongside upcoming events, so duty officers see wind and forecast in the same view as the day's racing.

Member health and medical info

Members can record relevant medical notes and emergency contacts on their profile, available to authorised committee roles when needed. See the member portal.

Emergency contacts on file

Next of kin and emergency contact numbers are kept against each member, accessible to the duty officer if an incident occurs on the day.

Risk assessment questions

Yes, in most cases. Junior sessions involve different supervision ratios, water competence checks, parental consent, and equipment sized for younger sailors. The general club risk assessment can act as the umbrella, with a junior-specific annex covering the additional hazards and controls. RYA guidance recognises junior activities as distinct enough to warrant their own consideration.

Open meetings introduce visiting sailors who do not know the site, the local hazards, or the club's procedures. Add a short event-specific annex to your standing risk assessment that covers the briefing, the safety boat cover for visitor numbers, and any temporary site changes such as additional boat parking or extra slipway use.

Sign-off normally sits with the club committee, with a named individual (often the Sailing Secretary, Commodore, or a designated Safety Officer) taking ownership. The signed copy should be dated and stored where committee members and race officers can find it. Insurance providers and the RYA may ask to see it, so version control matters.

Review at least annually, ideally before the start of each sailing season. Review again after any reportable incident, near miss, change to the site or equipment, or before introducing a new programme such as a new junior squad or open meeting. The document should be treated as live, not filed and forgotten.

A note on this template

This is a starting-point template, not legal or insurance advice. It is intended to help your committee structure a conversation about hazards and controls. Every club site is different. Before you adopt anything here as a formal policy, consult your RYA Regional Development Officer for current guidance, your insurance broker on policy requirements, and any local authority or harbour rules that apply to your site. Sign-off and ongoing review remain the responsibility of your club committee.

Next on SailHQ

Put the controls into practice

Connect the risk assessment to the rota, the entry terms and the people running the day.

Sailing Club Risk Assessment Template