4.3 Risk assessment as a preventative tool

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Several sheets of official-looking paper are at the centre. There are lines of text and a series of tick marks. Around this are eight characters representing people involved in sports, along with some green ticks and amber question marks.

A safeguarding risk assessment helps you to identify and introduce arrangements needed to reduce the chances of abuse occurring. They are an important preventative tool.

The person who completes a risk assessment needs in-depth knowledge of:

• The local context and the organisation.
• The specific activity or activities.
• The potential safeguarding risks that can arise within sport.

A safeguarding risk assessment should not be a one-time activity. Risk assessment is an ongoing process that helps to:

• Identify ways or circumstances in which children and others may be abused.
• Develop a plan to remove or reduce the risk.
• Monitor the mitigation of these risks (ideally) until they are eliminated.

Organisational risk assessments should be reviewed and updated regularly (at least once a year), whereas activity level risk assessments should be completed before each activity or event and then reassessed afterwards for learning.