Accident and Incident Reporting 

Ideally the best way of preventing harm from occurring, is to introduce measures that prevent hazards and risks from occurring. But as is made clear in the Safety Management Policy Statement, the RYA recognises that realistically, risk can never be eliminated completely without terminating the activities.

However, the dominant root causes of most boating accidents are shortcomings in knowledge and human behaviour and these are therefore major factors in the control of risk. Initiatives to share information are invaluable for imparting knowledge and influencing behaviour.

With this in mind the RYA Safety Management System includes procedures to ensure that non-conformities, accidents and hazardous situations are reported, analysed and shared with the objective of improving safety. As a result the RYA has established a number of triggers for reporting and recording accidents and incidents which are mandatory in the case of RYA organised events. However, the RYA is keen to hear from clubs and individuals as well using the guidance below:-

The triggers for reporting accidents and incidents flowchart is available in the download area.