Templates and tips for clearly documenting guidelines and communicating UV Protection measures to your members and spectators.
Developing Sun Protection Policy
A ‘policy’ is a set of principles or rules that guide an organisation towards its overarching goals. They are generally endorsed by the committee or board and published somewhere that everyone can find them such as a dedicated ‘Policies’ section of the organisation website.
Change is often more achievable and lasting if it’s backed up by policy. This is because having a policy can help you:
- Communicate a consistent message about UV protection.
- Plan and agree on a direction for change that aligns with the organisation’s values and priorities.
- Set specific goals and support members as they make the change.
- Help deal with any negative feedback.
Club governance was considered a key enabler of this program as evaluation findings revealed that change is more likely to be achieved if it is a club directive. (Healthy Sporting Environments evaluation)
A UV Protection Policy is most effective when it has the support of the committee, and is regularly reviewed. When establishing what needs to be included in a UV Protection policy some key areas to consider are:
- Rationale
- Objectives
- Implementation
- Monitoring and Evaluation
- Links to other Policies
- Responsible Officer
Other important points to consider when developing a UV Protection Policy include:
- Why – What is it that you want for your organisation? This may include:
- Supporting health and wellbeing of members
- Improving/maintaining your reputation in the community
- Providing a safe environment that reduces risk of illness and disease
- Meeting community expectations about providing a safe environment
- What - What will you be changing? Consider:
- Changes to the organisation that will minimise risk of UV exposure
- Encouraging members to protect themselves from UV exposure
- Focusing on junior members
- Supporting local suppliers of shade and sun protection
- How – What changes will you put in place to achieve your goals? This may include:
-Scheduling of sports outside of UV risk times
- Providing and encouraging shade and sunscreen
- Providing and encouraging clothing protection
- Deliver education of UV protection to members
- Actively promote sun protection times and UV protection strategies
-This is not always easy and requires a willingness to listen and possibly compromise.
- Consider providing your committee with some background information for discussion on UV protection and its influence on health and wellbeing.
- Ensure that the committee and members understand how a UV Protection Policy supports the organisation’s overarching goals.
- Document how this UV Protection Policy relates to or supports other established policies, such as those on heat management, risk management, smoking, responsible alcohol consumption or inclusiveness.
- Promotion of the policy – How will you communicate your UV Protection Policy to members, supporters and visitors? Some of the ways to promote your new policy could be to:
- Display it around the organisation
- Distribute it with membership or enrolment forms
- Add it in your organisation’s handbook
- Write an article about it in your newsletter or website/social media page
- Distribute it at functions or meetings
- Email a copy to every member, with some background on why it was created.
NOTE: To aid in implementing sustainable UV protection strategies attempt to align UV Protection policy with existing State Sporting Associations, Regional Sport Assemblies and club policies.
For more information on how to develop and implement a policy, click on this link.
Heat Illness and Policy
There are distinct differences between UV exposure and heat illness, including risk factors.
Finding from the Healthy Sporting Environments evaluation found that some clubs weren’t aware that heat and UV were separate issues.
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation and heat illness are two separate health issues that carry different risk factors for individuals. They are however both equally important to control in sporting environments through the implementation of prevention strategies, including policy. Although both UV radiation and heat illness can occur due to weather conditions, particularly warmer days, they are not the same. Affects from heat illness often experienced soon after exposure to warm weather while health concerns related to UV radiation exposure can be more of a long-term issue.
Heat illness can occur due to a range of factors including:
- Vigorous exercise (including in cool weather);
- Hot weather conditions;
- Extended exposure in hot conditions;
- Low fitness levels;
- Age (particularly children, older adults);
- Dehydration from lack of hydration or profuse sweating;
- Radiant heat from sporting surfaces.
Heat illness is acute and can present as:
- Heat rash;
- Cramping;
- Dizziness and fainting;
- Heat exhaustion;
- Heat stroke (can be fatal if not treated as an emergency).
The following link offers a range of sport specific resources around heat exposure and illness to inform policy development.
Hot Weather Resources
Sun Protection Policy Examples
A UV Protection Policy needs to be very specific to each sporting organisation because each one has a different environment, values and needs. However, you can use the below templates as a starting point for developing your own policy.
SunSmart have a sample sports policy.
The following resources include some sport specific sun protection policy examples:
