The duty of care risk hiding in plain sight

Skin cancer remains one of the most common cancers in the UK, and incidence continues to rise. At the same time, duty of care expectations in sport and physical activity have evolved significantly over the past decade. Concussion, safeguarding and environmental risk are now embedded within modern sport delivery. As UK summers intensify, UV and heat exposure are now moving into that same category.

No longer an acceptable by-product of participation

There is a growing cultural shift underway across sport and physical activity. Historically, sunburn has often been treated as an unfortunate but largely tolerated consequence of time spent outdoors. That position is becoming increasingly difficult to justify.

Evidence shows that experiencing just one blistering sunburn in childhood or adolescence can approximately double the risk of developing melanoma later in life. In this context, preventable sunburn during organised activity is a foreseeable welfare risk.

For organisations, clubs and delivery professionals, this also creates a parallel consideration of reputational exposure.

When exposure is predictable, UV levels are publicly available, protective actions are widely understood and participants are under supervised care, preventable sunburn begins to look less like bad luck and more like a foreseeable outcome.

As duty-of-care expectations rise across sport, routine exposure and preventable sunburn are increasingly seen as things that should be anticipated and managed through consistent practice and improving workforce confidence. This reflects the same evolution already seen in areas such as concussion awareness, CPR training and safeguarding, where foreseeable risks have gradually become embedded within everyday professional practice.

What ‘good’ looks like in an outdoor session

The practical difference between awareness and competence is that competence shows up in small, repeatable actions. When UV is elevated, good practice tends to look like:

• a quick UV Index check as part of normal session planning
• clear, normalised prompts (“UV is 3+ today – let’s protect skin”)
• sensible timing choices where possible (shifting drills away from midday peaks)
• built-in ‘apply and hydrate’ moments alongside water breaks
• visible role modelling from staff
• simple environmental cues on site (shade, signage, accessible sunscreen provision).

 

None of this requires perfection, but a routine will make all the difference. The workforce does not need to become dermatologists – it needs a usable operating rhythm.

One simple decision rule helps:

If you can feel the sun, check the UV. If UV is 3+, protect.

Infrastructure signals

For coaches, activity leaders and outdoor professionals, UV exposure extends beyond the occasional to a structural foundation of the role. Training sessions, competitions, events and seasonal programmes place large parts of the workforce outside during peak UV months, often for prolonged periods.

And the response of major sector bodies is changing.

Sun and heat protection is increasingly being recognised by leading sport and outdoor organisations as part of workforce competence rather than an optional personal precaution. Professional bodies including UK Coaching, the Association for Physical Education (afPE) and the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Institute of Outdoor Learning (IOL) are already engaging with competence-based approaches to support their workforce.

The shift underway is about more than awareness. It is normalising practical competence across the outdoor workforce. This evolution reflects the simple reality that predictable environmental exposure requires predictable professional response.

Alongside workforce learning, there are early signs that sun and heat protection is beginning to appear more visibly within the outdoor environment itself.

Sport England has confirmed that Sunguarding® sun safety stations are eligible equipment within Movement Fund applications, giving clubs and community organisations a practical, funded route to provide on-site sunscreen access. This provides, for the first time, a clear funding pathway for clubs wishing to embed visible sun safety provision on site.

Visible infrastructure changes what organisations communicate culturally. A UV Safety Station on site signals that UV protection is expected, supported and normalised rather than left to chance or personal memory.

This opportunity matters, because behaviour change in sport rarely occurs through education alone. And, when expectations are clearly signalled, protective actions are easy to take and the environment visibly supports the behaviour, the process can accelerate.

What the workforce needs in practice

Feedback from across the sector shows that outdoor professionals have had their fill of awareness messaging. Now, they are looking for clear, usable guidance that fits the reality of live delivery environments.

The one-hour Sunguarding® Course was developed specifically in response to this need. Endorsed by CIMSPA (1 CPD point) and now used by more than 2,000 coaches, teachers and outdoor professionals, the course focuses on practical decision-making rather than theory alone.

Participants learn how to:

• use the UV Index confidently in day-to-day planning
• anticipate higher-exposure sessions
• support participant protection behaviours
• manage sun and heat risk in real time
• lead by example and understand their own influence
• embed simple protective routines into normal delivery.

 

The emphasis throughout is on confidence, consistency and professional judgement.

An increasingly essential part of modern sport delivery
The direction of travel across the sector is becoming clearer. Risk management has now become an expectation. As such, sun and heat competence is beginning to move into the same space.

For coaches, activity leaders and outdoor providers, the question is how quickly practice adapts.

Small, well-embedded changes in workforce confidence today will play an important role in keeping outdoor sport and physical activity both safe and sustainable in the years ahead. By clarifying expectations, reducing friction and reinforcing routine behaviours, competence becomes culture.

Key takeaways for workforce leaders

If you are responsible for coach development, operations or participant welfare, three actions make a disproportionate difference:

• Treat UV and heat exposure as part of overall duty of care.
• Give staff a simple trigger and script, starting with UV 3+ = protect now.
• Reduce friction by making protection easy to do on site (time, prompts and access).

 

This is the same pattern the sector has followed in other areas. By clarifying expectations, making the right behaviour easy and reinforcing it until it becomes normal, competence becomes culture.

About the author

This article was written by Michelle Baker, Chief Executive of the Melanoma Fund. As a CIMSPA Training Provider Partner, The Melanoma Fund offers endorsed training as well as supporting resources for the outdoor workforce.

Explore the CIMSPA-endorsed Sunguarding® course and more by visiting the Melanoma Fund website.