Health and Safety Policy

Swim Stars swimming school are committed to providing a safe environment for its Staff and customers. Swim Stars swimming school recognise that Health and safety is the main priority and everyone who is part of the school has a responsibly for their own health and safety and others.

To ensure Health and safety standards are met we work closely with our pool operators to follow all criteria provided for the swim school to operate.

Anyone who does not follow procedures and policies relating to the safe running of the swim school will be asked to leave and their contract will be terminated.

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Objectives

·        To ensure ALL Health and Safety procedures are followed by working closely with our pool operators, monitoring and reviewing policy, regular effective planning in implementing Health and Safety procedure.

·        Train all staff in every aspect of Health and safety in their job role and ensure all procedures are followed.

·        Issue NOP and EAP of each operator to all staff.

·        Conduct a Risk assessment of each venue annually and review when necessary.

·        Record all accidents and Incident and monitor to aid accident prevention and ensure no trends appear.

·        Each venue to have a supervisor in the absence of the owner to ensure all health and safety procedures are being followed.

·        To maintain all equipment provided by Swim Stars Swimming School and ensure all operator equipment is present before sessions commence.

·        Ensure all emergency procedures are followed and trained to staff

·        Where necessary consult outside advice in order to deliver the latest health and safety policies and procedures to staff and Customers.

·        Ensure all staff training is up to date and valid.

·        Provide a child protection policy in line with Swim Britain wavepower .2020-2023

·        Ensure all staff and customers are aware Health and safety is everyone’s responsibility to ensure Health and Safety standards are met at all times.

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Code Of Conduct

§ To respect the rights, dignity and worth of every member of staff, Child and anyone associated with the swim school. To treat everyone equally and never discriminate on any grounds.

§ To adhere to all policies and procedures set out by Swim Stars Swimming School

§ Follow pool operators NOP and EAP

§ To provide safe supervision of your child when swimming as far as possible within the limits of our control.

§ To treat all information of a personal nature about individuals as confidential.

§ To take all reasonable steps to establish a safe working environment.

§ To ensure that all teaching is appropriate for the age, ability and experience of the individual.

§ To maintain our teaching, life-saving qualifications and professional development to ensure your child is with safe and experienced teachers, offering the best available knowledge.

§ To be concerned primarily with the well-being, health and future of the individual swimmer and only secondarily with their performance.

§ To carry out General Duties as specified in the Health and Safety procedures

§ To respect the swimmers’ rights, wishes and feelings. To take all reasonable practical steps to protect the children from harm, discrimination or degrading treatment.

§ To attend child protection training every three years to keep up to date with new policies

§ To encourage and guide swimmers to accept responsibility for their own behaviour and performance.

§ To always be publicly open when working with children. We will avoid situations where we as teachers and individual swimmers are completely unobserved.

§ That any manual support of the child will be provided openly.

§ To encourage an open environment i.e. no secrets.

§ To consistently display high standards of behaviour and appearance.

§ To develop an appropriate working relationship with swimmers based on mutual trust and respect.

§ To never exert undue influence to obtain personal benefit or reward.

§ To ensure any suspicions and allegations of safeguarding issues will be taken seriously, responded to swiftly and appropriately.

§ To commence work in correct uniform and have a whistle to hand.

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PHOTOGRAPHY POLICY
Incorporating Swim England’s relevant policy, as set out
in Wavepower 2020-2023
1 Objectives
1.1 This policy applies to all photographs taken on film or digital camera (including mobile 
phones, tablets, laptops etc.) and all moving pictures including video recordings (and video 
streaming) etc.
1.2 The terms ‘child’ or ‘children’ include anyone under the age of 18 years.
1.3 This policy has been written with reference to the Swim England guidelines on
Photography and the use of mobile phones.
1.4 The aims of this policy are to avoid three potential sources of child abuse:
• The use, adaptation or copying of images for child abuse, either on the
internet or in print.
• The possible identification of a child when an image is accompanied by significant
personal information which, could lead to the child being groomed.
• The identification and location of children where there are safeguarding
concerns.
2 Policy
2.1 In addition to this policy, it is recognised that most swimming pool operators will have
their own procedures regarding the use of equipment that can take a photograph or 
moving image. Parents/ guardians are asked to respect the site procedures.
2.2 The pool providers where Swim Stars Swimming School run swimming lessons, have stipulated that no 
photography or filming is permitted, unless by a professional photographer and under the 
guidelines stated in this document. Photographs taken by parents/guardians are 
prohibited as they may indirectly include other swimmers who have expressly forbidden 
having their picture taken. For the avoidance of doubt, there is a ‘No photography or 
filming’ rule at these pools.

2.3 The publishing of a photograph of a swimmer under the age of 18 either on a
noticeboard, published article, Swim Stars Swimming School website, social networking sites 
e.g. Facebook; Twitter; Instagram; Snapchat etc and the video recording 
(including videostreaming) of a lesson, competition or event should only be done with 
parental consent and in line with Swim England guidelines.
2.4 A parent or guardian has the right to refuse to have their children photographed. Any
photo that may go to press or on a noticeboard, be it through the swim school or official 
photographer, should have received parental consent before publishing/ displaying the 
photo, preferably in writing.
2.5 Where Swim Stars  has an official photographer present, all parents attending should be 
made aware of this. If photos are to be published anywhere, the individual parent should 
be given the opportunity to withhold their consent. Their right to do so will be specifically
drawn to their attention.
2.6 All photographs must observe generally accepted standards of decency in
particular:
• Action shots should be a celebration of the sporting activity and not a
sexualised image in a sporting context.
• Action shots should not be taken or retained where the photograph reveals atorn
or displaced swimming costume.
• Poolside shots of children should be above the waist only and children should at least 
be wearing tops and not just be in their swimming costume. 
or tracksuit tops/ hoodies etc.). Full length tracksuit shots are permitted.
• Photographs should not be taken from behind swimming blocks at the start of a race 
or exhibit young swimmers climbing in and out of the swimming pool.
2.7 Published photographs may identify a swimmer by first name but should not state the 
swimmer’s place of residence or school attended.
3 The Official Photographer
3.1 The official photographer’s role is to take appropriate photos that celebrate and
promote swimming.
3.2 Anyone in this role should be Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checked and when 
using a self-employed photographer, Swim England recommends that Swim stars ask to
see proof that the photographer has a current DBS check and references from other
service users.
3.3 When taking any images, the photographer should:
• Focus on the activity rather than the individual child.
• Include groups of children rather than individuals, if possible.
• Ensure all those featured are appropriately dressed.
• Represent the broad range of children participating in sports.
• Be screened to ensure their suitability of working with children and then
provide guidance for them in the swim school’s child safeguarding policies and
procedures.
• Receive clear instructions, preferably in writing, from Swim Stars at an early
stage.
4 Good practice guidance on filming children during swim sessions
4.1 Any filming must be justified by the swim school as to why the film has been made (e.g. 
to assist in swimming stroke development)
4.2 Assuming filming is justified, written consent is required from the parents of the children 
with an invitation to the parents to attend the videoing and subsequently view the video. 
After filming, unless it can be justified as to why the footage is to be kept, it should be
destroyed once it has served its purpose.
4.3 Filming should cease and/or the footage destroyed should any concerns be raised or if
consent is withdrawn.
5 Portable devices, including mobile phones, tablets etc.
5.1 We remind members that any photos taken should fall within the Swim England 
guidelines and that if mobile phones, cameras, laptops or other recording devices are 
taken into changing rooms, they must not be used.