Experience of, and ideally formally qualified in, outdoor-related health and safety, first aid, walking, climbing and mountaineering best practices
Word processing application (e.g. free LibreOffice Writer), with associated skills
Role Description
Promote and encourage the safe enjoyment of walking, climbing and mountaineering. Provide members with guidance and support on best practices in outdoor environments, at every opportunity, and help the group do as much as possible to encourage and inspire our members to grow their skills and leadership confidence
Act as a personal point of contact for any members of the group with any safety or training enquiries, sent to the training@ipswichoutdoor.org email address and at regular social meetings where possible. Help members investigate appropriate best practices, if not already known and provide up to date training materials wherever appropriate
Monitor event and trip organisers posts to the IOG mailing list and check them for appropriate safety advice. Alert the event organiser of any additional information they may wish to share with participants. For example, if organising a cycle ride that might be delayed into darkness, the organiser should include a reminder that all participants should have reflective clothing and suitable lights, as well as a spare inner tube and pump. If a walk is being arranged with different options of length, will the participants have everything they need to get back to the start when leaving the event organiser?
Ensure the IOG Route Plan, Event Attendance Register, Risk Assessment Template and Accident Report form documents are available from the IOG website and promote the use of them where appropriate, particularly when walking in mountains. Ensure that all trip organisers take along physical copies of these documents, as needed
Arrange an appropriate outdoor-customised local first aid course for the group (ideally once a year but poll the membership at least annually to confirm interest), such as the two-day Outdoor & Wild Country First Aid Training course provided in the past for the group by RCR Services. Agree with the Treasurer how much the group can subsidise the course of this course, then promote it to the membership. Make it clear that any member who is interested in participating in the course but who may struggle even with the subsidised cost, should get in touch, regardless. Work with the Treasurer to ensure that as many members as possible take the course. Once the course has been offered to the group membership, if there are still spaces left offer the chance to attend to any others who may be interested outside the group.
First aid courses like the one above are also regularly run by the same training companies locally – request a list of suitable public course dates throughout the year and ensure that they are passed on to the Programme Editor. Promote the same, public courses to the membership and work with the Treasurer to ensure that the group subsidises any member who goes on the course
Arrange as often as seems appropriate after polling the membership at least annually, access to walking and hiking group leadership courses, such as Lowland Leader, Hill and Moorland Leader or Mountain Leader courses provided through Mountain Training or similar organisations. These courses might be arranged specifically for the group, locally, or it may involve co-ordinating a group of IOG members to travel to a specific course held further afield, whichever is most appropriate. As with the first aid course, work with the Treasurer to ensure that any such courses are made available to the widest possible number of people
Work with the Internet Officer and hold responsibility for all training, health and safety content made available through the IOG website. Ensure these materials are kept up to date and link out to all relevant UK organisations, so the membership has clear guidance on where to easily find relevant information. Be careful that such information is made available permanently online and not emailed around the group as a one-off and then missed by new members who join later
Work with the Chair and make use of the monthly social meetings to distribute useful health & safety and training information to the group, or arrange separate evenings, if necessary to promote best practice advice to the group, from beginner to expert. Examples include How To Lead a Walk or Kit Discussion/Recommendation evenings – ask and involve any other speakers or presenters who may be relevant
Organise basic skills and training events for the IOG programme, such as the annual Map Reading Day event popularised by Bob Hannan which covers basic map and compass training, including Setting the Map, Micro Navigation, Bearings, Pacing, Leap Frogging, Finding things that are ON the map and Finding things that are NOT on the map! Try to encourage continued use of such skills by promoting events on the programme like orienteering, making use of other group members or external organisations like the Suffolk Orienteering Club, where possible
Build and maintain relationships with organisations that can help the group’s first aid, health & safety and training goals. Record useful contacts in the IOG Training Contacts document
Provide the Chair with general statistics (no personally identifiable data) about frequency and types of accidents that have occurred so they can be tracked over time, in good time before the AGM
At committee meetings, contribute to items and discussions from a general health & safety perspective to try to reduce the risk of accidents across the group
Maintain: – IOG Route Plan document – IOG Event Attendance Register document – IOG Risk Assessment Template document – IOG Accident Report Form document – IOG Accident Reports for a year, before destroying them (contains personal data) – IOG Training Contacts document, a list of people, organisations and web links to useful contacts that may be able to offer training opportunities the group may be interested in
Attend as many IOG committee meetings as possible through the year, and represent members interests on the committee. Whilst on the committee, lead by example and encourage a positive, healthy group dynamic. Call out and/or report back any inappropriate behaviour on IOG events.
Arrange and lead a handover meeting with the successor, when stepping down from the role
