NOTICE. LISTEN. ACT.
Sport needs safeguarding.
Splashdiving should empower people. Nobody should have to accept abuse to belong to a crew, improve their skills or enter a competition. This policy draft addresses sexual violence, psychological and physical violence, and abuse of power.
Please note: Working draft 0.1 · 24 October 2026. This draft has not yet been adopted as an operational safeguarding policy. Named safeguarding leads and cover, independent specialist advice, a local risk assessment, secure reporting routes, and professional and legal review must be in place before use. Independent external support is already available.
Scope and responsibility
This draft is intended as a minimum framework for training, workshops, school partnerships, competitions, shows, travel and related digital communication organised by Splashdiving. It protects children, young people and adults, especially people in dependent relationships. It does not automatically bind independent clubs or operators. Organisers, schools and partners must explicitly agree responsibilities and application beforehand. Existing school and statutory duties remain unaffected.
Our approach and participants’ rights
Dignity, bodily autonomy and participants’ welfare come before performance, brand interests or reputation. Everyone may refuse an activity, touch, recording or conversation and raise concerns without retaliation. Nobody has to approach their own coach first. Protection applies regardless of age, gender, disability, background, religion, sexual orientation or ability. Adults and organisations are responsible for prevention, not children who experience abuse.
Assess local risks together
Before a new programme, document a risk assessment with participants, where possible parents or guardians, the operator and specialist advisers. Examine changing rooms, showers, secluded tower areas, physical assistance in swimwear, individual sessions, selection and judging power, media production, transport, overnight stays and private messages. Assign an action, owner and review date to every risk. Include accessible reporting routes and the needs of younger participants.
Accountability and independent support
Before activities begin, the responsible organisation names a lead and at least two trained safeguarding contacts, or one contact with reliably available cover. Publish their roles, availability and authority clearly. Anyone personally involved in or accused in a case must not handle it; an agreed independent alternative takes over. Separate coaching and selection decisions from complaint handling wherever possible. Involve an external specialist service in advance. These operational roles have not yet been filled for this working draft.
Recruit and train people carefully
Coaches, carers, judges, media staff and volunteers receive role-specific briefings and sign a code of conduct. For regular or intensive work with minors, review relevant qualifications, suitability and references; agree reference requests beforehand. Professionally and legally establish whether an enhanced criminal-record certificate is appropriate or required for each role. Handle any inspection with data minimisation, not routine copies or public disclosure. A certificate does not replace other measures. Induction before the first assignment and at least annual refresher training are proposed internal standards.
Code of conduct at the water
Physical assistance must have a professional purpose, be explained beforehand and agreed with the participant. A refusal ends the assistance; necessary action in an acute rescue takes priority. No sexualised comments about bodies, humiliation, pushing or forced jumps. Adults enter minors’ changing areas only for a legitimate, pre-agreed reason with announcement. No one-to-one shower situations and no recording there. Individual sessions must be agreed, transparent and observable. Secret meetings, sexual relationships between adults and minor participants, and exploitation of care-related dependency are prohibited. With adults, disclose and resolve conflicts of interest and dependency.
Digital contact, images, transport and overnight stays
Use agreed, traceable organisational channels, involving parents or guardians appropriately for minors. No disappearing or secret chats, sexualised content or private secrecy agreements. Agree image use separately from participation and obtain the required permissions. Refusal to be filmed must not cause disadvantage. Agree supervision, room arrangements and private space before trips. Minors do not share bedrooms with supervising adults; necessary exceptions such as family care require explicit prior arrangements. No unannounced one-to-one transport.
Make raising concerns easy
Before an activity, explain names, contacts, cover and external advice routes verbally and in accessible writing. Provide personal and secure written reporting plus a simple feedback route. Relatives, witnesses and anonymous reporters may also raise concerns. Anonymous reports may limit follow-up but must be taken seriously. People may bring someone they trust and do not have to use internal routes. General website and application email accounts are not secure case-reporting systems. Explain limits of confidentiality before discussing sensitive details.
Response: protect first, do not investigate alone
In immediate danger, stop the situation, safely prevent contact with the person accused and arrange medical or police help as needed. Then listen calmly, take the account seriously, ask no leading questions and do not promise secrecy. Record dates, observations and voluntarily shared words factually, separating observation from interpretation. No amateur interrogations, premature confrontation, forced reconciliation or mediation. An impartial safeguarding lead promptly seeks specialist advice and plans next steps with the person affected. Involve minors appropriately for their age. Include parents or guardians unless that would create a safeguarding risk. Assess referrals to child-protection authorities, police or other services with professional advice and applicable legal duties. Do not delay urgent protection.
Protective action, fair process and privacy
Temporary restrictions, suspension or exclusion from a venue must reflect safeguarding needs and be legally supported; they do not determine guilt. No threats or sporting retaliation against affected people or reporters. Share only necessary information with authorised people, never names or case details in group chats, profiles or press statements. Keep case records separately with restricted access and agreed retention and review periods. Check legal grounds, responsibility, secure transmission and privacy notices before establishing internal reporting systems. Coordinate public communication without identifying people affected.
Aftercare, review and rehabilitation
Explain independent psychological and legal support and allow people to choose their involvement wherever possible. Plan return to training and protection from unwanted contact individually. Review organisational structures with external support after incidents; internal closure does not replace any necessary independent review. If a suspicion is cleared, plan appropriate rehabilitation. An unproven allegation is not automatically a false report. Withdrawal of a report alone does not justify ending necessary protective action.
Implementation, adoption and annual review
Before use, document the risk assessment, code, suitability checks, roles, secure reporting, external emergency contacts and privacy procedures. Give participants and guardians a short accessible version. The responsible organisation adopts the reviewed policy with a date, named owners and a review date. Review at least annually, after relevant incidents and whenever the programme changes, incorporating participants’ feedback. Do not describe this draft as an implemented safeguarding standard before that work is complete.
Jan Hempel Stiftung
Oliver Hillebrecht co-founded the Jan Hempel Stiftung and is a member of its advisory board. We provide a separate link to the foundation here. This reference does not imply a formal partnership, review of this policy or an operational case-advice service.
The foundation website is currently under construction. For support with violence in sport, use the independent Safe Sport contact shown on this page.
A policy on a website alone cannot protect people. Accessible contacts, clear processes and consistent action matter. This draft does not replace development with a specialist safeguarding service or legal review. The German and English texts are a shared working framework, not a claim of legal compliance in every country.
Professional reference: dsj/DOSB resources on risk assessment, codes of conduct, recruitment, response and privacy and DOSB safeguarding-policy guidance. This is an original draft, not a policy reviewed by dsj or DOSB.
Editorial version: 24 October 2026.
