Duty of Care — Officials

As a competition organiser you are responsible for the duty of care for all on your site, including Officials.

Officials are an integral part of an athletics competition, and competitions can often be long days for them.

It is important that Officials have an enjoyable experience at the event: firstly so they will come back and officiate for you again, and secondly so they agree to officiate at other events. Without Officials licensed events could not take place.

Please use the guidance below to help you provide the best experience possible for the Officials appointed at your event.

Pre-Event

Ensure that you communicate with your officials and that they have the necessary information for your event. Details may include the following:

• Venue address, including sat-nav postcode
• Parking arrangements, including car parking pass, where appropriate
• Officials’ room location and report time
• List of chief judges and contact details
• Timetable
• Lunch and refreshment arrangements
• Officials’ attire to be worn or what uniform will be provided (if applicable)

New Officials

If you have someone attending your event who is new to Officiating, ensure that:

• There will be an experienced official or event organiser to ‘meet and greet’ all officials – especially new officials who arrive on site
• Meet and Greet individuals’ name and mobile number is provided to officials
• Liaise with your Chief Officials and identify mentor(s) for new officials to shadow and provide support to
• It can be daunting coming to an event alone, so speak to the new Officials throughout the day and make them feel welcome.

Refreshments

• Ideally Officials should be provided lunch and refreshments at your event, especially if the event is over 2 hours long and during the day
• If this is not possible, let the officials know in advance and sign post them to alternative options to purchase food

Medical

• Officials may have medical conditions which, if something untoward were to happen could impact on the competition, but more importantly could impact on the health of that Official at the competition.
• If Officials have any medical conditions that may impact on their officiating/event, politely ask Officials to make contact with the event organiser so appropriate arrangements can be put in place e.g. providing a chair for an Official should they get tired throughout the day.
• It must be noted that asking for this information is not to exclude these Officials, but merely to be able to support Officials in the best way possible at your event, thus enhancing the experience for them.

A simple example form can be viewed below:

Duty of care post-event

It is good practice to thank all the officials for their hard work and commitment provided for the event. We encourage all event organisers to send a courtesy thank you message to all officials within the next few days after their event

Ask officials for any feedback (both positive and otherwise) and where possible look to identify what suggestions can be put in place for future events.

• Image: Aleksandra Szmigiel