With our hot weather states heading to the end of their seasons and our cold weather states getting ready to start their seasons, it’s a great time to check your goal posts. This is one of the biggest areas where we need to control risk. Goal post injuries can be severe and they can be fatal. Our job is to protect our players. This is number one, but we also need to control our insurance costs and goal post injuries rank as some of our highest claims.
It all comes down to education – educating your coaches, your parents, your administrators and your parents to create a culture of goal safety. Here are some quick points you want to stress:
- Educate that goals should be inspected before every game and practice. If they are not properly anchored or if they are unsafe in any way, don’t start a game until the problem has been fixed and don’t allow players into the area during a practice.
- Players should never be asked to move a goal.
- Anchor goals properly – learn how at www.cpsc.gov.
- Buy goals from a manufacturer who has product liability.
- Put warning labels on all goals (available for free from Kwik Goal and other sites on the web).
Emergency Vehicle Access
At a recent tournament within our Region, emergency responders were called for an on-field injury. When they arrived, they found that the Parks and Rec Department had locked the only gate large enough for an emergency vehicle to enter the area. The gate was closed and locked in an effort to control parking, but nobody from the tournament or the Parks Department had realized the consequences of the action.The paramedics had a long walk to the injured player and the player had to be wheeled to the ambulance through the crowd.
Another problem that needs to be addressed for emergency access is controlling parking along access to the fields. If cars park on both sides of a narrow road in a complex, it is possible that there will not be enough space to accommodate a large emergency vehicle.
Have a Question or Problem?
We have a committee of Region members who have expertise in various areas of Risk Management so if you have a question, just give me a call (520-440-5259) or send an email (patdunham@aol.com). If we don’t have an answer within the Region, we’ll ask the National Risk Management Committee or USYSA to give us their opinion.
Thanks for helping keep our players safe!
Pat Dunham, Region IV Risk Management
(520) 440-5259