Putting this into practice

It is extremely important that anyone who has been designated as the leader in charge fully understands their responsibilities. There should be no assumption that other adults are in charge of the safety overview. The leader in charge is responsible for overseeing the activity and all adults and young people. This includes responsibility for registers, headcounts, allocation of roles to specific adults and checking they are aware of their specific responsibilities. The best way of doing this is for all adults involved in the activity to agree which one of them will undertake this function.

Checks could include a discussion about risk assessments, selecting who will give guidance and instructions to young people and when and where head counts will be conducted. The leader in charge should also actively participate by keeping an overview of any activity.