Member Protection - LSV Club Support Manual

Life Saving Victoria is committed to the health, safety and wellbeing of all its members and is dedicated to providing a best practise approach to ensure a safe environment for those participating in lifesaving activities.

Life Saving Victoria is a unique organisation that has multiple purposes including community service, sporting, education and leadership opportunities and programs. Each of these individual aspects inter-relate with each other. It is due to the multifaceted nature of Life Saving Victoria, that members 18 years of age and over interact with children across a broad spectrum of activities, that this policy must be broadly applied.

To request support regarding a member protection issue please email member.protection@lsv.com.au.

a) Member Protection Officer (MPO)

Life Saving Victoria is committed to health, safety and wellbeing of all its members and is dedicated to providing a safe environment for those participating in lifesaving activities and events. We want lifesaving to be fun, enjoyable and safe for all. Lifesavers are nurtured in and environment that values safety, trust, respect, caring and responsibility. The environment encourages acceptance, confidence and educated risk taking.

All clubs are required to have an appointed MPO and communicate to all members, who they are, how to contact and their role. We strongly advise Clubs to appoint an MPO to be independent and where possible not directly reside on the Committee, this avoids conflict of interested perceived or actual.

It is important that your MPO is skilled and exhibits behaviour consistent to those of the role, including high level of integrity, ability to maintain confidentiality and treat matters with independence and sensitivity.

People with a background in counselling, teachers, police officers, or similar skills often make good MPO’s.

LSV can assist with identifying independent MPO’s if clubs are unable to identify a resource for the role. We also strongly encourage clubs to work with other clubs in their area, local sports and emergency services to share resources.

The role of the MPO is to support members and protect them and the club’s wellbeing, to provide member welfare education and support.

Their primary role includes:

Provision of confidential support and assistance to other members who wish to raise a concern or grievance, or who have had a grievance lodged against them.
Provide Triage; act as initial contact for members; their role is to prioritise actions, needs and urgency based on assessed risk, need and grievance/complaint.
Investigate and manage complaints and moderate mediation conferences or refer such matters to appropriate person.
Provide support and education around safeguarding children to other members.
Refer matters to Life Saving Victoria and/or police as outlined in Member Protection Policy