Safeguarding and Welfare

Everyone has a shared responsibility for safeguarding and creating safe, enjoyable environments in Orienteering whether as an Orienteer, parent, coach, club official or spectator. At our club we want you to feel safe and welcome and 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. Our club is committed to the principles of Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults and our Club Welfare Officer is always there if you need any support or would like any advice. Further information is available on British Orienteering’s Safeguarding page

Reporting a concern or incident

All reports are taken seriously and dealt with in a sensitive manner. Should you wish to report a concern or incident Please contact either:

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.

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 several forms on its website that can be used to make immediate reports to the Lead Safeguarding Officer. The Quick contact 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 from British Orienteering

If you complete one of these forms, it will then need to be emailed to either your 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, British Orienteering have a short video to help you.

Safeguarding Policies

As a club, we support and follow British Orienteering’s two safeguarding policies, these can be found via links on the British Orienteering website as below:

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

Child Safeguarding Policy

When you bring your children orienteering we will help you to ensure their welfare and safety by ensuring that:

  • The people who run the sport are safe to be with.
  • We take all reasonable steps to ensure that your children will be safe from other participants and strangers.
  • The challenges set will be manageable so that your children are able to find their way around the course.
  • The ground they cross will not be too tough for their experience/strength
  • They are not likely to be injured but if they are there are people and procedures in place to look after them.
  • Organisers of events and activities carry out risk assessments and have procedures for managing safety in public places.
  • We have had no reported incidents of children coming to any harm from strangers in public places whilst orienteering.
  • Planners of courses and activities follow rules and guidelines to provide courses or activities with different levels of challenge to meet different needs.
  • We keep track of every individual at every event or activity to ensure that they are accounted for.
  • We will give you information so that you understand the level of challenge on courses offered.
  • We expect you to follow our guidelines about which course is appropriate for you or your children to complete. In order to meet our safeguarding and insurance responsibilities, we may refuse to let you do a course if we consider you are taking undue risk.
  • Officials organising events and activities have procedures for finding and looking after lost children and for providing first aid.
  • Your children’s individual needs will be taken care of as far as possible within the nature of the sport.
  • At events, we will explain what physical and navigational skills are needed to complete a course and how we can help with an individual need.
  • At activities led by coaches if you tell us about any special needs we will tell you what adaptations can be made to make our activities accessible.