Major events and disasters such as bushfires, floods, catastrophic accidents and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic can strike without little warning.
Sport’s continuity is key to its financial wellbeing. Sport is also a necessary service to the community and effectively operates in the public interest.
State Sporting Organisations (SSOs) including State Sporting Organisations for people with a Disability (SSODs) must act to protect the continuity of their operations.
Who is responsible?
The Directors of Boards or Committees of Management (COM), board secretaries, officers, and committee members of SSOs need to be aware of their legal obligations and commitment to quality and safety are critical in the current and post- COVID-19 sporting environment.
Resources
Each of the resources below contains background information on some of the learnings to date from the COVID-19 pandemic. All boards and Committee of Management of SSOs operate differently and vary in size and structure, as such the OoS strongly encourages sport boards to apply the resources in their own particular sport business context and to reflect their own particular needs.
This resource policy has been designed to assist SSOs to develop a specific disaster response to future unforeseeable events aligning with the SSOs overall risk management framework.
This resource is designed to support SSOs in responding to disaster events and assessing their impacts—particularly long-term—on strategic objectives and organisational resilience. SSOs are encouraged to use this resource to manage risk during crises and to adopt a whole-of-organisation approach by promoting its use among affiliates and clubs.
This resource has been designed to assist SSOs to develop an organisational Recovery Plan (RP) and a Business Continuity Plan (BCP).
The RP will seek to explain how to develop and implement a recovery plan for the organisation. The main goal of a BCP is to protect personnel and assets, both during and after an emergency.
The resource assists SSOs to implement a process to develop, test and update either their current business continuity plan or develop one.
These resources have been developed specifically for the sport sector. While they are governance documents and your board holds ultimate responsibility for their use, they are also suitable for volunteers and staff across your organisation.
Disclaimer
As with any legal documents, this does not replace obtaining legal advice on each sport’s specific requirements and it is recommended you do so.
The information provided is for your information only. The authors and the NSW Office of Sport accept no responsibility for the accuracy of the information or your reliance upon it.