Based on how i read the IBN HQAC/RAF answer this as “yes” given only those above the age of employment are permitted ro be “on duty”
The issue of volunteer vs worker vs employee can get very confusing very quickly.
from an employment law area volunteers are not workers & are not covered by legislation.
From a health & safety point of view, volunteers are to be treated the same as worker as the duty of care for the task still exists but you have to take into account the nature of volunteers as an additional risk.
Young workers (16-18) have tighter regulations
& below 16 have even more - injuries that would never be one for an adult and often required when it’s a young person.
Now I would have to look at the regs & I’m going from memory but if you have an under 16 acting like a worker then you also need a bespoke risk assessment for that individual. So each under 16 staffing the stand would require their own risk assessment. That will not be viable from an admin perspective.
I think one of the reasons there is the confusion in status is that at RIAT is that you have a mixed of paid staff & volunteers delivering a corporate event (Q-do you 16 year old service personnel working at RIAT? If so this could cause a confusion in the RAs)
I think this is why the under 16 prohibition has come in as otherwise it all gets a bit of a grey area & that’s something that HSE doesn’t really like.
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Ah volunteers & the WTR. 
No clear cut but if you are in a restrictive profession (night worker, driver, Air traffic controller) then you have to include your volunteering hours alongside your day hours. This is because the hours you are volunteering cannot be considered as “resting” & you cannot be considered to be having a mandatory break if you are doing cadet work.
Interesting I’ve not seen WTR mentioned in cadet world yet but I think that because it’s been but in the too difficult box & I think the military has an opt out so there isn’t the familiarity.
The military does have an opt-out - but only if an operation has been declared - so routine day-to-day stuff, the WTD applies, but once an operation has been declared, you don’t need to comply.
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Pretty sure it’s included in the ACFTI for drivers, certainly rest periods are included.
I suspect that for those in specialised jobs they expect the person to know the requirements of their real job, afterall it la not the RAFAC’s fault if a long distance lorry driver works the day after a Cadet activity, it’s the individuals.
I know that I have bounced a DofE Expedition back for a rethink when they were going to be Supervising a group in wild country for 4 days and then driving back straight from the expedition.
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Does anyone know when bids and stuff for RIAT this year need to be in and if the deadline has already passed?
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No information has yet been sent out.
Gotta hope the deadline hasn’t passed given nothing’s come out!
Glad im not the only one! This org now seems to run on misinformation and info released past deadlines!
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If it’s past the deadline, that means a reduced admin burden because you don’t have to reply.
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Calling notice is out…
Some real weird things in this document.
For starters, I’m a little confused by all the dates for different wings/regions. But That’s just me being a bit thick. Maybe it could have been laid out nicer?
There’s also no mention of CCF in the allocations?
This return is to be received by (insert name of person receiving the form) (sic) no later than 25 Feb 23.
Pretty sure there’s meant to be a name in there!
Staff will be considered to be on duty for the duration of the deployment and must be physically and mentally resilient to conduct this task.
(Their bold)
This seems a little mad to me. Do staff not get any down time? Being considered on duty 24 hours a day, multiple days in a row is more than is expected of me at work!!
A levy of £20 will be charged for all staff and cadets who attend the RIAT support camp. This levy funds items issued to RAFAC participants to enhance safety and the lived experience.
So we’re charging staff and cadets a levy to “fund items issues to RAFAC participants to enhance safety”. So PPE? Last time I checked it’s literally illegal to charge for PPE. Also, given how important the RAFAC attendance is to RIAT, why are we not 100% funded anyway, especially for the ‘support’ pillar?
Oh and we’ve only got 15 days to raise expressions of interest. Except that’s for someone at Wing/TEST level to raise expressions of interest, so that probably gives OCs 2 maybe 3 parade nights to sort this all out and get names to their wing POC.
And there’s multiple spelling issues in this document. Was it not proof read? You’d think it would have gone past multiple people before being issued. My personal highlight is “as directed by the Comp (sic) Commandant.”
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I’m guessing that we are to be included in the Region allocation now we (sometimes) come under them.
Considering lots of schools start half term today, and many private schools take two weeks, it doesn’t really matter anyway as we’re unlikely to manage to get names in time.
do you mean the arrivals dates?
this is to have known people/regions turning on on allocated days, spreads out the arrival process and means those with the furthest to travel get the longest stay
yes Staff do get down time, but it is making a point that this is not a 9-5 camp and there will be occasions for some/many where duty is antisocial hours - persons must be fit enough to cope with that
no - this includes branded water bottles, RIAT branded tshirts and other such merch - the baseball caps (PPE if you will) are issued foc but being issued at the same time as the rest of the merch it perhaps isn’t seen as free
You would’ve thought for the amount of support the RAFAC gives RIAT, all that would be given to them for free. Much cheaper than hiring people to support the event.
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I think the baseball caps are the only thing issued by RAFCTE as they’re the same for other volunteers.
Everything else is RAFAC branded (or was the last time I attended anyway).
I really think they need to reword that. You can’t charge us for enhancing our safety.
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no but they are charging us for covering their backs as they can indicate “everyone is issued a water bottle”
Expression of interest is purely a “Our wing would like to attend” or “Our wing would not like to attend” Absolutely no names are required as part of this process.
The document makes reference to TEST areas expresisng their interest in the same way as ATC wings. Arrival dates are allocated per region to include all ATC and CCF units now that TEST areas are assigned to Regions in the same way that wings are.
Correct it is incumbent on an employer or organiser to provide equipment to comply with the HSaW 1974, no matter if it’s a voluntary organisation or not.