Committee Formed To Enhance Sports Safety

Committee Formed To Enhance Sports Safety

The Singapore Sports Council (SSC) today released details of a 12-member Sports Safety Committee tasked to come up with recommendations to promote and enhance sports safety in Singapore.

The Committee will look into the following:

• Review the overall safety measures, including medical support, currently adopted by National Sports Associations (NSA), sports event organisers, and sports facilities providers.

• Recommend a comprehensive framework that will help to enhance the level of sports safety in Singapore. This framework could cover possible areas like preventive measures, training, guidelines and requirements for event organisers and facilities providers, public education etc.

• Propose an implementation plan for the proposed sports safety framework.

The Sports Safety Committee is chaired by Dr Benedict Tan, Head of Changi General Hospital's Sports Medicine Division, and comprises members from the medical field, sports fraternity and other sectors. The Committee will be tapping on additional resource persons and experts as well.

Dr Benedict Tan said, "The Committee aims to bring sports safety standards for local sports in line with international best practice. We will review current practices and recommend how best to plug the gaps. The review will cover all aspects of sports safety, ranging from pre-participation screening to medical support plans. This would ensure safe and enjoyable sports participation for Singaporeans."

SSC's Chief Executive Officer, Mr Oon Jin Teik, added, "The Sports Safety Committee is a significant step forward to review the safety system that meets the needs of the sports industry. SSC will continue to encourage NSAs and all sports service providers to abide by these safety guidelines, thereby raising the level of sports safety excellence of the entire sports industry."

The Committee will put up its report to SSC in August 2007.