Best practice in safeguarding - World Athletics lead the field with updates to their pioneering safeguarding policy

This article examines World Athletics' updated Safeguarding Policy, highlighting how, in the authors’ opinion, it exemplifies best practice principles of implementation and continuous improvement in sports safeguarding. It analyses key changes from their 2021 policy, which include new requirements for member organizations to create their own safety policies, clearer rules about reporting concerns, and better training resources. These changes show how World Athletics is taking practical steps to turn their safety policies from paper documents into real-world actions that protect people across the sport.

Introduction

Earlier this year, LimeCulture, with the support of Farrer & Co, launched the new Best Practice Guide on developing safeguarding in sport policy, guidance and procedures. The guide was commissioned by British Gymnastics and Sport England to “support sporting organisations to develop their approaches to the drafting of policy, guidance and procedures that meet the needs of the sporting community and are underpinned by core principles to ensure participants of all ages, abilities and backgrounds are kept safe in sport.”^[1]

The guidance, which was driven by the learnings and developments in British Gymnastics following the Whyte Review, explores the interaction between meaningful policies and safer cultures, setting out a principled framework for effective safeguarding policies, and offering guidance on its practical implementation.

The guidance focuses on eight development principles:

1. Collectively owned - Active and committed involvement of key stakeholders from all levels of the sporting organisation, including those at the highest levels of the sporting organisation in the process of developing their safeguarding in sport policy, guidance and procedures.
2. Values driven - This principle ensures that the safeguarding in sport policy, guidance and procedures development and implementation are guided by the organisation’s fundamental principles, prioritising the safety and well-being of all participants.
3. Person-centred - Individuals (children and adults) are placed at the heart of the development and implementation of safeguarding in sport policy, guidance and procedures.
4. Evidence-based and risk informed - The development of the safeguarding in sport policy, guidance and procedures should be determined by data-driven insights on safeguarding risks, research, and informed assessments of potential dangers and vulnerabilities within the particular sports environment in a proportionate manner.
5. Co-produced - This principle places value on creating safeguarding in sport policy, guidance, and procedures that are co-owned by all stakeholders, ensuring their needs, concerns, and ideas are integrated into the final development.
6. Accessible and clear - Making safeguarding in sport policy, guidance, and procedures accessible and clear ensures that they are understandable to all ages, all abilities and diverse backgrounds.
7. Implementation focused - This principle is essential because it bridges the gap between the design of safeguarding in sport policies, guidance, and procedures and actual practice, ensuring that what is written in the safeguarding in sport policies, guidance, and procedures actually takes place on the ground in the sport.
8. Continuously improved - A continuous improvement approach ensures that the safeguarding in sport policy, guidance, and procedures remains relevant, effective, and responsive to the evolving needs of participants.

These principles serve as the foundational framework essential for the development of safeguarding in sport policy, guidance, and procedures. These principles collectively create a holistic approach to ensuring the effectiveness of each document in promoting safeguarding in sport.

In our previous LawInSport article, the authors discussed the significant and hugely positive milestone where World Athletics released their Safeguarding Policy (“First Policy”). At that point, a number of the eight principles were evident.

Now, with almost three years under their belts, World Athletics has reviewed and made significant updates to the First Policy, reflecting the progress they have made since 2021. The authors think that the updated Safeguarding Policy (“New Policy”) is a strong example of best practice principles 7 and 8 being implemented and the authors hope hope that other sporting organisations will find this helpful when reviewing their own policies.^[2]