RugbySafe

North MidLANDs RugbySafe Newsletter – September 2021

This e-mail has been sent to the people who hold the following roles on GMS: RugbySafe Lead, Honorary Secretary, Safeguarding Leads and Assistants, Coaching Co-ordinators, Minis Club Contact, and Youth Club Contact.

The RugbySafe lead recorded on GMS for Telford Hornets RFC is John Barclay.

Welcome to the North Midlands RFU RugbySafe newsletter for 2021. There’s lots to update in this e-mail so please do keep it for reference.

The biggest update is that the latest RugbySafe toolkit – “Being RugbySafe” has been launched. This is the ‘how to’ for RugbySafe, and is supported by a number of other documents, including “RugbySafe Essential Guides & Templates”.

Within the RugbySafe Toolkit is the “RugbySafe Checklist” on page 8. This should form the basis of your planning for the coming season.

To Do: Review the above documents paying particular attention to the RugybSafe checklist.

Suggested action:Arrange a meeting with your club committee to discuss how this checklist will be achieved for your club over the 21/22 season.

Mental Wellbeing

Another significant document is “Mental Wellbeing. Keeping the Rugby Community Healthy” this will apply to the whole club especially coaching and managers. This document is also supported by some excellent resources on the page Mental Health and Wellbeing including posters and access to previous webinars on Mental Health.

Of note on this page is ‘When organising face to face courses, always check that the trainer delivering the course is appropriately qualified and that the content is relevant for the attendees’, before booking a course consider what you want attendees to do within the club, and how you will support them in their role to ensure their safety as well as the safety of those they support.

Suggested action:Display the posters within your club.

Risk assessments

Being a RugbySafe club involves completing a First Aid Risk Assessment – there is a tool provided by Howdens in association with England Rugby. The risk assessment can be accessed at The England Rugby Insurance Centre.

The Proactive Health app is also referenced within the guides. As well as helping to maintain COVID secure processes for clubs, it can also act as a secure accident book.

Emergency First Aid

The guidance document Community Rugby: Pitch-side First Aud & Immediate Care Provision Guidelines – Training & Matches 2021-22 Season details the level of cover that clubs should be providing.

Attached to this e-mail is the booking process for Emergency First Aid in Rugby Union Courses. As at the time of mailing courses are closed, though if a club is unable to get the required numbers, they are able to join together with another club. The minimum course number is 8, with a maximum of 12.

The list of tutors within distance of North Midlands Clubs is as below:

The map of the educators and their locations are on the EFARU Educator Map.

NB. In order to avoid any conflict between my RugbySafe and First aid Educator roles can you please can you contact other tutors regarding running a course before contacting myself.

Activate

This is a functional exercised programme designed to reduce the number of injuries that occur within the game.

Guidance is already present for udner 13s through to adults, but in the next week Activate for children should be laucnhed.More details on Activate can be found at the Activate Page on the England Rugby wesbite. New for this season within the age grade guidance is an extra 15 minutes which has been allocated to Activate activity.

HEADCASE

All coaches and first aiders should have completed the HEADCASE online training. The extended guidance on HEADCASE, including Graduated Return to Play can be found at Headcase Extended Guidance

Please do remember that in the community game there is no return to play assessment following a head injury.

Defibrillators

I have seen at least one rugby club (fortunately not in North Midlands) with an out of date defibrillator. England Rugby and North Midlands RFU recommend engaging with the Community Heartbeat Trust around all things related to defibrillators, including clubs looking to get one for the first time.

CRISP – Community Rugby Injury Surveillance Project

Calling all clubs and schools, play your part in improving player safety and get involved in the Community Rugby Injury Surveillance Project (CRISP).

We need teams from community men’s, women’s, age grade clubs and schools to help us collect data to get a better understanding of injury risk across different playing populations and levels of the game.

To find out more watch this video. You can register your clubs interest at this link.

RugbySafe webinars

Details of the next RugbySafe webinar will be published later on in the month

Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you have any queries, then please get in touch.

Mark Goodfellow
RugbySafe Manager
North Midlands RFU

 

First Aid Course requirements link:  First Aid in Rugby Union Course

CRISP Video – Video

The RFU provides guidance and resources for all rugby activity organisers on what needs to be in place to create a fun and safe playing environment.
RFU training courses and development opportunities for coaches, match officials, teachers and other volunteers, increase awareness of the game’s key safety elements.
The RFU also engages in key safety research, with findings used to inform the game.
Two of the areas that fall under RugbySafe are HEADCASE (https://www.englandrugby.com/participation/playing/headcase) , and First Aid Provision.
Within North Midlands, Mark Goodfellow is the CB RugbySafe Lead.
Where to Start
Each club should have a RugbySafe lead. This is a ‘Golden Role’ and should be recorded on GMS. For any queries your Lub RugbySafe lead should be your first point of contact.
 
I‘m the Club RugybSafe Lead – what should I do now ?
Step2: Read, and work through the Club RugbySafe checklist at – https://keepyourbootson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Being-a-RugbySafe-Club-Checklist.pdf
Some of key documents to support this are
Minimum Operating Standards: First Aid / Immediate Care Provision 
Health Care Professionals Role Descriptors 
Pitch Side First Aid & Immediate Care Training Roles 
Management of Suspected Concussions
The rest of the guidance can be accessed at
If you have any queries around this process, then either contact  Mark at markg.nmrfu@gmail.com or contact RugbySafe at England Rugby via clubsupport@rfu.com
First Aid Booking
First Aid courses were due to resume in November, but then the country went into a second lockdown. A simplified booking process will be launched, and this will be communicated to all clubs RugbySafe Leads.
The delivery is a one day course, due to the requirements around being COVID-secure the 3 evening delivery option has been withdrawn.
Headcase
The guide to booking onto the HEADCASE online learning can be accessed here.
The latest HEADCASE online training is now available on the RFU website. There are two versions available one that is linked to GMS, and the one labelled open access.
The ‘Open Access’ version is for people who do not have a GMS account e.g. other sports groups, healthcare professionals, family members. For everyone else in a club who has a GMS account then the headcase training should be booked through that. See the attached PDF for how to book onto the course – Headcase

What is happening within North Midlands ?

Within the North Midlands RugbySafe is supported by Mark Goodfellow, CB RugbySafe Manger who reports to Clive Haley.

Our fist aid provision is great, so we don’t need to get involved

The first aid guidelines have been revised – please review them to see if you are still doing all you should – First Aid and Immediate Care Community Guidelines (FirstAid)

RugbySafe is more than just first aid though, the programme also co-ordinates factsheets that help to support clubs with all aspects of player welfare these are on subjects such as goggles, headgear, and prosthetic limbs. To view these fact sheets visit – http://www.englandrugby.com/rugbysafe/guides-and-faqs/

What do I need to know and do 

  1. Visit the RugbySafe website – http://www.englandrugby.com/rugbysafe/
  2. Familiarise yourself with the Guides and Frequently asked questions
  3. Ensure that GMS is up to date for your club (first aiders, first aid co-ordination, and RugybSafe lead)
  4. Let Mark know (markg.nmrfu@gmail.com)

If you have any questions,  then please do get in touch with Mark.

 

November 2020

 

admin
North Mids RFU