ORIGINAL: KC36330
As the 'Safety Coordinator' for our club and due to recent repeat offenders I'm looking into creating a penalty system for those who violate the safety regulations set forth in AMA/Our Clubs field guidelines, constitution and bylaws. I was wondering if any other clubs out there have similar penalty systems in place.
example, first offense a verbal/written warning, second offense a monetary fine, third offense temporary suspension, further offenses result in a banning from the club, etc.........
any input is welcome.
I picked up on this thread in the Clubhouse forum. Guess it was moved from there to here.
As a long time club officer, worker, etc. etc. I agree with others that penalties do not work in model airplane clubs. There are far too many little 'cliques' in clubs to get something like that in check as far as the good guys-bad guys go.
First as a safety coordinator, you have to have full support of the Club Officers to accomplish anything.
Funny ah, not so funny story. Club pres. appoints
A to be Safety officer.
A happened to be highly experienced in AMA matters, club set-ups and operations, and a disciplined personality. Well, President's little clique were the worst at ignoring the published rules ref. frequency control. (2.4 not yet on board) Several planes had been crashed, mostly by lesser experienced fliers, so they were just that, and their fault!
A started to keeping records, and jumped on a few of the "washed clean" types one day. Big talk at next club meeting. Pres. and Clique changed the rules to lessen the procedures to - in A's opinion - an unsafe operation. A had expected same and had a resignation letter ready. Pres. appointed a Smiling Agreeable to position. Such has never discussed Safety in past 3 years, nor done anything about problems. Newbies seldom hear about freq. control of any kind.
There is much more to the story, however IMO, if you have Club Officers that back you, after you all discuss the problems, then you have some power to push an agenda. If they do not have an interest in the program, it is dead and you get a name of being less that a good guy tip-toeing through the tulips. 'Nuff Said.