Rank: New forum user 
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I am interested in what the legal status of a club in which its members children are trained by trained unpaid volunteer members according to the standards recommended by the national body to which it is affiliated. Do the HSW and MHSWR apply?
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Rank: Forum user
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In order to answer more detail would need to be given, when you say club are we talking golf club , swimming club, scouts ,men's club, charity?
When saying training is this washing dishes, cleaning, operating machinery in what role or task.
When you say children what age under 16 year ? Under 18? For if over 16 are they not a young person adult the issue of parent being a member is not a issue. If under 16 other facts may come into play.
Are the children being paid for service?
Quick answer without knowing the full facts, ensure that those doing the training have the knowledge experience to conduct the training, document the training with out line subjects, both parties sign.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Wareing makes some good points, however as a rule voluntary associations do not come within the ambit of HSWA, MHSWR, etc. That said, if there are any paid staff the association would be deemed an employer and the full weight of h&s laws would apply. There is of course the nebulous Duty of Care to consider from a civil law perspective.
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Rank: Forum user
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Rank: Forum user
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As safety advisor for a Scout County, I can advise that the The Scout Association has H&S experts in place providing sound guidance to scout groups across the UK.
It is covered clearly in the Association's 'Bible' - P.O.R and the normal subjects such as risk assessment etc are included.
Hopefully this has helped to answer your question.
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Rank: New forum user
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Thank you all for your comments. The club has no employees. The children are under 16 and parents are required to be present. The club is a sporting club and the training involves being trained to carry out the sport. After posting my original question I realised that the answer was, to a certain extent, in the question when I remembered the importance of the letter W in both statutes that I mentioned! From your replies and from my own research it would appear that only civil law and 'nebulous Duty of Care' as RayRapp puts it, apply.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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It's a funny thing, and it's not so much the W word as the E words that matter. An employee can be a volunteer, as in the case of the Prince's Trust prosecuted under Section 2 for the death of a volunteer, but an employer isn't an employer unless they are paying somebody. In the case of the Scouts Association I would guess they have paid employees, so their volunteers could well be covered by HASAWA etc and hence the H&S Advisers, but the little performing arts group I'm treasurer of doesn't have any paid workers so for us it's the nebulous duty of care, or NDoC as we call it,
John
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Rank: Super forum user
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Note a purely voluntary group is not an employer and HSWA and it's attendant regulations do not apply but common law still does- so there is a duty of care only it is much more nebulous.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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...My H&S MSc Dissertation is currently looking at the provision of safety at a local sports club level and the awareness of legislation/regulations amongst key club individuals. As has been said, given the grey areas involved and variety of individuals 'on site' if you will, the research should hopefully highlight some areas for improvements on a large scale. Can keep you updated with any interesting findings if its of use - Jamie P
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Rank: Super forum user
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Jamie, apologies for late response just back from hols, I would be interested in any new research. I also suspect with many voluntary clubs it is the LA who are the regulator as opposed to the HSE. In my personal opinion the EHO's are not so rigorous in applying safety standards...just my opinion.
Good luck with the Dissy.
Ray
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Rank: Super forum user
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Ray - my thinking is that the problem with sports safety will be two fold. The LA will be poor at enforcing and will have very little involvement in implementation and/or guidance (unless, as we all know something does go wrong, to which they will be 1st on scene), and from the club's side of things I suspect awareness of the law, duty of care and general safety perception will be lacking, with much more focus on the actual safety of the sport being played, rather than building safety, fire safety etc etc.
Should be an interesting piece of work (I hope) and will of course be pushing for publication - will post on here as and when I collate findings.
Jamie P
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