HRC Home Page

HRC Home Page

Fours Head Index

Risk Assessment for Henley Open Events Long Distance Races

Risk Assessment Matrix

	Severity of Outcome
Probability of Accidents	Slightly harmful (Low)	Harmful (Medium)	Extremely harmful (High)
Highly unlikely (Low)	Trivial Risk	Tolerable Risk	Moderate Risk
Unlikely (Medium)	Tolerable Risk	Moderate Risk	Substantial Risk
Likely (High)	Moderate Risk	Substantial Risk	Intolerable Risk

Risks and Actions

RISK LEVEL	ACTION AND TIMESCALE
Trivial	No action required.
Tolerable	No additional controls are required. Consideration may be given to a more effective solution or improvement.
Moderate	Efforts should be made to reduce the risk. Risk reduction measures should be implemented within a defined time period. Where the moderate risk is associated with harmful/serious consequences further assessment may be necessary to establish more precisely the likelihood of harm as a basis for determining the need for improved control measures.
Substantial	The activity should not be started until the risk has been reduced. Considerable resources may have to be allocated to reduce the risk. Where the risk involves activity already in progress, urgent action should be taken.
Intolerable	Activity should not be started or continued until the risk has been reduced. If it is not possible to reduce risk even with unlimited resources, activity has to remain prohibited.

Risks on the Henley Reach

Risk	Probability H / M / L	Severity H / M / L	Risk Level	Planned Action to Control Risk
Risks that apply to all events
Collosion with Henley Bridge	Low	Medium	Moderate	In the event of strong stream conditions no crews other than Henley RC to embark above Henley Bridge
Collision in boating area	Low	Medium	Tolerable	Earliest and latest boating times published for crews in 30 boat batches. 1 hour allowed between finish of one race and first boating time for next race. Two bank marshals placed in the finish area to control crews waiting to disembark.
Collision between crews rowing in opposite directions during practice	Low	Medium	Tolerable	Practice Circulation Pattern in Safety Instructions. Marshall inlaunch at upstream end of island to monitor safety.
Collision between crews rowing in different directions during racing	Low	Medium	Tolerable	No crews allowed to boat for next race until previous race has finished and crews disembarked. Monitored by marshals in the finish area.
Damage and injury resulting from collision	Low	Medium	Tolerable	Bow balls, heel restraints and buoyancy compartments aids may be inspected by Control Commission prior to going afloat to race. Buoyancy aids may be visually checked by Control Commission. Competitors and coaches are responsible for ensuring that their boats are safe and are prepared to the required standards at all times including practice.
Capsize during a race	Low	Medium	Tolerable	Three fully equipped safety launches spread along the race track. All race monitors, umpires, start marshals and safety launches are linked by radio. Race monitors and unpires equipped with loud hailers and hooters to summon assistance.Cox’s life jackets may be checked by Control Commission prior to going afloat to race. Particular attention paid to "front loader" boats.
Crews turning from the Bucks station to cross the course to UTRC whilst the race is still and thus potentially endangering crews still racing	Medium	Medium	Moderate	Clear instructions posted to all competitors. In addition the race monitor placed between UTRC and Red Blades has responsibility for managing any potentially dangerous situation.
Crews warming up or cooling down obstructing races or launches.	Medium	Low	Tolerable	Safety Instructions and instructions to crews advise that cooling down on the race course is not allowed and any crew crossing the finish line a second time will be disqualified
Sudden bad weather causing unrowable and / or dangerous conditions	Medium	Medium	Moderate	Any umpire or other key race official will stop racing. Any crews on the water will be moved into the most sheltered lane and shepherded back to the landing stages by umpire launches and rescue boats.
Collapse of athlete on landing stages (e.g. asthma attack)or falling into the water	Low	Medium	Tolerable	Control Commission or Race Umpire or Safety Boat summon Medical Aid by radio (On-call doctor based at Remenham Club abd Nurse at the finish.)
Fast river conditions	Medium	Medium	Moderate	Take advice from the Environment Agency four days before the race on their assessment of likely race conditions. Committee review actual conditions on-site on afternoon before the race. Depending on the severity of the river conditions observed decide whether to: shorten the course by 200 metres to create wider safety margin from Hambledon Weir Take out all Novice crews, Men’s J14, Women’s J14 and J15, Women’s S4 Cancel Race
Collision in Start Zone	Low	Medium	Tolerable	Start Marshals "collect" crews for the race in start order and turn them in that order ready to start.

Risk Assessment meeting held at 12.30pm on 14/2/03 at the finish end of the race course. Present at the review were Roy Spatcher, Ian Cruickshank, Duncan Thomas and John Friend

All identified risks in this Risk Assessment were reviewed and the following was agreed:

The race will proceed as planned
The start will be brought upstream by 100 metres to the bottom end of Greenlands
The fallen tree on the Bucks bank opposite the barrier will be buoyed and will be manned to warn crews going to the start
River flow measurements at Caversham over the past 3 days have been:

12/2 94.8
13/2 88.2
14/2 76.4 (at 8.00am)
14/2 74.1 (at 12.10pm)
This will be checked again at 5.00pm on 14/2 and 8.00am on 15/2

The local weather forecast for the next 24 hours is for clear weather with no rain
Monitoring of river level at Henley RC has shown a drop of 120mm between 13/2 pm and 14/2 am
Our insurance company has confirmed that the race is fully covered for 3^rd party liability following this risk assessment
Conditions will be reviewed at 9.00am on 15/2 and during and after each race division and any necessary changes will be implemented with immediate effect.

John Friend

14^th February 2003

HRC Home Page Fours Head Index