Swim BC Safe Sport Policies

What is Swim BC doing about safety?  Our first step is to address the rules that bind us in a common approach to the conduct of our sport.  These “rules” state what behaviour is acceptable, and what is not, and they make provision for consistent and clear decision making.  Our goal in engaging Sport Law is to develop and provide member clubs with templates of the policies a modern sport organization requires to protect its members, and to assist its committees, staff, and volunteers in carrying out the work of the organization.

Club Template Policies

The following policy templates are available from Swim BC, for copyright reasons they will not be posted online.  Please contact Tracy Gardner to request the following templates:

• Alternative Dispute Resolution Policy
• Appeal Policy
• Athlete Protection Policy
• Code of Conduct and Ethics
• Concussion Policy
• Conflict of Interest Policy
• Discipline and Complaints Policy
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy
• Event Discipline Policy
• Financial Management Policy
• Gender Identity Eligibility Guidelines
• Privacy Policy
• Social Media Policy
• Travel Policy

How do you use these templates?

Beginning with the 2022-2023 season all clubs – small, medium, or large – must have a basic set of policies. This requirement is to ensure clubs have the tools to make important decisions and risk manage their organization.

At a minimum, the following policies will be required for club registration for the 2022-23 competitive season:

1. Athlete Protection Policy
2. Code of Conduct and Ethics (must reference the BC UCC)
3. Alternative Dispute Resolution Policy
4. Discipline and Complaints Policy
5. Appeal Policy

Clubs that utilize the Team Unify service will be required to have a Privacy Policy in place as well.

Please follow these steps to action these templates:

• Engage your Policy Committee to review these templates and ensure the mechanics of the policy are understood. If your board is willing, this can be a whole board exercise
• Make appropriate amendments to the policies to ensure they fit within your governance framework. Many clubs will find that they need to attend to their governance structure (board roles / responsibilities, committee structure, etc.)
• Make the policy your own, re-write with your club’s name, logo, and important branding information (ie/ if you use a standard organizational font, make sure you use that).
• Pass or approve the policies at a Board meeting, or via e-vote if your bylaws permit (if your bylaws are mute on this point, note that e-votes are permitted by the BC Societies Act)
• Ensure the date the policy was passed, and the review date are placed in the policy.
• Make the policies stand-alone documents for easy reference, do NOT combine policies into a handbook. Envision your club’s website as the handbook and post the club’s policies as individual documents on a dedicated page.
• Ensure your policies are posted as a pdf – they should be easy to access (within 2 or 3 clicks) and must be downloadable – this ensures availability for your membership. One error a club will make is to “bury” their policies. While this is inadvertent, having a policy “on page 23” of a handbook that is not easily searchable diminishes the efficacy of the policy and creates risk for the organization. Polices must be accessible to the membership and the membership must know how to access the policies.

At a minimum, the following policies will be required for club registration for the 2022-23 competitive season:

• Athlete Protection Policy
• Code of Conduct and Ethics (must reference the BC UCC)
• Alternative Dispute Resolution Policy
• Discipline and Complaints Policy
• Appeal Policy
• Travel Policy

Clubs that utilize the Team Unify service will be required to have a Privacy Policy in place as well.