Major Incident Plan

A major incident is an event where there is a serious injury or loss of life or a serious risk of harm to an individual or group (e.g. a person missing on the water, lightning storm) or there is substantial damage to property and/or the environment.

The person in charge of safety (PIC) is as follows:

• Racing Safety Co-ordinator via radio channel 47, call sign 'Bosham rescue'
• Training Senior Instructor via radio channel 47, call sign 'Bosham training'
• Other times Club office staff via phone 01243 572341

1. Inform PIC at the earliest possible moment.

2. First patrol boat at the scene to count heads, prioritise people over property, recover casualty if safe to do so and provide first aid.

3. Radio traffic to be kept at minimum.

4. During racing:

• Safety Co-ordinator to ensure Race Officer is aware of and updated about incident,
• Safety Co-ordinator to distribute available patrol boats to cover ongoing racing,
• Race Officer responsible for decision to abandon racing.

5. If external assistance is required after initial assessment of casualty and first aid, PIC to contact Chichester Harbour Patrol (ch14).

6. Harbour Patrol MUST be informed of high-speed evacuation of casualty.

7. Harbour Patrol may call emergency services if required and advise suitable emergency rendezvous point. This may not necessarily be Bosham Quay.

8. Casualties to be transported as directed by PIC.

9. Office to contact next-of-kin. NOTE: in the case of a fatality the police will inform the next-of-kin.

10. Hand-over to emergency services with name, contact details, next of kin (if known).

11. Sailing Manager to complete an incident report as soon as possible. RYA to be informed of all serious incidents. MAIB to be informed if required.

12. PIC to complete entry in accident book.

13. Flag Officer to follow up with next-of-kin.

14. Consideration to be given to welfare of all involved and potential media interest. No statements to be made to media without the express authorisation of a Flag Officer.

Reviewed and updated Jan 2024

Last updated 12:05 on 14 March 2024