RM1 - Mandate and Scope of Aquatic Risk Management

Purpose

To ensure the legal, regulatory and statutory obligations are adhered to in relation to risk of aquatic environments by the owner or operator of an aquatic facility.

Description

The owner or operator of an aquatic facility should develop, implement, monitor and continually improve a risk management framework that includes each aquatic environment within their area of responsibility.

The framework should be consistent with the AS/NZS ISO 31000:2018 Risk management- Principles and Guidelines and the Guidelines for Safe Pool Operations - Aquatic Risk Management and any of their amendments.

In circumstances where the Aquatic Facility is either not one of the primary purposes of the facility (i.e. Caravan Park, Hotel, Residential Pools) or is part of a larger group of facilities (i.e. Institute of Sport), the risk framework for the aquatic environments may be incorporated as part of a broader risk management framework for the organisation/facility.

Legal and Regulatory Compliance

The owner or operator of an aquatic facility should understand the legal and regulatory requirements, their relationship and how they influence and/or must be adhered to within the application of a risk management framework for the aquatic facility.

Compliance is defined as ‘adhering to the requirements of laws, industry and organisational standards and codes, principles of good governance and accepted community and ethical standards’. The context for compliance depends on your organisations legal and regulatory obligations, including those created by case law.

Various laws, regulations and policies create an obligation for the owner or operator of an aquatic facility to manage risk at aquatic facilities. A list of known legislative obligations that drive the management of risk at aquatic facilities is identified within the References and Bibliography section of the Guidelines for Safe Pool Operations and within individual guidelines.

Organisations should individually identify the legislative and policy requirements that they are required to comply with and should document how these obligations are met and by whom within the Risk Management Framework (See Appendix 4 RLSSA Legal and Regulatory Compliance Register (Form).

Context of an Aquatic Risk Framework

The context of an aquatic risk management framework should take into account the internal and external aspects of the Aquatic facility including but not limited to:

1. The frameworks, legislation, policies, procedures, contractual arrangement and rules that have an influence on the aquatic facility
2. The political, cultural and economic influences
3. Drivers and trends that have an impact on the aquatic facility locally through to nationally
4. The relationships, values and perceptions of internal and external stakeholders
5. The natural and physical elements of the aquatic facility (i.e. water, structures, swimming pools, plant, chemicals, equipment, facilities)
6. The owner or operators governance and structures
7. The owner or operators capabilities in terms of knowledge, skills and resources
8. The owner or operators staffing, roles and responsibilities

Integration of an Aquatic Risk Framework

The owner or operator of the aquatic facility should ensure that the risk management framework is embedded into the organisational processes and plans of the aquatic facility. Such plans may include:

• Your organisations strategic plan
• Whole-of-organisation functional plans, such as those for human resource management, asset management, financial management and risk management
• Whole-of-organisation activity plans, such as those for procurement, communications, information management, work health and safety, business continuity and security
• Divisional business plans, such as regional service delivery plans
• Project plans
• Individual work plans

Document Control

The risk management framework should be covered by document control and records management procedures including at a minimum:

1. Identification of the aquatic facility/s to which it applies
2. Identification of those who developed and authorised it including any dates and signatures
3. Descriptions of the context of the aquatic facility
4. A record of the extent of the distribution of the risk management framework including specific plans for people with disabilities
5. The date of issue or amendments on each page
6. The validity period and when it was last reviewed
7. Reference to or attachments of insurance policies which identify the level of indemnity for each member of the organisation
8. A description of the consultation with workers that:
   • Occurred in the preparation of the Risk Management Framework and/or;
   • Will occur in the preparation of the Risk Management Framework;
9. The obligation to periodically review and continually improve the framework following a major accident event

References

• AS/NZS ISO 31000:2018 Risk management- Principles and Guidelines