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Health, Safety and Welfare
Safety precautions for participants are in principle no different from any other summer camp, except that it’s a larger scale event of course and therefore some additional measures are necessary. Safety guidance provided by HSE and the Scout Association has been followed has been followed by the team organising Chamboree. This following information is intended to remind Leaders of the key requirements to protect everybody on site and minimise the risk of accidents and incidents.
What are the key hazards at Chamboree that YOU need to be aware of?
The key hazards at Chamboree and the actions that have/ need to be taken are:
1) Fire
- Ensure that tents are sufficiently separated to reduce the risk of fire spread
- Have appropriate fire extinguishing media available (fire points are provided in each sub camp but you should also have precautions on your camp, particularly in the cooking area
- No petrol generators are permitted in camping areas
- No naked lights should be permitted in tents
- Smoking is only permitted in designated areas
- Cookers should be at least one metre away from tent walls
- You should not have to pass a cooker to escape from a tent
- A dedicated BBQ area is situated on each sub camp
2) Injuries during Activities
- All activities are conducted in accordance with POR’s and associated guidance
- First aid facilities are provided (see below)
3) Food poisoning
- Ensure you follow the precautions listed in FS 320004 (available by email)
- Order key perishable food from the information point at Chamboree
- Each sub camp has a freezer for freezing ice packs for use in cool boxes etc. No food storage is permitted in these freezers
4) Ill health at camp
Cheshire Scouts will be following the guide lines suggested by UK Scout Headquarters (Item code FS120626 Sep/01 Edition No.1.) to help stop the spread of E-coli 0157 and viral gastro-enteritis infection. To be a risk the E-coli 0157 has to be swallowed from contact with hands, contaminated food or water. Even tiny amounts of E-coli 0157 can be a severe risk. However these risks can be greatly reduced by taking simple precautions. To this aim the livestock will be removed from the camping area a minimum of three weeks before Chamboree and we ask you to please help by observing the following precautions.
- Remove all visible droppings from your camping area
- Always wash hands before preparing food, cooking, eating, drinking, smoking i.e. use soap, clean towels and hot water
- All participants SHOULD take care to wash your hands thoroughly after visiting the toilet, before every meal and after they leave each activity Zone.
- Follow the guidelines given in FS 120626 (available by email)
- Do not bring anybody to site who has an infection disease
- Don’t forget sun protection cream and hats
- If the weather is hot ensure that everyone drinks lots of water
5) Vehicles on site
- Wherever possible vehicles and people are segregated
- Cars are not permitted on the campsite and must stay in the car park area
- Service and delivery vehicles are restricted to 10 mph maximum and must use their hazard warning lights
6) Ponds
- There are a number of ponds on site but these are fenced off and out of bounds to all camp participants
7) Electrocution
- All fixed Chamboree electrical supplies and generators are inspected by a competent electrician and fitted with RCD protection
- Portable electrical equipment must be PAT tested and fitted with an inspection label, a PAT testing service is available via site services but there may a delay in doing this. If your electrical equipment failed an on site PAT test what would you do then?
8) Child protection issues
- There will be some adults at Chamboree who have not undergone CRB Checks. If adults do not have a CRB number on their ID badge they are not allowed unsupervised access to children
- All adults must respect the “Young People First” code of practice (yellow card) copies are available in the Admin centre. All Child Protection issues or incidents must be reported to the Camp Chief through the communications centre
9) Knives
- Knives must not be carried or worn, but a folding pocket-knife with a blade less than 5 cm in length may be permitted as equipment. Any knife that is regarded as not “permitted equipment” by Chamboree organisers will be confiscated.
10) Alcohol and drug abuse
- Under 18’s must not consume alcohol on Chamboree (from any source) Adults, 18 and over, are welcome to use the licensed bar in the food court area each evening which will also serve a range of soft drinks plus tea/coffee and “supper snacks”.
- Any individual displaying signs of alcohol abuse or behaving in an anti-social manner may be excluded from the site. The Camp Chief and the Executive Team will not hesitate to close the bar facility or order the removal of individuals if this facility is abused.
- Chamboree is an “illegal drug free” zone anybody found using drugs will be removed from site and in the case of campers under the age of 18, parents will be called to collect offenders. Anybody selling or distributing illegal substances will be reported to the Police. There are no exceptions – you have been warned.
11) Smoking
- As well as the obvious risk of fire smoking poses a significant health risk Participants under the age of 18 may not smoke on Chamboree (this is UK Law).
- Smoking is only permitted in designated areas which are “Exclusion zones” for under 18’s
What are the first aid provisions on site?
- Each Group should have their own first aider – further assistance can be summoned via Subcamp HQ or Activity Base HQ from the central first aid point with qualified first aiders available 24 hrs per day. The first aiders will go to the sub-camp/ activity area if required. If necessary patients will be sent to minor injury units or an emergency hospital as required
- If a young person has to go to a minor injury unit or hospital it is expected that they will be accompanied by a group leader/ helper
- For groups with transport facilities it will be helpful if the patient is taken by the group transport if minor injury unit treatment is required. If a group is unable to provide transport then it will be provided
What if there is a serious accident or incident on site?
- Chamboree has two emergency plans, one for injuries and incidents involving a small number of people and one for major incidents where large numbers where public emergency facilities and the local authority may be involved.
- Both Chamboree emergency plans involve a Chamboree duty manager acting as Incident Controller and reacting with a range of resources to any emergency
- These emergency plans are initiated automatically by our Control Centre if any incident or potentially serious injury is notified
How do I get help in an emergency?
- The first point of call should always be your sub camp HQ, activity base, or any site facility such as the food court/ information point etc. These are all equipped with telephones with the emergency number prominently displayed. This will link to our Communication Centre (occupied 24 hours/ day) and they will initiate the emergency plan and contact the public emergency services if required.
- You should not normally call the public emergency services directly by your mobile as our emergency plan will probably offer faster aid to you, you may not be able to give an exact location and there will be delays if they arrive on site and our site team are not available to escort them to the patient/ problem area - however in exceptional circumstances (e.g. a life and death situation) if you use the 999 service directly you should back this up by immediately using our site telephones/ radios to contact our Communication Centre so that they can arrange for further assistance and for the public emergency services to be met at the main gate
- The Information Point and Communications Centre at Chamboree can contact NHS Direct, the out of hours GP service and the emergency dental service for advice and assistance. They also have locations/ maps/ telephone numbers for Local GP’s/ pharmacies/ dentists/ minor injury units/ NHS walk in centres/ Opticians/ Dentists etc
- The ambulance service will determine which emergency hospital a patient is taken to, but again the Communications Centre has telephone numbers and maps
What Do I need to do before I get to Chamboree?
- Ensure that you have appointed a In Touch or Home Contact and that they are briefed on their responsibilities
- The emergency contact number for Chamboree is 0709 288 060
- Ensure you carry out risk assessments for activities that you are responsible for, The Scout Association website www.scouts.org.uk can provide much additional data via its search facility
- Give a safety briefing to all; your Leaders and helpers
What YOU need to include in a safety briefing?
- Safety and fire precautions to be used on your camp
- What to do in the event of an accident
- The conclusions of any risk assessment that you have carried out
- Key points from the contents of this guidance, particularly about avoidance of ill health
- The need to wear seat belt, where fitted, on coaches and buses to the off- site activity centres
- The need to listen to, and follow, the safety briefing at many of the activities
- The need to keep away from ‘out of bounds’ area such as pond at the main campsite, hazardous areas downrange of shooting and archery activities, areas around generators etc
- Horseplay/ damage in toilet and shower areas will not be tolerated
- If participants feel unwell they must report it to a leader without delay.
What do I need to do whilst at Chamboree?
- Report all injuries and incidents to the Scouter in charge of an activity or your sub camp leader
- Report anything you consider to be unsafe to your sub camp leader, the Scouter in charge of an activity, the Information Point or the Communications Centre
- If you consider that appropriate action is not being taken to immediately improve safety then contact the Communications Centre and our duty manager will investigate
Where can I get further information?
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