Safety culture is the outcome of how the club’s committee, boat owners, race officials and crews think and act.

At the 2019 Offshore Clubs Safety Conference attendees identified culture on boats and in clubs as the biggest safety challenge in sailing. What to do about it begins with leadership and setting an example.

Safety culture in a club starts with the commodore, and on board a boat with the skipper, typically the owner. Their decisions and actions set the safety standard. Their commitment influences others to follow the same way.

Skippers do carry a huge amount of responsibility and will set the standard for the boat. Is the safety equipment required by the Special Regulations in good order? Do they have procedures for man overboard and reefing sail, do they practice this? Are the crew free to talk about shortcomings in equipment or systems that are presenting a risk to crew? The skipper is in the box seat to enable this on board a boat no matter whether it is a two-handed off the beach boat or an ocean-going yacht with 15 crew.

A boat that has crew doing dangerous practices, has poor safety equipment, or maybe exercises unsafe judgement, only needs the skipper to step up and make some pretty clear statements abut what is really needed. When the skipper demonstrates those behaviours, the crew will follow.

In a club the commodore must lead the committee and, if there are employees, the senior staff to make the same commitment, to take up the same values and behaviours. That commitment will lead to the club having rules (yes, that’s right) and procedures to follow. There will be training for officials, volunteers and staff, communication will work in all directions, problems and incidents will be reported and changes made, possibly to rules and procedures where the whole process started.

Looking at the inverse, a poor culture, there will be a downward spiral. Picture there’s an error, a human error. A poor way to handle this is to blame and discipline those involved. This inevitably reduces trust, which negatively impacts communication. With less and guarded communication, the people in positions of leadership becomes less aware. Weaknesses persist, safety defences become flawed and error precursors grow unaddressed. Ultimately it leads to another human error.

A good club may well have a safety incident, but it is how they respond to it that will be the mark of their culture. No blame, but a desire to investigate it and see what can be learned. The people involved are looked after. The likelihood of it happening twice is low.

A strong and positive safety culture from those in charge of a club or boat is what influences everyone’s behaviours and judgement. The culture at the top lifts the game and avoids incidents.

Australian Sailing has information on clubs’ safety management systems and risk management at https://www.sailingresources.org.au/safety/risk-management/.

Owners of offshore yachts should refer to http://www.sailingresources.org.au/safety-sea-survival/  and https://www.rya.org.uk/courses-training/exams/Pages/yachtmaster-offshore.aspx for crew training options.