Emergencies

NB This page is under construction June 26, it will be linked from the Organiser page when complete.

Cancellation

There are occasions when an event needs to be cancelled. The decision is with the Organiser, but it is expected that they would consult with controller and planner and probably committee members.

Reasons include:

• Loss of permission for all or a significant part of the area, or facilities such as parking

• Area becoming unusable eg because of flooding or access issues

• Weather

Cancellation due to Weather

An Organiser has a duty of care, including checking whether weather warnings are in place. Any decision will need to take into account the area being used and its condition before the event, either of which can increase or decrease both the likelihood and the severity of the risk:

• Met Office Red weather warnings mean that travel should be avoided, so this would usually require cancellation.  The Organiser should consider advising entrants if there is a Red weather warning in a nearby area from which they may travel.

• Amber or Yellow warnings may trigger cancellation, depending on the circumstances of the area being used. The Met Office warnings are of necessity broad brush in terms of time and area (e.g. "S England and Wales between 0400 and 2200") and more up to date or detailed weather forecasts may increase or decrease the risk for this event. The two most common examples are:

• High winds causing significant risk of falling branches in the area being used, unless the area is more sheltered, or has younger trees.

• Lightning strikes. They tend to be high impact, localised and occur with relatively little warning or build-up, so be cautious if lightning is forecast. If lightning is close, the safest place for people to be is in a car or a building. You should wait 30 minutes before going out again.

• For extreme heat, there are possible mitigations that may avoid cancellation (change time of event, supply water …). BOF guidance, which links to IOF guidance, is to consider mitigations at a Wet Bulb reading of 30-32. The Organiser should consider mitigations at lower values and consider cancellation at 30-32.

Missing Runner

There's no requirement to have a missing runner search plan for a Saturday event, but remember what your Event Safety Course said about searching.

The SI team can give you the missing runner's (or their parent's) mobile phone number.

The critical thing is to have enough people around. Your control collectors are a good start and it's worth saying to a few others - especially experienced orienteers - "we're still missing someone, can you stay around?"

Medical Emergency

Your First Aider(s) will deal with the casualty but may need logistic support eg someone at the main road to direct an ambulance in, clearing access for an ambulance.

If the issue is serious, you may need to use the Emergency Contact people put on SI Entries, ask the SI Team.  By that stage you should already have started the BOF Incident Report Form. BOF guidance is vague as to which incidents require reporting, err towards over- rather than under-reporting.