CPSA rant

[MC]

Shaun,

 

Your rant will be well received in Essex, just wait till the Brief from Basildon and the Village Idiot from the marshes get back from the pub and see your post, they'll both wade in feet first in support, but if you think about it, how can you be the clubs "CPSA Safety Officer" if you're no longer a member, (and therefore not covered by the CPSA insurance scheme)..??

 

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, or am I missing something here..?? :blink:

 

Cat.

 

 

Oh dear, Oh dear,

 

Where you an only child or just plain abused as a youngster, I was actually going to add that you cannot be a CPSA safety officer if you are not a member.

 

However you still hold the qualification, unless of course the safety officers course is based around an attendence course and not a verified external qualification and if it is the former then you are better off without it as it isn't worth the paper it is written on.

[markm]

Sian, stop getting your knickers in a twist.

[shaun4860]

If you do the maths, you will note the difference in price between members costs for the CPSA Safety Course and Non-members is equal to the cost of Clubman Membership.

 

Any non- member joining the course gets 1 yrs membership bundled in.

 

Contrary to common belief, course prices are far from a "rip-off" - actually course costs are heavily subsidised by general membership. Just check out the common costs of commercial training courses - typical prices are £200-300 a day with 30 delegates to one or two lecturers. CPSA courses typically have a 3:1 ratio in coaching and a 6:1 in safety and refereeing.

 

Course prices are based on: venue cost, food (lunch included), modest fees to the tutors, and course material. No charge to courses is made for HQ admin time, advertising, accounting or insurance, or training costs of tutors. If the true full costs of CPSA courses were charged back to attendees they would be about double the current fees. Courses are not analysed out as a Business Unit in CPSA accounts, only the direct costs surplus or deficit is shown, but the true subsidy is something in the order of £50,000 across all courses combined.

 

If courses in any region show a surplus after all direct costs are charged over the regions courses globally in a year, 50% of that surplus is handed to the region as part of its development funds, to place into regional initiatives like young shots days. HQ does not seek to "profiteer" out of course fees and any surplus, courses are for the benefit of members, and indirectly benefit to all shooters whether members or not by raising standards.

 

For CPSA purposes, the qualification of Safety Officer is an internal one. You cannot be a CPSA Safety Officer if you are not in the CPSA.

 

The five year re-qualification system was implemented in my time at the CPSA as it was found that Safety officers at many clubs qualified donkeys years ago and had no knowledge of current CPSA requirements or H&S legislation. In particular, they had no idea of how risk assessment works, which is now a fundamental part of the Safety Course.

 

The idea was that CPSA Safety officers would need to go through a refresher every 5 years. This follows the First Aid at Work system of 3 year refreshers. How-ever, neither of my successors in the role of Training and Safety mangers implemented any working system for updating and re-qualifying Safety Officers - so the 5yrs requirement has been abandoned by the board.

 

My own concept on updating Safety Officers was a simple online or postal system.

 

All current thinking and legislation is contained in a Safety Officer's Manual, and this would be available to view on-line or purchase of hard copy. Re-qualification is not course attendance, but an online or postal multiple choice questionnaire with an high correct pass requirement to be returned for re-qualification.

 

This simply requires any existing safety officer to update themselves with current documentation by reading it through and proving they have done so by reflecting their understanding in the questionnaire.

 

I think this remains workable and will lobby for re-instatement of re-qualification as it can be simple and beneficial to all concerned. There is little point in a club having a safety officer whose badge was collected in1980 and had no idea of risk assessment and H&S requirements. A simple update of the kind advocated by me would mean these safety officers' knowledge was up to speed.

 

While a CPSA Affiliated or higher club needs to have a CPSA Safety Officer ( and they are not one if they are not a member, quite right I think), the other requirement of P/L insurance is not dedicated to the CPSA scheme. Perkins Slade offers insurance, to CPSA grounds and to non-CPSA grounds. If you are affiliated (£70) you get a lower rate from RSA as the underwriters risk assessment is a ground operating under CPSA guidelines is a lower risk, therefore a lower premium. RSA underwriters all attended a CPSA Safety Course at Garlands in 2006, and realised how much input the CPSA HQ support system via safety officers was giving - and they considered this appreciable reduced risk of accident and therefore payout potential. If a club is affiliated, they get the preferential premium rate - but this is market competitive and there is no requirement by the CPSA that the RSA scheme is used. If NFU, Zurich or any other Broker or Underwriters' policy is less, there is no reason why the club may not use it. The competitive market is a good thing in this respect for keeping costs down and it would be wrong to insist on a single source of P/L insurance for clubs.

 

I doubt this, its never been advertised as this and unless it was pointed out nobody would be any the wiser.

 

if i just turned up as a non member and did the course, do you really think i would then be a member....

 

 

Apparently you can if your in the armed forces, (confirmed by a call to CPSA headquarters).....

 

If i rejoin (no chance) my safety ticket becomes valid again....ie...gimme the money.... :blink:

 

shaun

 

And Clayman, this isnt a pop at you but why was i told to leave and rejoin in 13 months rather than just let me become a clubman rather than full member,

 

they are so out of touch with the membership and i wish you well in your aims to become CEO, it needs change desperatley.

Edited October 8, 2010 by shaun4860

[shaun4860]

Kit,

 

you are probably right.....

 

i think i will leave this now,

 

it just really pee'd me off yesterday when this happened.

 

Arthur.

[wymberley]

That is a good question, I dont see how military personnel can do the job while not being members, does this apply to retired Forces personnel? TA? But anyone else can't??? Does seem starnge, or do the CPSA use lots of forces personnel (they are based on an MOD site) as cheap safety officers?

Hi,

Clay shooting has always been popular at Service establishments - wide open spaces like airfields in particular. However it was largely unregulated. Some years ago although a BASC qualified coach and a qualified conducting officer on the clay pigeon range at the service ranges complex where I worked, as the increase in interest and the lack of regulation was noted, it was decided by the powers that be to make the CPSA Safety Office qualification the standard requirement, it was necessary for me and any other conducting officers not involved in formal training (the range where I was was recreational and also used by a civilian club of which I was a member) to do that course to regulate the system. This probably helps to explain the anomaly.

Cheers