Clubs play a major role in helping the sport improve safety by reviewing and reporting on incidents. 

When an incident happens, and it may tragically result in the loss of life, the entire sport needs to understand what happened and how the risk of this happening again can be mitigated. This relies on accurate details so parties in the sport can make properly informed decisions. 

This is a fundamental step in risk management. Every club and class should be monitoring the risks and update their Risk Management plans if something changes, or if there is an incident. Once this is done, it is equally essential to communicate with competitors and race management. 

Regardless of this being a basic of risk management, World Sailing have, in recent years, introduced a Regulation requiring that safety incidents be reported. This is Regulation 16, and it applies to national authorities and clubs alike. 

There are two steps. The first is simply to report the incident on World Sailing’s incident reporting portal here. This is just a matter of filling in a form and won’t take long. The second is if World Sailing requests further investigation into any incident which results in a fatality or serious injury. Sadly, this happens from time to time and its confronting. However, it’s also what informs improvements to safety. 

This has happened in Australia just recently. Tragically, there was loss of life on Sydney Harbour in early December and again in the Rolex Sydney Hobart in late December. Each of the incidents were reported to World Sailing, and credit is due to the clubs involved. Full reviews are being done. The SASC and RANSA have led with Australian Sailing on the Sydney Harbour Friday Twilight Inquiry, and the CYCA on the 2024 RSHYR Incident Review with each expected to be available in mid-2025. 

Clubs faced with the difficult circumstances of having to report and review incidents have access to support and resources. This can start with a call to Australian Sailing. 

Guidelines for Independent Incident Reporting are here.
To read major incident reports, click here. 

By Glen Stanaway.