SENScot Sport SEN, Scottish ClubSport and Sported
Getting Ready to Re-open Sports Facilities: Monday 19 April 2021: 12 noon – 1pm
Follow Up Notes
We were joined by sportscotland Facilities team to give an overview of their most recent ‘Getting Your Facilities Fit for Sport’ guidance. They highlighted key updates in the guidance and provided reflections and learning from over the past year. They also provided some answers to FAQ’s and there was an open Q&A and discussion session.
You can find a copy of the presentation slides and written answers to the FAQ’s below:
Slides - download here
Zoom recording - access here
General discussion and useful links:
- Getting Your Facilities Fit for Sport – note that several other operational guides are included. Changing rooms guidance will be updated in the next few days.
- Community halls and guidance around re-opening these. A bit trickier to navigate as used for a wide range of community activities and will be subject to various guidance depending on the types of activity. Multi-purpose community facility guidance was published following the last lockdown but doesn’t seem to have been updated yet. This does not fall within sportscotland’s remit.
- If you operate a café you should follow the hospitality guidance.
- Where specific sports are being delivered, refer to sport specific guidance from Scottish Governing Bodies
- Drainage in showers – was initially a problem, however it has now been agreed that the number of drains in a shower area will not impact whether the showers can be used or not.
- Social distancing and coaching. There is general guidance for coaches from sportscotland, however, refer to sport specific advice from your governing body if you are delivering a specific sport.
- Toilets at sports facilities fall under the category of public and customer toilets so the following guidance can be referred to: http://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-public-and-customer-toilets-guidance/pages/overview/
- Physical distancing measures must be in place, however one-way systems will not necessarily need to be implemented.
- Although access to changing rooms will be allowed, this is subject to physical distancing and cleaning requirements and operators should still encourage participants to turn up ‘beach ready’ where possible. There are good examples of physical distancing requirements in the changing room guidance.
- Water quality checks – check out HSE for more info around testing for legionella and other microbiological testing: https://www.hse.gov.uk/index.htm. Also, useful to check with local companies re testing, timescales and costs.
- Fogging machines – these shouldn’t be used instead of a deep clean, however can be used as part of your cleaning schedule and complimentary to deep cleaning. Also note that fogging is not essential, and companies should not be trying to sell you a fogging machine on this basis.
- Hot tubs, hydrotherapy pools, whirlpools and spa pools are listed as facilities which can open under ‘indoor’ regulations. Public health guidance should be followed, and they should be subject to appropriate treatment and testing. Physical distancing measures must also be in place which means capacity likely to be very limited. The list states that saunas and steam rooms should not be opened, and further guidance is required. Find out more here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-sport-and-leisure-facilities/pages/definitions/
- Important for operators to communicate clearly with user groups about expectations, any restrictions and changes to how they access the facility. This is really important to allow user groups to prepare and plan accordingly, and also to increase user confidence. Helpful to create some videos and info-graphs etc demonstrating how to use the facility and highlighting any key points. There have been some examples of good practice shared including from Scottish Rugby, SFA and Bowls Scotland.
