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Safeguarding

Safeguarding: the policies, named with their dates.

FIS and the national federations publish policies on protecting athletes from harassment and abuse. This page names those policies with their editions and dates and says what each covers. It records no cases and is not a way to report a concern.

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This page explains what governing bodies, standards bodies and safety bodies publish. It is not a substitute for lessons from a qualified instructor, avalanche training or medical advice.

This page names policies and what they say about themselves. It records no cases and no names of private individuals. It is not a reporting channel.

FIS: the Snow Safe Policy (Edition 2018)

FIS publishes the "FIS Snow Safe Policy: Safeguarding Athletes and Participants from Harassment and Abuse". The edition found is Edition 2018, first published in June 2018, and the policy says it is to be reviewed at least every three years (section 2.3). Whether FIS has issued a newer edition was not checked.

Who it covers

The policy applies to individuals and organisations within FIS's governance or disciplinary jurisdiction, to FIS staff and volunteers, and to every FIS-registered athlete, including those with temporary registration (section 1.4).

What it counts as harm

It adopts the categories of harassment and abuse from the IOC Consensus Statement of 2016: psychological abuse, physical abuse, sexual harassment, sexual abuse and neglect (section 1.7).

Welfare officers

  • FIS. FIS appoints a Lead Welfare Officer (section 2.1).
  • Championships. The host National Ski Association appoints an Event Welfare Officer for FIS World Championships and Junior World Championships (sections 4.1 and 4.2).
  • Other events. FIS strongly advises the same arrangements for all FIS calendar events, children's events included.

What FIS will and will not do

FIS says it will not investigate concerns where a criminal offence is suspected, and will refer them to the public authorities (section 2.1).

What it asks of national associations

The policy says every National Ski Association that provides activities for athletes should have a written safeguarding policy and a Safeguarding Officer, and it recommends the IOC Safeguarding Toolkit (sections 1.1 and 5).

Its link to the competition rules

The policy cites article 205 of the FIS International Competition Rules, on competitors' obligations and rights, which gives competitors of any background the right to take part in a secure environment protected from abuse (section 1.3).

United States: U.S. Ski & Snowboard and SafeSport

The federation's SafeSport page returned an error when the research tried to open it, so this rests on search-result excerpts and is unconfirmed. They say members agree to abide by the SafeSport Code as a condition of membership, and that staff and others in authority over athletes must complete initial SafeSport training and a yearly refresher.

Canada: Alpine Canada and Abuse-Free Sport

Alpine Canada's pages returned errors, so this too rests on search-result excerpts and is unconfirmed. They say that in November 2022 Alpine Canada Alpin announced it had signed on to Abuse-Free Sport, the independent programme run by the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC), after adopting the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport (UCCMS), with the transition due by 31 December 2022. A later Alpine Canada statement is described as saying it has implemented the UCCMS and moved safe-sport complaints fully to the OSIC.

What this page leaves out

The safeguarding policies of GB Snowsport, Snowsport England, Swiss-Ski and other national federations were not collected, so they are not described here. Each federation's own current policy is the authority for its members. Concussion rules, which some of the same bodies publish, are on concussion by body.

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