| The
Braille Chess Association (BCA) is a very small organisation and
has only one paid employee, our part time fundraiser who works from
home. The Association is run by a Board of Trustees, largely blind
or partially sighted chess players, drawn from the membership. However,
we also have a number of sighted volunteers to help with various
activities.
Our
main health and safety concerns arise at the chess tournaments
that we organise for members of the Association. These tournaments
are held in various hotels around the country. Particular care
is needed when a blind or partially sighted member attends a tournament
on their own or with a partner who also has serious sight loss.
The
tournament organiser plays a key role in ensuring that high standards
of health and safety prevail. He/she meets the hotel management
prior to the tournament to discuss the hotel's health, safety
and emergency procedures, with the aim of establishing whether
there would be any problems for blind or partially sighted members
and agreeing what extra help the hotel might need to provide.
A particularly important role for the hotel is to ensure that
all unaccompanied blind and partially sighted guests on arrival
are made aware of the fire safety procedures and their nearest
emergency exit point.
The
tournament organiser tries to ensure that BCA members are located
in the same areas of the hotel and on lower floors as this would
tend to make things easier, both for the hotel staff and for the
members, in case of an emergency. Similarly, he/she provides the
hotel with a preferred room allocation so that the sighted BCA
guests are equally located among the blind guests as this could
be helpful in an emergency evacuation of the building in the night.
He/she also lets the hotel know which guests are likely to need
assistance in an emergency, particularly those with serious hearing
loss or walking difficulties. As an additional precaution, any
individual who is concerned that they might not hear a fire alarm
is asked to inform the hotel reception on arrival.
Another
feature of our arrangements is that people attending BCA events
are reminded that, if they feel it would be helpful, they should
give the hotel reception a sealed envelope containing appropriate
medical details and contact details of a person at home so that
these can be made available in a medical emergency.
The
Association carries appropriate insurance against Public Liability.
Last
reviewed November 2007
Download
the health and safety statement in Microsoft word
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