Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Mobile phones a pain

Mobile Phones a pain in the posterior
For some time now I had complaints from various people through out the country about mobile telephones being used during lesson times, this modern invention may be a life saver to some but to others it is a nuisance. Nobody ever talks quietly on a mobile they all shout and 99% of the time the call is completely frivolous up until now it has just been an annoyance but now insurance companies are beginning to worry. Some accidents, so I am told, have occurred when mobiles have been used they have distracted students and they have been injured. I have also been told that Instructors sometimes leave the Mat to answer mobiles leaving the class unsupervised. The Health and safety issues are explosive how long before someone makes a claim against a Coach for negligence. So before the Insurance companies impose a mobile ban, all members, member clubs and coaches of my organisations will abide by the following rules.
1) All mobile phones must be turned off or switched to silent when entering the Dojo
2) If on silent and call comes through on vibrate the recipient must leave the Dojo and go to place where they can not be heard by the class before they answer
3) No Coach is to answer a mobile while they taking a class. If they need their phone switched on silent because they have a sick relative on something similar, they will leave their phone with someone else who will answer in the manner above, if it is emergency the coach may leave the Mat and dojo to deal with the call.
4) If the Coach leaves the mat the lesson must not continue even if there is an assistant
5) Mobile Phones should only be used in a DOJO in case of emergency
The points listed seem obvious to me but maybe not to others a copy of this letter has been sent to our insurers. The Health and Safety of our students is paramount, there is a time and place for everything and a MOBILE in the DOJO is not one of them

Martin Clarke 8th Dan

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