If there was no ventilation this could cause participants to overheat and dehydrate. It could cause them to faint. This could easily be avoided by installing new lighting and ventilation. Gym technicians could also do regular checks on the lighting and ventilation to see if they are working as they should be this should reduce these kind of cases to none.
Equipment
I need to minimise the risk of injury so that it is small as possible. Everyone needs to wear correct clothing if not, an injury could occur. Only studs should be allowed, long earrings are not allowed because they could pull on something. Necklaces are not allowed for the same reason. Loose and baggy clothing is not acceptable. This can be avoided by people taking of their jewellery in the lockers provided by the gym. If clothes are too tight they could restrict movement. This could make it difficult to move and it will negatively affect your performances.
- Faulty or damaged equipment
This is important to protect participants and maintain a safe environment.
To minimise the risk you should report all faulty equipment to the health and safety officer as soon as it is noticed. You could display a notice on it saying that it is out of order. If the treadmill rattles or works with a jerking motion while doing an exercise stop immediately. You should check that equipment is not faulty before and after use.
Make sure cables are covered with a protective sleeve. Some sports such as swimming need specialist equipment like goggle’s and armbands (especially for beginners). Swimmers could have difficulty swimming if the armbands don’t work properly and they won’t be able to progress.
People
- Inappropriate warm up / lack of warm up
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Research on warm-ups and stretching has shown the warm-up to be the most important factor in preventing injury! It is designed to gradually increase blood flow. It prepares the body for exercise. It mentally prepares person for the activity ahead. If you don’t warm up you could pull a muscle. You should warm up for about 10-15minutes and the warm up should be sport/activity specific. If you do weights and lift a very heavy weight it you could pull a muscle, the weight that you carry needs to be gradually increased. You should always get your body used to whatever you are about to do, you should allow for adaptations in your body to occur.
Benefits of a warm up
- Allows joints to move more efficiently
- Dilation of capillaries
- Enables the oxygen in the blood to travel at a higher volume
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Release of
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Increased
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Increased production of located between the to reduce
- Increase of temperature in the muscles
- Decreased viscosity of blood
- Enables oxygen in the blood to travel with greater speed
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Facilitates activity
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Encourages the of oxygen from
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Decreased within the muscle
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Greater and of
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Increased force and speed of
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Increase of muscle
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Supply of energy through breakdown of
- Increase in speed of nerve impulse conduction.
If you have a lesson all trainers at the gym will make sure that at the beginning of the lesson that participants always warm up and at the end they will cool down. If you are unsure about what to do, ask the trainer!
If you haven’t got a lesson and just turn up to use the gym then you should already know the importance of a warm up. There should be posters around the gym telling people to warm up and basic rules on how to do this.
It is VERY important that during an activity that no one is eating. If you are in the gym with food/gum in your mouth it could cause for choking to occur. This could block the airway make breathing difficult and this could lead to unconsciousness and if medical help isn’t quickly given ultimately death. But we hope this never happens as we have a lot of qualified first aiders within the gym. Participants at their own risk should know that this is dangerous and not chew gum or eat food during a gym session. If the trainer who is taking charge of the lesson tries to make sure that no one is eating/chewing before the lesson that would reduce these kinds of incidents to almost none.
Environment
A swimmer on a swimming on a swimming pool which has too much chlorine in. The risk would be medium but this also depends on how sensitive the skin of the swimmer is. Certain skin conditions will be more prone to chemicals for example, eczema.
Depending on how much rubbish there is the risk is of a marathon runner, running on a surface with lots of litter on is quite high. The marathon runner could fall and this could potentially result in a broken arm.
People
A football player going into an intense 90 minutes game without having warmed up. His muscles will be worked very heavily when they are cold and this could lead to injuries such as muscle tearing. Although football is a very long and intense game so the risk of him sustaining an injury is very low. because general running and exercise can’t cause injury. A heavy tackle could cause injury in football. A tackle could cause a fracture. Defenders usually do more tackling than other players and strikers are usually the victim of the tackle.
A tennis player who has played too many tennis matches in a short period of time, and this in turn causes them to suffer from tennis elbow. Lots of matches without rest can place additional stress on the elbows. This will be a medium risk because tennis players will be coached professionally but this can just happen to tennis players over the course of time.
Equipment
A person on the treadmill wearing very baggy clothing. Clothes that are too baggy can get trapped or caught in the treadmill. It could get trapped on the treadmill belt. While he/she is running he/she could fall and injure themselves. You need to wear appropriate clothes. This is a medium risk.
A small child who is just learning how to swim with faulty armbands. The child will have a lot of difficulty learning how to swim or progressing their swimming skills further This is a very high risk because the child can could themselves because armbands don’t help them to float.
