It is important to know what to do in an emergency and for all involved in an activity to be on the same page with what is going to happen. It is also important to have clear processes for reporting of incidents, both locally, nationally and where appropriate to other agencies.
Chapter 7 of Policy, Organisation and Rules (POR) lays out the procedures to be followed in the event of an emergency involving a member of The Scout Association.
Safe Scouting and What to do in an Emergency (Purple Card)
This contains essential Information to help you plan safe activities and the necessary prompts to aid you in the event of an accident. You can also get a handy pocket sized card from Scout Store.
The Scout Association have just introduced a new process for reportable incidents and accidents that you can now do online (no need to telephone Gilwell)
In the event of a reportable incident, first complete the online incident report form – this will then generate an incident number for you*- the main Unity Incident forms are then also downloadable from these links. Please complete and return to Unity as soon as practical.
*You will need to put your incident reference number on all documents. You can find this on the email alert (received from Smartsheets) that you will receive after completing the online incident report form – the number will start GIL and will be highlighted in yellow.
When reporting an incident, you will need to provide the following information:
- Name of injured person, membership type, Group/Unit, District and County
- Date of incident
- Activity being undertaken
- Nature of the injury and severity (were they kept in hospital overnight)
- Any external agencies involved
- Who is reporting the incident and how can they be contacted
As well as reporting incidents where injuries occur it is also important to log and track incidents which could have resulted in significant injury or impact or could have been much worse given a few minor changes to the situation. The Scout Association have an online near miss form which allows members to share information about these incidents which can then be learned from to prevent future incidents.