Purpose

• To protect the interests of children or players in our sport from harassment and abuse.

• To outline the principles that guides our approach to safeguarding and protecting children or players.

• To adopt practices and outline standards of behaviour.

• To establish a safe sport culture that is understood, endorsed and put into action by staff, coaches, officials and volunteers who work for, volunteer or access our activities, courses, events and programmes.

 

Responsibilities

The PERSES Executive Committee is responsible for the development and endorsement of the PERSES’s Safe Sport Commitment. It delegates the implementation of the policy to the PERSES Executive Committee. The role of each entity in relation to the development and compliance of the PERSES’s Safe Sport Commitment is detailed in the table below.

 

Role/ Responsibility - PERSES Council members

• Promote the commitment to this policy and its expectations.

• Support policy review on an annual cycle as a minimum or at a time governed by legislation, regulations, or organisational learnings that promote a change to the policy and all relevant procedural guidelines.

• Ensure compliance to the policy via an inbuilt review mechanism.

• Ensure adequate resources are allocated to allow for the development and effective implementation of this policy.

• Develop opportunities for regular discussion at all levels to support a culture of openness and continued improvement and accountability towards safe sport

• Advocate and promote safe sport, empowering and engaging stakeholders in support of this policy and its expectations.

 

PERSES

Role/ Responsibility - Executive Committee

• Ensure all staff and volunteers understand their obligations in accordance with the Safe Sport Commitment and any relevant policy and procedural documentation. This includes induction, a minimum of one compulsory training session, and regular discussion and guidance at supervision and team meetings.

• Ensure the suite of safe sport policies is implemented and adhered to amongst relevant stakeholders.

• Ensure the development and implementation of required internal policy/work procedures and guidelines are in place to support safe sport practice in accordance with the expectations of the Safe Sport Commitment.

• Ensure adequate resources are allocated to allow effective implementation of the suite of safe sport policies.

• Ensure to support staff, coaches, officials and volunteers in a joint way with a decision to initiate any form of action to protect a child or player from harassment and abuse.

• Ensure appropriate supports, such as counselling and formal debriefing, are provided for any staff, coaches, officials and volunteers involved in a matter relating to responding to a concern for the safety and wellbeing of a child or player.

• Advocate safe sport, empowering and engaging stakeholders [define list] in support of this Statement.

• Proactively share resources and experience in the development of safe sport initiatives as they are identified.

• Develop opportunities for regular discussion at all levels to support a culture of continuous improvement and accountability towards safe sport

• Ensure that our staff, coaches, officials and volunteers are aware of the appropriate recruitment, screening and employment practice in relation to individuals with specific roles in working, coaching or volunteering with children and sepaktakraw clubs.

 

Role/ Responsibility - Staff, Coaches, Officials and Volunteers Of PERSES

• Maintain a full understanding of the commitments and expectations of this policy, as well as all other policy relevant to safe sport.

• To undertake any induction and training anticipated in this policy, in relation to policy and procedures relevant to keeping children and players safe.

• To seek guidance from PERSES if there is ever any lack of understanding in relation to the commitments and expectations as set out in this policy.

• To take action to protect children and players from all forms of harassment and abuse.

• To assist in creating and maintaining a sport safe culture and a culture of inclusion.

 

Our Commitment

PERSES is committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all children and players. Our policies and procedures seek to address risks to safe sport and to establish safe sport culture and practices. Our suite of safe sport policies is: accessible in forms that are easy to understand; have been informed by stakeholders' consultation; and are communicated to children, players, their families, our staff, coaches, officials and volunteers. We regularly review our policies, gain endorsement of changes and advise our staff, coaches, officials and volunteers of changes.

 

We are committed to safe sport

Through our Safe Sport Framework, we document our clear commitment to keeping sport safe from harassment and abuse. We communicate our commitment to all our staff, coaches, officials and volunteers and give them access to a copy of our commitment statement.

 

Our staff and volunteers know the behaviour we expect

We ensure that each person involved in our delivery of services to children and players understands their role and the behaviour we expect in relation to keeping children and players safe from harassment and abuse through application of the Code of Behaviour. We utilise clear position descriptions which clearly state relevant safe sport requirements. We have a Code of Behaviour, which is approved and endorsed from highest levels of PERSES that outlines our expectations for behaviour towards children and players. Our staff, coaches, officials and volunteers are given a copy of and have access to the Code of Behaviour. Our staff and volunteers indicate, in writing, that they have read and are committed to the Code of Behaviour.

 

We minimise the likelihood of recruiting a person who is unsuitable

We have appropriate measures in place to minimise the likelihood that we will recruit staff, coaches, officials and volunteers who are unsuitable to work with children and players of Sepaktakraw. We have recruitment procedures that ensure:

• our commitment to safe sport is communicated to potential applicants for positions

• face-to-face interviews are held which includes safe sport related questions

• two professional reference checks are undertaken

• screening checks are undertaken, including identity, declarations of disciplinary or criminal record, qualifications or any relevant checks if available.

 

Induction and training is part of our commitment

We provide all new staff and volunteers with information during their induction / training about our commitment to keep sport safe including our policy, Code of Behaviour and safe sport reporting policy. We have a process for ensuring all staff and volunteers complete safe sport training where available. We support ongoing education and training for our staff and volunteers to ensure safe sport information is provided in an ongoing way.

We ensure that our staff and volunteers have up to date information relevant to specific legislation applicable in Singapore or where they may travel to as a part of their duties.

 

We encourage the involvement of stakeholders

We involve and communicate with all stakeholders in developing a safe, inclusive and supportive environment. We provide information about:

• our commitment to safe sport and communicating of rights

• the behaviour we expect of staff and volunteers and of themselves

• our policy about responding to harassment and abuse

We have processes for encouraging two-way communication with children, players and families. We seek their feedback and have a process for responding. We respect diversity and seek to facilitate effective communication and involvement.

 

Our staff and volunteers understand their responsibility for reporting harassment and abuse

Our policy for responding to harassment and abuse is approved and endorsed from the highest level of PERSES and applies to staff, coaches, officials and volunteers. The policy states that:

• staff, coaches, officials and volunteers must immediately report harassment or abuse and any concerns with policies, practices or the behaviour of staff, coaches, officials and volunteers;

• staff, coaches, officials and volunteers must meet any legislated mandatory or other jurisdictional reporting requirements;

• staff, coaches, officials and volunteers must follow a specified process when reporting harassment or abuse including who will receive reports; and

• failure to report is serious misconduct.

Our staff, coaches, officials and volunteers are given a copy of and have access to the policy and understand the implications of the policy for their role. We document any allegation, disclosure or concern regarding harassment and abuse and monitor responses to all allegations, disclosures or concerns.

 

We maintain and improve our policies and practices

We are committed to maintaining and improving our policies, procedures and practices to keep children and players safe from harassment and abuse. We have assigned responsibility for maintaining and improving our policies and procedures to President, PERSES.

 

We monitor our staff, coaches, officials and volunteers to ensure appropriate practice and behaviour, and policies are followed. We communicate with our staff, coaches, officials and volunteers to ensure that they understand our policies and that the policies are effective in the work place. We require our staff, coaches, officials and volunteers to disclose information affecting their suitability to work in sport. We review our records, checks and policies periodically.

 

We have formal reviewed our service delivery to identify and document potential risks of harassment and abuse to children and players. We undertake formal reviews, at least annually, to identify and document potential risks of harassment and abuse to children and players. We have a procedure to undertake annual reviews, as part of our ongoing compliance with sport safe requirements.

 

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