PERSON ON DUTY (POD)

• A pool and/or dry-land POD rota must be organised in advance for coaching and teaching activities.
• The rota must be communicated and distributed to members in advance.
• Coaches/teachers must be able to rely on the scheduled POD being present.

Your responsibilities

• If you cannot attend, you must find an alternative POD. It is the scheduled person’s responsibility to arrange cover.
• Arrival & collection: Turn up at a reasonable time before the session starts and remain with the coaching/teaching staff until all young people are collected from poolisde. Any parent persistently arriving late or delayed in picking up their child/children must be reported to the coach/leader or the committee — this is a breach of the Code of Conduct and should be dealt with accordingly.
• Be in full view and hearing of the pool (or activity area for dry-land).
• Do not interfere with safe coaching or teaching. If a young person is in imminent danger, intervene immediately.
• Ensure an attendance record is kept for the session. This can be kept with the coach and should be signed by both the coach and the POD.
• Be aware of children leaving and returning to the pool/activity area (e.g., after toilet breaks) and ensure they return promptly.
• Take note of any problems that occur – refer any issues directly to the coach or teacher in charge of the session or, if not possible, to the Children’s Officer (Briege Johnstone / Mark Harvey – [email protected]) after the session.
• In an emergency, assist the coach/teacher as an extra supervising adult and/or help with the emergency response.

Policy requirement: The POD must arrive before the session and remain until all young people have been collected. Persistent late collections must be recorded and reported to the coach/leader or the committee for action under the Code of Conduct.

It is a breach of Swim Ireland rules to run a Swim Ireland session (pool or dry-land) without a POD.

If the scheduled POD does not arrive, the coach/teacher must take the best course of action to ensure safety. This may mean cancelling the session unless a suitable replacement is found.

Club Children’s Officer

Briege Johnstone / Mark Harvey
Email: [email protected]

For rota queries, incidents, or safeguarding concerns, report to the coach/teacher first where possible, and follow up with the Club Children’s Officer after the session if needed.