Templates and tips for clearly documenting guidelines and communicating tobacco control measures to your members and spectators.
Activated club policies during Healthy Sporting Environments program included partially and fully smoke-free policies (Healthy Sporting Environments evaluation)
A ‘policy’ is a set of principles or rules that guide an organisation towards its overarching goals. They are generally endorsed by the committee or board and published somewhere that everyone can find them such as a dedicated ‘Policies’ section of the organisation website.
Change is often more achievable and lasting if backed up by policy. This is because having a policy can help you:
- Communicate a consistent message about smoking in your organisation.
- Plan and agree on a direction for change that aligns with the organisation’s values and priorities.
- Set specific goals and support members as they make the changes.
- Helps deal with any negative feedback.
A smoke-free policy is most effective when it has the support of the committee and is regularly reviewed. When establishing what needs to be included in a policy some key areas to consider are:
- Rationale
- Objectives
- Implementation
- Monitoring and Evaluation
- Links to other Policies
- Responsible Officer
“Program success requires members to champion cultural change, a well-run committee with good governance and a whole club commitment” (Healthy Sporting Environments evaluation)
Other important points to consider when developing a policy include:
Why – What is it that you want for your organisation? This may include:
- Adhering to legislation requirements
- Supporting health and wellbeing of members
- Improving/maintaining your reputation in the community
- Providing a safe environment that reduces risk of illness and disease
- Meeting community expectations about providing a safe environment
What – What will you be changing? Consider:
- Changes to the organisation that will minimise risk of second-hand smoke exposure
- Encouraging members to Quit smoking
- Create smoke-free or partially smoke-free settings
- Focusing on junior members
- De-normalise smoking
How – What changes will you put in place to achieve your goals? This may include:
- Providing and encouraging smoke-free or partially smoke-free environments
- Reduce the visibility of smoking
- Deliver education on smoking to members
- Actively promote strategies to quit smoking
Support and endorsement:
- This is not always easy and requires a willingness to listen and possibly compromise.
- Consider providing your committee with some background information for discussion on quitting and its influence on health and wellbeing.
- Ensure that the committee and members understand how a smoke-free policy supports the organisation’s overarching goals.
- Document how this policy relates to or supports other established policies, such as those on responsible use of alcohol and inclusiveness.
Promotion of the policy:
How will you communicate your smoke-free policy to members, supporters and visitors? Some of the ways to promote your new policy could be to:
- Display it around the organisation
- Distribute it with membership or enrolment forms
- Add it in your organisation’s handbook
- Write an article about it in your newsletter or website/social media page
- Distribute it at functions or meetings
- Email a copy to every member, with some background on why it was created.
For more information on how to develop and implement a policy, click on this link
A non-compliance strategy needed to address policy breaches around smoking (Healthy Sporting Environments evaluation)
Another policy to consider is a non-compliance policy. This can either sit within your smoke-free policy or can be a stand-alone document to support you in managing policy breaches.
Click here to view the Donald Golf and Bowls Club non-compliance policy.
“Seymour Cricket Club identified that there were many smokers at the club and wanted to reduce the impact it was having on club members and the club image. They began work on the Reduced Tobacco Use module and following a mostly positive response from members on their smoking survey, implemented a partial smoke free policy from January 1st, 2014 including banning smoking at junior events prior to the April 2014 legislation. They have found members and visitors to be responsive and compliant to the policy change.”
The following resources include some existing sport specific smokefree policy examples
“Kerang Bowling Club adheres to the Bowls Victoria tobacco policy and has also tailored their own club policy to meet the specific needs of their clubs”.
Good Sports Smoking Management Policy Template
AFL Victoria Smoke free Policy and Club template