It is a common mantra that active children will lead active lives, and grow up to be healthy and athletic adults.

Participation in sport is a compulsory and irreplaceable component of every school curriculum, and an integral component to the overall physical, social and emotional development of children.  In the Australian Sports Commission's Clearinghouse for Sport report on School Sport, student participation in regular sporting and recreational activities is linked to improved attention and concentration, raised academic performance, improved self-confidence and reduction in stress.

In light of such clear benefits, millions of students around Australia regularly participate in school sport, both amongst their peers and competitively against other schools. In fact, it is the ‘game plan’ of the Australian Sports Commission to increase the participation of young people in sport; a goal which clearly starts with an inclusive sports program at school.

However, with students involved in sport and recreation each and every week, it is inevitable that some students will unfortunately experience a sports related injury. As discussed in our recent article Contact sports in schools: How to balance duty of care obligations, working out how to balance duty of care obligations while providing the best educational experience possible for students is a difficult exercise for schools and their employees and volunteers.

This article will look at some common injury scenarios that may arise when school sport is played on a school's premises and who might be responsible for assisting the injured student in those circumstances.

Sport on the school's own premises

Schools owe a duty of care towards their students to take reasonable care to prevent them from suffering harm. This can extend, and usually does extend, to the extracurricular activities offered by the school.

In the context of activities conducted as part of a school sport program on school premises, a school is not obligated to insure against any injury ever occurring to a student. Regardless of preventive methods employed, there is always a possibility of injury when participating in school sport and physical activity.

The expectation of schools is that they must take reasonable steps to protect against foreseeable injury.

What this means in practice is, as always, not always clear.

The law only assists by telling schools what NOT to do in specific scenarios, rather than what they should be doing to protect students.  Education Departments around Australia provide guidelines on the procedures to employ with respect to specific sports and recreational activities. For example, in NSW the Department of Education and Training provides student welfare and supervision guides for over 70 different activities, all focusing on ensuring the safety of students.

The Queensland Department of Education provides a similar list of activities with corresponding risk assessment guidelines.

The provision of such information establishes a threshold of care which schools should take into consideration when developing risk management policies and procedures to mitigate the risk of injury occurring from sporting activities.

At a minimum, all schools should have an Accident Management Policy which generally sets out the procedures to be followed in the case of:

• a major accident or life threatening situation;
• urgent, but not life threatening situations; or
• (worst scenario)  the death of a person on school grounds.

More specific policies may be developed for higher risk activities such as contact sports that have a risk of concussion injury.  See our previous article Does your school manage sports-related head injuries effectively?

All staff at the school should receive training about the Accident Management Policy to ensure that:

• the welfare of the student is paramount and is dealt with immediate priority;
• parents/carers are contacted as soon as practically possible; and
• safe transport and care is provided to students when required.

The school's obligation to ensure the welfare of students will also apply to any student who visits the school to play in an inter-school competition.

Clearly, a schools duty also extends to ensuring that its fields and sporting equipment pose no danger to students, that they are fit and safe for sporting activities and that appropriate first aid facilities are available on the day of the competition.

Sport at other schools and public venues

While the general rule is that the school’s duty of care does not extend outside school hours and grounds, in practice this will not always be the case.

More and more cases exist suggesting that liability will be imposed on a school where the duty has been 'voluntarily assumed'. This means that, where a school has taken responsibility for caring and supervising the students, a duty of care will arise.  This has been imposed both before and after school hours, travelling to and from school and on school sporting trips and excursions to outside venues.

A school’s duty is non-delegable - the school cannot abdicate responsibility by placing responsibility for the students on another school, or an outside provider such as a transport provider. If a school did not take steps to protect students from injury - regardless of where and under whose charge the activity was being run - and an injury occurred, it would clearly be negligent.

More concerns arise when we consider the extent of a school's Workplace Health and Safety Obligations. Under the WHS Model Law incorporated into all States and Territories (except Western Australia and Victoria which have their own WHS legislative regimes), the definition of ‘workplace’ has been broadened, covering all places where work is carried out for a business or 'undertaking' and extending to any location where a worker goes while they are working.

Sports and recreational activities conducted off school premises, and possibility even school excursions, may now be covered by WHS laws. As they are for the purpose of meeting curriculum guidelines and enhancing student education, they fall under the schools 'undertaking' to provide care and education. This makes risk management of sports and recreational activities a statutory legal requirement, in addition to a common law requirement.

The solution?

Despite the best efforts of schools, there is always a possibility of students being injured whilst playing sport. To use football/soccer as an example, it is estimated that 35 injuries requiring hospitalisation occur for every 1,000 playing hours, and are more likely to occur while competing rather than while training.

But merely because a student is hurt while playing sport or undertaking an activity does not immediately indicate that a school has failed its duty of care obligations. A school seeking to operate according to best practice' legal compliance requirements will employ policies and procedures for preventing student injury, and acting according to a safety framework that seeks to treat student injury as effectively as possible.

Preventive methods include:

• choosing activities which suit the age and ability of the students;
• warning students of the risk of injury;
• employing suitable supervision and discipline strategies for students while training and competing;
• conducting regular safety inspections of sports fields and venues; and
• regularly checking equipment and protective gear to ensure they are safe for student use.

Where activities are being conducted at another school or an outside venue, this will also include gaining information from the venue as to its safety and working with them to ensure that procedures are in place to manage student injury. As a core example, it is paramount they have a well-equipped first aid kit on hand.

Responding to and treating student injury clearly depends on the seriousness of the accident which has occurred. Generally speaking, a school should have procedures in place which provide for:

• immediate treatment, or referral, of student injury;
• contacting parents/carers, the school, or medical centres for injury treatment;
• ensuring a teacher is in attendance with current first-aid training; and
• preparing incident reports and records of accidents and student injuries.

By understanding its duty of care obligations and ensuring measures are in place to manage sporting activities and provide efficient responses to student injury, a school can balance the risks that sport and recreational activities present, against the benefits they clearly provide for a student’s education and development.

What measures does your school have in place to manage the risks of sporting injuries?