Keeping children safe
What we do, who is responsible, and how to tell us if something is wrong. Written plainly, because a policy nobody reads protects nobody.
Who is responsible
One person is accountable
Andrew Adair, Founder and President, is accountable for child safety at Open Ice Initiative. He is reachable at openiceinitiative@gmail.com, during a camp and outside one.
On the ice, the professional coaching staff hold the responsibility for what happens in a session. The Headquarters Team and volunteers work under them, never instead of them.
The rules we run camps by
Six rules that hold at every Open Ice camp, on the ice and off it.
Never one to one
No adult or volunteer is alone with a child, on the ice, in a dressing room or anywhere else. If a child needs help, two people go.
Professional coaching leads every session
Volunteers assist. They do not run drills unsupervised.
Dressing rooms are supervised and shared
Parents are welcome in them. Phones are not used in them by anybody, including us.
Helmets are not optional and are not negotiable
Nobody steps onto the ice without one, including adults.
A first aid kit and a trained person are on site all day
Every incident, however small, is written down and the family is told the same day.
Parents may stay
Always, for the whole day, without asking.
Photography
The part we take most seriously
We publish photographs of children on this site. That is a decision with consequences and we treat it that way.
- A photograph of an identifiable child is published only where consent is on file for that child, recorded in a register we keep.
- No child is ever named alongside their photograph.
- No school, team, address or other identifying detail is published with a photograph.
- Consent can be withdrawn at any time, for any reason, without explanation, and we will not ask you to justify it.
- A withdrawal request is acted on the same day it arrives.
To have a photograph removed: email openiceinitiative@gmail.com with the page it is on and roughly where on the page. You do not need to say why. We will confirm the same day and it will be gone from the site within twenty four hours.
Ask us anything
Every question answered personally
Parents are always welcome to stay and watch, and every question about how we keep children safe goes straight to the Founder and President.