Appendix A
Guidelines for Game Officials to Use During a Serious On-Field Player Injury
-
Players and coaches must go to and remain in the bench area. Direct
players and coaches accordingly. Always ensure adequate lines of
vision between the medical staffs and available emergency personnel.
-
Attempt to keep players a significant distance away from the seriously
injured player or players.
-
Do not allow a player to roll an injured player over.
-
Do not allow players to assist a teammate who is lying on the field;
i.e., removing the helmet or chin strap, or attempting to assist breathing
by elevating the waist.
-
Do not allow players to pull an injured teammate or opponent from a
pile.
-
Once the medical staff begins to assist an injured player, all members
of the officiating crew should control the total playing field environment
and team personnel, and allow the medical staff to perform services
without interruption or interference.
-
Players and coaches should be appropriately controlled to avoid dictating
medical services to the athletic trainers or team physicians, or
taking up their time to perform such service.
Note: Officials should have a reasonable knowledge of the location of
emergency personnel equipment at all stadiums.
(The
Rules Committee expresses its appreciation to the
National Football League for development of these guidelines.)
Appendix B
Guidelines for Game Officials and Game Management To Use Regarding Lightning
The purpose of this appendix is to provide information to
those responsible for making decisions about suspending and restarting
games based on the presence of lightning.
Lightning is the most consistent and significant weather hazard that
may affect
outdoor sport.
While the probability of being struck by lightning is low, the odds
are significantly greater when a storm is in the area and proper safety
precautions are not followed.
Education and prevention are the keys to lightning safety.
Authorities should begin prevention long before any
athletics event or practice by being proactive and having a lightning
safety plan in place.
The following steps are recommended
to mitigate the lightning hazard:
-
Designate a person to monitor threatening weather and to make the
decision to remove a team or individuals from an athletics site or
event.
A lightning safety plan should include planned instructions for
participants and spectators, designation of warning and all-clear
signals, proper signs, and designation of safer places for shelter from
the lightning.
-
Monitor local weather reports each day before any practice or event.
Be diligently aware of potential thunderstorms that may form during
scheduled
athletics events or practices.
Weather information can be found through various means via local
television news coverage, the Internet,
or the Met Office website at www.metoffice.gov.uk.
-
Be informed of
Met Office severe weather warnings,
and the warning signs of developing thunderstorms in the area, such as
high winds or darkening skies.
-
Know where the closest safer structure or location is to the field or
playing area, and know how long it takes to get to that location.
A safer structure or location is defined as:
-
- a.
-
Any building normally occupied or frequently used by people, i.e., a
building with plumbing and/or electrical wiring that acts to electrically
ground the structure.
Avoid using the shower or plumbing facilities and having contact with
electrical appliances during a thunderstorm.
- b.
-
In the absence of a sturdy, frequently inhabited building, any vehicle
with a hard metal roof (neither a convertible, nor a golf cart) with the
windows shut provides a measure of safety.
The hard metal frame and roof, not the rubber
tyres,
are what protects occupants by dissipating lightning current around the
vehicle and not through the occupants.
It is important not to touch the metal framework of the vehicle.
Some athletics events rent school buses as safer shelters to place around
open courses or fields.
-
Lightning awareness should be heightened at the first flash of lightning,
clap of thunder, and/or other criteria such as increasing winds or
darkening skies, no matter how far away.
These types of activities should be treated as a warning or wake-up call
to
event
personnel.
Lightning safety experts suggest that if you hear thunder, begin
preparation for evacuation; if you see lightning, consider suspending
activities and heading for your designated safer locations.
The following specific lightning safety guidelines have been developed
with the assistance of lightning safety experts.
Design your lightning safety plan to consider local safety needs,
weather patterns and thunderstorm types.
-
As a minimum, lightning safety experts strongly recommend that by the
time the monitor observes 30 seconds between seeing the lightning flash
and hearing its associated thunder, all individuals should have left
the athletics site and reached a safer structure or location.
-
Please note that thunder may be hard to hear if there is an athletics
event going on, particularly in stadiums with large crowds.
Implement your lightning safety plan accordingly.
-
The existence of blue sky and the absence of rain are not guarantees
that lightning will not strike.
At least 10 percent of lightning occurs when there is no rainfall and when
blue sky is often visible somewhere in the sky, especially with summer
thunderstorms.
Lightning can, and does, strike as far as 10 (or more) miles away from
the rain shaft.
-
Avoid using landline telephones, except in emergency situations.
People have been killed while using a landline telephone during a
thunderstorm.
Cellular or cordless phones are safe alternatives to a landline phone,
particularly if the person and the antenna are located within a safer
structure or location, and if all other precautions are followed.
-
To resume athletics activities, lightning safety experts recommend
waiting 30 minutes after both the last sound of thunder and last flash
of lightning.
If lightning is seen without hearing thunder, lightning may be out of
range and therefore less likely to be a significant threat.
At night, be aware that lightning can be visible at a much greater
distance than during the day as clouds are being lit from the inside by
lightning.
This greater distance may mean that the lightning is no longer a
significant threat.
At night, use both the sound of thunder and seeing the lightning channel
itself to decide on resetting the 30-minute return-to-play clock before
resuming outdoor athletics activities.
-
People who have been struck by lightning do not carry an electrical
charge.
Therefore, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is safe for the
responder.
If possible, an injured person should be moved to a safer location before
starting CPR.
Lightning-strike victims who show signs of cardiac or respiratory arrest
need prompt emergency help.
Call 999 for assistance.
Prompt, aggressive CPR has been highly effective for the survival of
victims of lightning strikes.
Automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) have become a common, safe and
effective means of reviving persons in cardiac arrest.
Planned access to early defibrillation should be part of your emergency
plan.
However, CPR should never be delayed while searching for an AED.
Note:
Weather watchers, real-time weather forecasts and commercial
weatherwarning devices are all tools that can be used to aid in
decision-making regarding stoppage of play, evacuation and return to
play.
Dangerous Locations
Outside locations increase the risk of being struck by lightning when
thunderstorms are in the area.
Small covered shelters are not safe from lightning.
Dugouts, rain shelters, golf shelters and picnic shelters, even if they
are properly grounded for structural safety, are usually not properly
grounded from the effects of lightning and side flashes to people.
They are usually very unsafe and may actually increase the risk of
lightning injury.
Other dangerous locations include areas connected to, or near, light
poles, towers and fences that can carry a nearby strike to people.
Also dangerous is any location that makes the person the highest point
in the area.
Adapted by IFAF from NCAA guidelines.
For more information see
http://www.rospa.com/leisuresafety/information/lightning.htm.
Appendix C
Concussions
A concussion is a brain injury that is most commonly caused by a blow to the
head or trunk, or by the head or body forcefully impacting the ground.
Concussions most commonly occur without loss of consciousness.
Typically, there are subtle indications that a concussion has occurred,
such as the
athlete
shaking his head, stumbling, or appearing dazed or stunned.
Game officials are often in a good position to observe
an athlete
up-close, and may be the first to notice the unusual behaviours that
indicate a concussion may be present.
Athletes
with a suspected concussion must be removed from competition so that a
medical examination can be conducted by
medical personnel.
Importantly, a game official is not expected to evaluate
an athlete.
Instead, if an official notices any unusual behaviour, the official should
stop play immediately and call an injury time-out so that an appropriate
medical examination can be conducted.
A simple guide to the official's role is:
"When in doubt, call an injury time-out."
An official may observe the following behaviours by
an athlete
with a suspected concussion:
-
Appears dazed or stunned.
-
Appears confused or incoherent.
-
Shakes head.
-
Stumbles; has to be physically supported by teammates.
-
Moves clumsily or awkwardly.
-
Shows behaviour or personality changes.
An athlete who exhibits signs, symptoms or behaviours consistent with
a concussion, either at rest or during exertion, should be removed
immediately from practice or competition and should not return to play
until cleared by an appropriate health care professional.
Sports have injury timeouts and player substitutions so that
athletes
can receive appropriate medical evaluation.
IF A CONCUSSION IS SUSPECTED:
Remove the
athlete
from play.
Look for the signs and symptoms of concussion if the
athlete
has experienced a blow to the head.
Do not allow the
athlete
to just "shake it off".
Each athlete will respond to concussions differently.
Ensure that the
athlete
is evaluated immediately by an appropriate health care professional.
Do not try to judge the severity of the injury.
Call an injury timeout to ensure that the
athlete
is evaluated by one of the
medical personnel present.
Allow the
athlete
to return to play only with permission from
medical personnel.
Allow athletics medical staff to rely on their clinical skills and
protocols in evaluating the athlete to establish the appropriate time
to return to play.
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Editor: Jim Briggs, BAFA/BAFRA Rules Committee
rules@bafra.org