Church—Risk Control Guidelines

This text is intended to provide only a general review of risk control measures. The recommendations must be tailored to individual circumstances and, where appropriate, an expert should be consulted for specific information.

The pastor, church officers and all other church members need to lead out in the prevention of losses. This includes accidents that might result in injury or adversely impact the assets of the Church.

Church Activities
Each location should establish risk control standards tailored to the Church’s activities. Qualified supervision and established safety standards are necessary for many common activities and sports, including basketball, softball, soccer, floor/roller hockey, roller skating/roller blades, skateboards, bicycling, BMX biking, mountain biking, exercise/weight training, playground equipment, archery and hayrides.

Hazardous activities, such as swimming, water skiing, wind surfing, surfboarding, snorkeling, canoeing, boating, jet skiing, wave runners, hiking, snow mobiling, snowboarding, snow skiing and gymnastics, require highly qualified supervision and careful adherence to safety standards.

Extra hazardous activities, because of their level of risk, require stronger safety measures and a high degree of professional supervision. In addition, these activities may be prohibited by, or excluded from, current insurance policies. Before sponsoring any of the following activities, administrators must ensure that insurance coverage for these activities is obtained and that qualified supervisors and staff ratios are available. (Observe age and other restrictions as noted.) If coverage is not available, do not participate in the activity. Extra hazardous activities include horseback riding, climbing walls, rock climbing, rappelling, rope courses, tackle football, hardball baseball, ice hockey, sea sledding, “the blob,” scuba diving, white water rafting, ATVs, go karts, dune buggies, motorcycles, rebounding equipment, including trampolines, mini-tramps and springboards, use of private aircraft, sky diving, hang gliding, kite/para-sailing, mud olympics, spelunking, war/survival games, bungee jumping, the use and sale of fireworks, and the use or possession of firearms.

Supervision standards need to be set for the number of adult supervisors to the number of youngsters, depending upon the degree of risk. For example, a high risk activity (mountain climbing) requires one adult for every four youngsters. A mild risk activity (field trip) requires one adult for every 12 youngsters. A low risk activity (classroom) requires one adult for every 25 youngsters.

Church Outings and Overnight
Trips for Youth—Overnight trips require prior approval from the Church board and signed permission as well as emergency medical consent from the parents. In the event of injury, supervisors should make repeated attempts to obtain treatment permission and are to rely upon the consent form only as a last resort.

Transportation—Drivers shall have an acceptable driving record with not more than two traffic citations and no at-fault accidents while driving any vehicle. When a driver does not meet the above driving standard, he/she shall not be assigned to or be retained for a driving position. Only mature drivers, who are at least 21years old and known to have good driving records, will be called upon to drive for Church activities.

Transporting youth in the back of open pickups or trucks is prohibited. This implies adhering to the seating capacity of the vehicle, equipped with seatbelts.

Non church-owned vehicles used in Church activities must be currently insured to comply with state laws. All vehicles are to have professional maintenance on a periodic basis.

Screening of Church Personnel—All Church staff and volunteers, especially those working with young people, need to have background checks and complete an application form.

Church Safety Officer
A church safety officer should be selected to lead out with a safety program and provide guidance for the safety committee.

Safety Committee
A church-safety committee needs to be set up to plan and review all church activities. Its assignment should include investigation and review of accidents occurring at the Church. The committee needs to conduct a safety inspection of the Church premises each year. (One or more members of the committee should perform a walk through inspection monthly.)

Safety committees are to refrain from inspecting exposures to loss where the insurance carrier requires professional expertise, such as electrical safety, boiler inspections, heating, air-conditioning and major losses undergoing investigation.

Disaster Preparedness
Each Church needs to study the high probability of disasters it faces, such as fire, flood, earthquake, bomb threat, explosion, chemical spill, etc. Written procedures should be adopted.

The following is a suggested premises inspection checklist. While Adventist Risk Management, Inc., has attempted to list exposures to loss that churches face, it is impossible to cover all of them.

Church—Premises Inspection CHECKLIST