Safety

[yeoldearmourer]

Any coach or club that allow there fencers to come to even a local event without a plaston is asking for trouble. It up to the referees to enforce safety
rules. AJ was referee at a event and the first two fencers didn't have their plaston on and she raise cane about it and refuse to referee in till everyone was wearing one. She was the highest rated referee there and as such since it a major safety issues that the USFA is pushing she had the power to stop the event since she was also a direct representative of the FOC and the USFA as a 4 rated referee. She could have been held resoniable
for any injury to a fencer without proper clothing. What some clubs don't realize if the don't follow the rules the USFA club insurance will not cover the event or practice. At RENO they brief the referee on their duties to enforce safety. The 5 members of my family are rated referee and we will never comprise on the subject of safety. Thank you all. BYe for awhile now I will lurking and not posting anymore until I can no longer take something so personal.

SAFETY IS ALWAYS FIRST

[mlr2fence]

Good for her!!! I too, feel that safety is too often overlooked with people taking a nonchalance attitude about it. Yes,....the odds are...but if it happens to you it doesn't matter if its 1 in 100 or 1 in 1 million.

[Frank Pratt]

It's pretty much the cheapest price of safety gear you'll ever buy, and it's specifically designed to stop a broken blade from entering a rather critical area of the body (e.g. thought the jacket's armpit seam and into the lung,) I'm surprised that people would willingly do without it.

[Purple Fencer]

Happened to me at a San Bernardinbo event a few months back. I was asked to direct a sabre pool and a couple of new fencers didn't have the underarm protector. I told them to go get one or they wouldn't be allowed to fenc. one had to buy one from me.

This is why I wrote the primer package on my website.....

[HDG]

Suppliers should start including these in the "electric starter kits" that so many new competitors seem to buy -- better yet, in all of the starter kits. Raise the price accordingly, but package it with the rest of the equipment.

[Purple Fencer]

Suppliers should start including these in the "electric starter kits" that so many new competitors seem to buy -- better yet, in all of the starter kits. Raise the price accordingly, but package it with the rest of the equipment.

So noted....

[Frank Pratt]

Suppliers should start including these in the "electric starter kits" that so many new competitors seem to buy -- better yet, in all of the starter kits. Raise the price accordingly, but package it with the rest of the equipment.

Excellent point. A beginner is simply going to assume that a "competition starter kit" (or just a "starter kit") will have everything they need to compete. A coach might pick up on the omission, but some won't think to ensure that an underarm protector (and chest protector for the ladies) is/are included.

[yeoldearmourer]

I have stared a campaign to all the vendors I personally know to include it in there starter kit. I hope to be successful they can kick up the price a bit to cover it.

[Inquartata]

However, the new insurance policy is not vitiated by people not wearing all of the required safety equipment. The old one was. I'm not sure this is an improvement, but nevertheless, liability no longer seems to be an issue...

[Josephine25]

However, the new insurance policy is not vitiated by people not wearing all of the required safety equipment. The old one was. I'm not sure this is an improvement, but nevertheless, liability no longer seems to be an issue...

You're kidding me, right? You mean that people no longer care whether or not they get hurt? You need a new arguement.

[Inquartata]

Perhaps you need reading lessons. I didn't say anything about people "caring about" anything whatsoever. I said that the terms of the insurance policy no longer require the wearing of any given safety equipment. Which is true.

[Josephine25]

That may be so, but the USFA could still be held liable for any injuries that may occur in a sanctioned event. If I hadn't been there, the USFA wouldn't have known that there were fencers without the proper safety equipment.

A.J.

[Inquartata]

I will not gainsay that...nor will I defend the failure to wear a plastron. My post was only to note that Tim's point about the insurance was based on the old policy, and doesn't apply any more in that sense. There is still plenty of justification for a ref to enforce the rules--and for fencers to comply with them.

[yeoldearmourer]

But the problem is that AJ could have held libel if there was a incident for not enforce the safety issues. To many lawyers would love to start with her and work their way up to the USFA

[HDG]

But the problem is that AJ could have held libel if there was a incident for not enforce the safety issues. To many lawyers would love to start with her and work their way up to the USFA

True enough, but again, it doesn't bear on Inq's point. His point was that the insurance coverage was still in place plastrons or not. Nothing else.

[Barry Paul]

All our starter kits come with at least a 350 Newton plastron, with an option of buying an 800 Newton plastron. As we believe that every one should wear a plastron we have not been willing to offer a starter kit without one.

Unfortunately at one end of the U.S. market price is every thing and some vendors seem to be unwilling to risk losing a sale by including (what we believe to be) an essential safety item of clothing.

[achilleus]

One of the things to note, is that plastrons were not always required in the the US.

I remember when I started fencing, I fenced for a year until I was informed I had to buy a plastron, but at the time, if one had FIE (800/350) gear, one did not need to buy a plastron.

Well, that eventually changed as well, but the USFA has been so inconsistent on enforcement and the actual safety rules themselves that they often get ignored by everyone.

[Inquartata]

At NACs and Nationals, and some large opens, the refs check this at the strip as a matter of course. I have never been asked whether I was wearing one at any other sort of tournament. Apparently we are waiting on an incident like the one in Russia last year before this gets onto the radar at garden-variety meets....

[Morion]

I was at a small local tournament this weekend and they checked mine. I guess it all depends upon the organizers.

[KD5MDK]

I've always checked them everywhere I go.