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Updated Guide to Safe Scouting


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The html and pdf versions of the Guide to Safe Scouting are now updated and available for your use on www.scouting.org.   

 

Since you are excited to go review the updates, and will appreciate the positive, proactive guidance provided here is a direct link to the Table of Contents.

 

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/HealthandSafety/GSS/toc.aspx

 

(are additional commentary added) The updates are:  

 

Front Matter: Scouter Code of Conduct added.

 

II. Aquatics Safety: The Safety Afloat section was updated. (Whitewater - Class II or above for helmets - matching industry best practice)

 

IV. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drugs: The entire chapter was updated and renamed. (simplified, reference Scouter Code of Conduct)

 

IX. Insurance: The Automobile Liability Insurance section was updated. (mostly due to updated auto coverages by councils, some wording for clarity)

 

X. Transportation: The Automobiles, SUVs, and Vans section was updated.  (simplified, removed exceptions that I believe have been debated on the forum)

 

 

RichardB

 

 

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...

IV. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drugs: The entire chapter was updated and renamed. (simplified, reference Scouter Code of Conduct)

... 

RichardB

@@RichardB I find the new section on Alcohol less clear.

 

The old GTSS clearly stated:

Alcohol

The following statement was approved by the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America:

It is the policy of the Boy Scouts of America that the use of alcoholic beverages and controlled substances is not permitted at encampments or activities on property owned and/or operated by the Boy Scouts of America, or at any activity involving participation of youth members.

i.e. not allowed around scouts or on BSA property.

 

The new one says:

As outlined in the Scouter Code of Conduct, Scouting activities are not a place to possess, distribute, transport, consume, or use any of the following items prohibited by law or in violation of any Scouting rules, regulations, and policies: alcoholic beverages or controlled substances, including marijuana.

Which says alcohol is prohibited only when it's illegal or in violation of "any Scouting rules, regulations, and policies". But it doesn't say what the rules, regulations or policies about alcohol are. The Scouter Code of Conduct says basically the same thing.

 

I find this new GTSS section significantly more ambiguous than the old one.

 

How is the new one better than the old "no alcoholic beverages" statement?

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Thanks for this. I read it and was having the same thoughts. It seems more vague than the previous version.

 

Call me cynical.  The General Counsel needed more latitude to stick the bat up the volunteer's ### when a situation arises.

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Call me cynical.  The General Counsel needed more latitude to stick the bat up the volunteer's ### when a situation arises.

 

[heavysarcasm]

 

ROFL...I thought it was agreed in the many other threads that BSA never pushes the liability and risk to the local level on purpose. ;)

 

[/heavysarcasm]

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@@RichardB I find the new section on Alcohol less clear.

 

The old GTSS clearly stated:

i.e. not allowed around scouts or on BSA property.

 

The new one says:

Which says alcohol is prohibited only when it's illegal or in violation of "any Scouting rules, regulations, and policies". But it doesn't say what the rules, regulations or policies about alcohol are. The Scouter Code of Conduct says basically the same thing.

 

I find this new GTSS section significantly more ambiguous than the old one.

 

How is the new one better than the old "no alcoholic beverages" statement?

 

I agree that it is not more clear than before, but I expect that the primary driver of the change was to remove the "no alcohol on Scout property" restriction, so that Summit would be able to rent itself out to other groups that did permit alcohol.

 

Local councils probably would also benefit by being able to host fundraisers (like at their nearby camp or a rented facility) more in-line with common business practices.

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I agree that it is not more clear than before, but I expect that the primary driver of the change was to remove the "no alcohol on Scout property" restriction, so that Summit would be able to rent itself out to other groups that did permit alcohol.

 

Local councils probably would also benefit by being able to host fundraisers (like at their nearby camp or a rented facility) more in-line with common business practices.

Which makes some sense. But they could have just replaced it with something that clearly said "no alcohol around the scouts". Instead we get "check the rules" without a listing of the rules.

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  • 2 months later...

I guess these adult codes of conduct are the new trend.

For your comparison, here are the ones for other world scouting organizations that I could quickly find:

 

Canada: http://www.scouts.ca/policies/Code-of-Conduct.pdf

UK: http://members.scouts.org.uk/supportresources/3099/young-people-first-code-of-good-practice-for-adults-yellow-card

Austraila: http://www.nsw.scouts.com.au/images/stories/LSG23_CodeOfConduct_Apr15.pdf

South Africa: http://wiki.scouts.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Members-Code-of-Conduct.pdf

 

They all seem to have popped up in the past three years. (Although maybe some of these are revisions of older documents.)

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I guess these adult codes of conduct are the new trend.

For your comparison, here are the ones for other world scouting organizations that I could quickly find:

 

Canada: http://www.scouts.ca/policies/Code-of-Conduct.pdf

UK: http://members.scouts.org.uk/supportresources/3099/young-people-first-code-of-good-practice-for-adults-yellow-card

Austraila: http://www.nsw.scouts.com.au/images/stories/LSG23_CodeOfConduct_Apr15.pdf

South Africa: http://wiki.scouts.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Members-Code-of-Conduct.pdf

 

They all seem to have popped up in the past three years. (Although maybe some of these are revisions of older documents.)

 

Qwasze, thank you for posting those.  I decided to compare the statements on alcohol in each one and found the following:
 
Canada:
 
"I WILL NOT EVER:... 
Consume alcohol on Scouting activities for youth." 
 
UK:
 
"Do not drink alcohol when you are directly responsible for young people and never allow young people on Scouting activities to drink alcohol."
 
South Africa (two statements):
 
"1.2 Members in SCOUTS South Africa are expected to;...
1.2.11 Refrain from drinking alcohol in front of youth and/or providing alcohol products for youth."
 
 
"No member or other person who has a duty of care shall use or permit the use of alcohol, illegal drugs and chemical or related substances while supervising, partaking in or presenting any facet of SSA’s programmes."
 
BSA:
 
"I will not possess, distribute, transport, consume, or use any of the following items prohibited by law or in violation of any Scouting rules, regulations and policies:
Alcoholic beverages or controlled substances, including marijuana."
 
There was no specific statement for Australia; perhaps their policy is in a different document.  The statements from Canada, UK and South Africa are clear statements about what is prohibited.  The BSA policy confuses things by inserting the statement "prohibited by law or in violation of any Scouting rules, regulations and policies."   So what are the rules, regulations and policies on the subject of alcohol?
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