First Aid, Safeguarding, Equality & Diversity Training, Guidance and advice for Combat Sports Gyms and Full Time Martial Arts Academies
About Us
GYMSAFE is the one stop safety management solutions provider for the owners, managers and head instructors of Combat Sports Gyms and full time Martial Arts Academies in the UK. As owners ourselves, we know all too well how much work is involved in the day to day running of a Combat gym, especially the raft of unseen, thankless tasks that go on behind the scenes to keep your students happy on the mats.! We also know there’s always something else to done, be it chasing student memberships fees, tracking progress, promoting the Gym on social media, cleaning the mats, fixing kit etc so your time is precious, and it’s why we are here to help!
Some of the mundane yet very important stuff that you need to do, we’ve packaged up into one trustworthy place for you. We offer specifically tailored training, guidance and advice on matters of student safety, namely FIRST AID, SAFEGUARDING, EQUALITY & DIVERSITY Training that has been specifically designed for Combat Sports Gyms and full time Martial Arts Academies. So rather than you spending precious time doing the all of the research yourself, working out if you need something or not, whether you’re covered or not, writing the policies and procedures yourself, then shopping around and organising training events etc we’ve done the work for you!
Of course you can find plenty of training providers out there that offer courses in the subjects we cover, and some of them will be cheaper no doubt, but what they don’t have is the contextual experience of being a longstanding active Combat Sports / Martial Arts practitioner or of many years running a Combat Sports gym, or better still, both!
Why is that important? Well to start with, here’s a very good dictionary definition of what “training” actually is:
“Training is the process of learning the skills that you need for a particular job”
Simple, but the one thing everyone forgets is that the training environment should be the same or as close as possible to the expected environment of the event! As gym owners you instinctively already know that, if you’re preparing for a boxing match then you need to do your training in a ring, if you’re going to fight MMA, train in a cage etc but, for example, for some reason people think its ok to go off and learn First Aid in a classroom …. when you’re going to need to do it in the gym, in your training kit, possibly with lots people around being busy with what they came to your gym to do etc
It’s our contention that with a training provider who doesn’t know the Combat Sport, or, doesn’t have a grasp of the nuances particular to running a Combat Sport/Martial Arts training environment …. or better still, both, then theres a good chance their training is going to be missing some pretty vital insights! In other words, the training isn’t as good as it could be or should be, and where student safety is concerned, thats not a good thing at all!
Oh and just to be really clear, to us, none of the stuff we do is just a rubber stamping exercise for you to get a certificate or procedure on the gym wall that shows you’ve done a course. A piece of paper is no proof that you have, nor does it give you, the confidence you will need to act in a medical emergency, nor is it proof you are serious about Safeguarding the Children in your care, or indeed serious about creating an environment of Equality and Diversity in your gym!
Only education that has developed your Self-Efficacy (def: one's belief in one's ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task) for First Aid or culturally embedded protocols for Safeguarding and Equality & Diversity really work, and you derive these only from seriously designed, insightful training & education, not from pieces of paper on a wall!
“Where student safety is concerned, with our training, we simply will not compromise!”
First Aid education
Since Oct 2013 the Health and Safety at Work Act has clearly placed a duty on every employer to select a competent provider for their First Aid Training. As a full time Academy owner you’re an employer, even if it’s only you doing the teaching, but if you have volunteer instructors teaching, they are deemed as employees in this regard too!. Our GYMSAFE First Aid courses are purposely designed to meet the desired intentions of both combat gym owners and the relevant national governing bodies: that is, to maximise student safety in the practice of their chosen Combat Sport, whilst at the same time addressing the gym owners legal obligations under the Health and Safety at work legislation.
safeguarding
If you have Juniors & Teens or vulnerable Adults training at your GYM then you should have reasonable and praciticable Safeguarding measures in place to protect them. It really is every gym members responsibility to report any concerns they may have about the health and welfare of the more vulnerable in our midst. Do your members know this? do they know who to talk to? Do you have the recommended policies in place? If they come to you as the Gym owner do you know what steps must be taken next? We can provide the training for Safeguarding, along with the necessary template policies and the procedures to help keep them, your instructors, your club members and you, as the gym owner, safe!
equality Diversity & Inclusivity
Are you fully committed to the principles of equality of opportunity? Do do ensure that job applicants, employees, workers, office holders, volunteers, participants or club members (“Stakeholders”) are not unlawfully discriminated against because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation (together known as the "Protected Characteristics"). Do you know that you are required by law not to unlawfully discriminate against your “Stakeholders”?
Do you recognise your legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010? Well these are often issues that slip through the net, sort of a “you may think don’t need it, until you need it, but if you ever do need it, you’ll really wish you already had it!” type thing! We can provide the training for you, along with working with you to produce and embed your own policies and the procedures in order to make make and keep your Gym legally compliant.