If you are looking for checklist for how to deal with an injury follow this link

The Questions answered in this article are:

• Who is responsible for reporting an incident or injury @ a club event?
• What if a child has been injured elsewhere?
• What incidents should be reported to the club?
• What injuries require reporting to the RFU?
• How do I report an incident or injury? (Junior's online incident form)
• Why do we need to report incidents?
• What happens to the information collected?

Who is responsible for reporting an incident or injury?
Any club official, first aider or volunteer who witnessed the incident, attended the incident or can gather information about the incident for reporting purposes.

What if a child is injured elsewhere?
If a child is injured elsewhere then the parent/guardian should inform the Team Manager & Coach of the child's team. This is especially important if the child has been concussed somewhere other than playing for HRFC (see the Graduated Return to Play protocol). This allows the club to make informed and safe decisions about participating in Rugby.

What incidents should be reported to the club?

1. In short, any incident or injury that you believe requires the parent or guardian of the child(ren) involved to be notified, should be reported to the club.
2. If the incident involves any HRFC club member acting outside of the codes of conduct for the club
3. An incident does not have to involve an injury to have occurred for it to be considered reportable e.g. unsportsmanlike conduct, pitch invasion
4. If it is a serious injury requiring RFU notification, then indicate this on the reporting form. The club will engage with the RFU for serious injuries.
5. In all instances, safety and welfare of the child(ren) is the priority
6. Use your common sense when considering if it's necessary to report an incident/injury, but if in doubt report it.

What injuries require reporting to the RFU

• An injury which results in the player being admitted to a hospital (this does not include those that attend an Accident or Emergency Department and are allowed home from there).
• Deaths which occur during or within six hours of a game finishing
• Injuries in which artificial grass pitches or equipment such as goggles were involved.

How do I report an incident or injury

• Complete the club's online incident/injury form
• There are 6 sections, please complete them all and submit the form at the end.
• The form should take between 5-10 minutes to complete.
• The CSO or executive may need to follow-up for further information, which will likely be handled by email
• Given timeframes for reporting a serious injury to the RFU, likely best time to complete this form would be after you are aware if a hospital admission was required for the child.

Why do we need to report incidents?
The RFU recommends that all clubs keep a record of incidents or injuries both on and off the pitch.

What happens to the information collected?
All reports of non serious incidents get forwarded to the Club Safeguarding Officer who may follow up for further information.
All serious injury reports (as defined above) will also be forwarded onto the RFU
The CSO/club may also use the information to:

• Help identify injury and incident trends
• Inform future risk assessments
• Make recommendations to improve coaching practice and health and safety procedures