Safeguarding, Welfare and Safety

Safeguarding Juniors and Vulnerable Adults

Everyone has a shared responsibility for each others’ welfare and creating safe, enjoyable environments in orienteering whether as an orienteer, parent, coach, club official or spectator. 

Leicestershire Orienteering Club want you to feel safe and welcome. We encourage you to raise any concerns you have or incidents you witness at the earliest opportunity to our Club Welfare Officer or British Orienteering’s Lead Safeguarding Officer.

Leicestershire Orienteering Club is committed to the principles of Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults. The club Welfare Officer is always there if you need any support or would like any advice.

Further information about the national safeguarding standards and practices is available on British Orienteering’s Safeguarding pages.

Bringing Children to Orienteering

The club’s policies and actions to ensure juniors’ welfare and safety are set out on the Juniors’ Page.

Club Welfare Officer

The Welfare Officer role is to safeguard young people and vulnerable adults by the promotion and implementation of the British Orienteering, O-Safe – Child Welfare Policy and Procedures at a club level ( British Orienteering Key Documents). She is also the first point of contact in the club for the reporting of concerns relating to the safety and welfare of children and vulnerable adults.

Reporting a Safeguarding Concern or Incident

All reports are taken seriously and dealt with in a sensitive manner. If you are concerned in any way over the conduct of parents, carers or coaches towards children or vulnerable adults you should contact the:

This includes any concerns about safeguarding either within orienteering or outside of orienteering and any concern over adult behaviour related to the welfare of children or adults at risk, including those away from the sport that involves members or participants.

All reports will be logged in confidence with the Lead Safeguarding Officer who will also explain the processes which will be followed depending on each case.

Your Duty to Report:

Everybody has a duty to report a welfare concern, even if the concern comes via a third party. The Response to Safeguarding Concerns PDF gives advice on how to handle concerns that come to your attention. The British Orienteering website also gives advice and a short video on responding to a safeguarding concern.

Reporting Forms

In addition to contacting the Club Welfare Officer or Lead Safeguarding Officer, there are a couple of forms you can also use to report a concern or incident.

British Orienteering Quick Report Form

British Orienteering has introduced a quick report form which can be used to make immediate reports to the Lead Safeguarding Officer. This form is user friendly on mobile devices. On completion of this form the Lead Safeguarding Officer will follow up with you directly.

Other Reporting Forms

If you complete one of these forms, it will then need to be emailed to either the Club Welfare Officer or the Lead Safeguarding Officer as soon as possible. If you need any advice on how to complete a form or what should you do if someone reports something to you, this short video will help you.

Codes of Conduct and Safeguarding Policies

Codes of conduct have been established for club officials, participants and parents. These must be followed by all participating in activities organised by Leicestershire Orienteering Club or acting on behalf of the club. See the ‘Codes of Conduct’ page for the details.

The club also supports and follows British Orienteering’s two safeguarding policies and their Supplementary Guidance, these can be found via the links below:

For further information including resources and training opportunities visit the British Orienteering website or contact the Lead Safeguarding Officer.

Disclosure and Barring Service

Leicestershire Orienteering Club’s coaches and any officials who have unsupervised regular contact or overnight stays with children or adults at risk must have satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service checks.

Club officials who are likely to be in situations that need DBS clearance can obtain such approval by following the details on the British Orienteering web site. You can download the current The DBS Disclosure Process in England and Wales – Flow Diagram pdf here.

DBS from other organisations are acceptable if less than three years old and are of the equivalent level or higher. The Club Treasurer will reimburse the fee as long as this is agreed with the Development Co-ordinator.

Privacy of Personal Data

In 2020 Leicestershire Orienteering Club updated its policy on data protection and the rights of individuals to view and any data held about them. View or download the policy statement.

Event Safety

Risk Assessments

The organiser of any orienteering event or activity compiles a risk assessment of the event.  This covers all aspects of safety, the level and potential severity of each risk, the action to be taken to mitigate the risk and who is responsible for ensuring the action is taken.  

An example of a completed risk assessment form and a blank form can be downloaded from the ‘Guides and Forms’ page.

Stranger Danger

The risk assessment include risks from strangers, particularly in public access area. We take all reasonable steps to ensure that children will be safe from other participants and from strangers. We have had no reported incidents of children coming to any harm from strangers in public places whilst orienteering.

First Aid

There will be a trained first aider available at every event. The club’s policy is that all event organisers and coaches are first aid trained and renew their certification every 3 years. At large events a first aid team, such as St John’s Ambulance, will be in attendance.