Newsletter - National Field Archery Society

Committee Noticeboard No 1
Change to NFAS’ Safety Policy
FROM the publication of this Newsletter, NFAS’
Safety Policy is amended as shown below. The Safety
Policy forms part of the NFAS Shooting Handbook,
which is better known simply as the ‘rule book’.
Safety Policy
The National Field Archery Society (NFAS) exists to
foster and promote Field Archery in all its forms.
The General Committee of the NFAS will carry out
the affairs of the Society with due respect for the
environment and the health, safety and welfare of its
Members and others who may be affected. The
NFAS is committed to the promotion of best practice
amongst its membership and as such will take steps
to communicate this and ensure that all Members may
draw from the experience of others. The NFAS will
devise and maintain systems to achieve its aims and
comply with the law. Where appropriate the NFAS
will consult and involve the Membership. All Members
have a responsibility for safety and the Society
depends on the compliance of individuals to ensure
these safety standards are met.
Because a bow and arrow (including a crossbow and
bolt) is a lethal weapon every member of the Society
is responsible for ensuring that she/he shoots safely.
All members are expected to intervene and take constructive
action where she/he identifies unsafe situations
caused by another archer or a course.
Any proposed change to NFAS’ Rules or Constitution
that has the potential to increase the lethality of any
bow and/or arrow (including a crossbow and/or bolt)
or, in the opinion of the Committee, has other detrimental
safety implications is to be treated as being a
change to the Safety Rules and will therefore be
subject to veto by the Committee as provided in Rule
7.2 of the Governance Rules of the Constitution.
The constitutional process for making the change
to the Safety Policy
This change has been made following legal advice.
The Committee has used the powers vested in us
under NFAS Constitution and has voted in favour of
the change to the Safety Policy using Standing Order
Procedures. This Procedure is set out in clause 6.1 of
the Constitution. It allows the Committee to introduce
a change to the rules which comes into force
from when the change is published in the NFAS
Newsletter. This change to the rules will remain in
force until eligible members vote to accept or reject
it. The Safety Policy is part of the ‘rule book’ and
therefore covered by the Standing Order Procedure:
this has been confirmed by legal advice.
The revised Safety Policy will be debated at the
next Annual General Meeting and then will be voted
on by eligible members in the normal manner by postal
or web based vote. This process has been validated
by legal advice. Now that we use postal/electronic
voting there is no longer a requirement to vote for or
against any motion at the next AGM.
The intention is for this Newsletter to arrive
before the AGM on 24 November 2012, so that it can
be debated at this meeting. If for any reason the
Newsletter is delayed until after the AGM, the
Standing Order Procedure means that debate and
voting on the change will need to be delayed to the
following year. This again has been confirmed by
legal advice.
The necessity for changing the Safety Policy
The Committee has serious concerns about any proposal
to change our Society’s rules that we believe
poses a significant safety risk. The Officers of
NFAS have an obligation to ensure the safety of our
members.
This is made clear in the old and amended NFAS
Safety Policy which states “The General Committee
of the NFAS will carry out the affairs of the Society
with due respect for the environment and the health,
safety and welfare of its Members and others who
may be affected.”
As many of you will know, the law is particularly
fierce around safety issues and as Committee members
and directors of NFAS Ltd we could be in the
line of fire if a court action was ever brought as a
consequence of a safety issue. The Committee felt
so strongly about this issue that we sought legal
advice.
The intention of clause 7.2 of the Constitution is to
allow the Committee to be able to veto a proposed
rule changes which the Committee sees as a genuine
safety risk. The amendment to the Safety Policy
clarifies the position to make it clear that clause 7.2
applies to any proposal causing a safety issue, regardless
of whether this is a change specifically to the
Safety section of the rule book or to any other section
of the rule book. At the same time the modification
of the Safety Policy continues to ensure that
the Committee’s right of veto only covers safety
issues. This approach safeguards the interests of
the membership so that the Committee could not
have a broad veto on general changes to the rules
that the membership wanted to instigate.
Andrew Knott
NFAS General Secretary
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