Managing Volunteers Safely and Legally

Most sailing clubs in the UK and Ireland would not exist without volunteers. They drive the safety boats, run the race box, teach the juniors, fix the engines, serve the tea and sit on the committee. A club that treats them well keeps them for decades; one that takes them for granted loses them in a season. Volunteers also bring responsibilities that are easy to overlook because nobody is being paid. This article covers how to look after volunteers properly, keep them coming back, and meet the legal and safety duties that come with them.

Volunteers are not free of obligations

The fact that someone is unpaid does not remove the club's duty of care to them, or the need for them to be competent for what they do. Health and safety law protects volunteers as it protects others affected by your activities. Your insurance needs to cover them, usually by extending employers' liability and public liability to volunteers acting under the club's direction; confirm this in writing with your broker. Volunteers working with children or adults at risk need the same safeguarding training and, where the role is regulated activity, the same criminal records checks as paid staff. Volunteers teaching on RYA courses need the same qualifications as paid instructors; the scheme does not distinguish.

Be careful, too, about the line between volunteering and employment. Regular, obligatory work in return for payment or substantial benefits can create an employment relationship with the rights that go with it. Expenses, modest thank-you gestures and free membership are fine; a timetable, a rate and a requirement to turn up are not volunteering.

Define the roles

Vague volunteering produces anxious volunteers and gaps on the day. Write a short role description for each volunteer role: safety boat driver, assistant instructor, race officer, galley, bosun, welfare officer, committee posts. State what the role involves, what qualifications or training it requires, who the volunteer reports to, and what the club provides. People are far more willing to say yes to something bounded and clear than to "help out at the club".

Recruit deliberately

The clubs with plenty of volunteers ask, personally and specifically. A general plea in the newsletter produces little; a conversation on the pontoon that says "we need someone to drive the safety boat on Tuesday evenings, you would be ideal, we will train you and pay for the course" produces a volunteer. Look beyond the usual faces: parents of junior sailors, newer members who want to belong, retired members with time, young people building experience. Make the first task small and the welcome warm.

Train and qualify them

A volunteer safety boat driver with a Powerboat Level 2 and a Safety Boat course, a first aid certificate and a proper induction is an asset. One who has driven boats for years but holds none of those is a risk to themselves, the sailors and the club. Fund the training; it is the cheapest way to build a reliable team and a clear signal that the club values them. Induct every volunteer as you would staff: the operating procedures, the emergency plan, the safeguarding code of conduct, the site hazards, who is in charge.

Manage them as part of the team

Volunteers should appear on the roster alongside paid staff, with their qualifications tracked in the same register and their roles clear on the day. Brief them in the morning briefing. Include them in the debrief. Give them a named person to go to with problems. Where a volunteer and a paid instructor are doing the same job, make sure the paid person is not quietly treating the volunteer as a dogsbody; the resentment that causes ends volunteering.

Hold volunteers to the same safety standards as everyone else. A volunteer who ignores the kill cord or the ratio is as dangerous as an employee who does, and has to be addressed as kindly and as firmly. Most volunteers want to do the job well and welcome being treated as professionals.

Expenses and benefits

Reimburse genuine out-of-pocket expenses promptly and simply: fuel, course fees, kit the club asks them to buy. Keep records. Benefits in kind such as free membership or discounted courses are common and reasonable, but keep them modest and clearly described so that they do not become a wage. Say thank you often, in public, and mark long service.

Protect them

Volunteers are personally exposed if something goes wrong on their watch and the club has not done its part. Make sure the insurance covers them, the procedures are clear, the training is provided and the records are kept. Committee members and trustees should have appropriate liability cover. A volunteer who knows the club has their back when they make a cautious call on the water will make the right calls.

Safeguarding for volunteers

Every volunteer in contact with young people needs safeguarding training, needs to have read and signed the code of conduct, and, where the role involves regulated activity, needs the appropriate check. Parent helpers who are around children regularly are included. The Welfare Officer should know every volunteer working with juniors by name.

Keep them

The reasons volunteers leave are predictable: they feel used, they are not thanked, the role grows beyond what they agreed, they are criticised in front of others, nobody notices they have stopped coming, or they simply burn out. The remedies are equally predictable: bounded roles, roster them like staff so the load is shared, check in with them, say thank you, make the social side real, and give them a route to step back without guilt. A volunteer who takes a season off and is welcomed back is a volunteer for life.

Succession

Every volunteer role should have a successor in view. Pair experienced volunteers with newer ones, write down what the role involves so it can be handed over, and never let a single person become the only one who can do something critical. The club that depends on one bosun or one race officer is a club that is one illness away from a crisis.

Records

Keep for each volunteer the same core records as for staff: contact details, emergency contact, qualifications and dates, safeguarding training, checks where required, induction completed, and the roles they fill. Store them with the same data protection care. It is both a safety record and a measure of what the club owes the people who keep it running.

Volunteers are a club's greatest strength when they are managed like the professionals most of them are in their other lives, and its greatest vulnerability when they are not.

This article is general guidance for RYA centres and clubs. Schemes, awards and requirements change — always check the latest official RYA guidance and your recognition paperwork before acting. ActivityRoster helps you run the rostering, qualifications and safety-cover side of all of this in one place.