RAG flags for rowing outings: a simple club system
A plain-language way to flag risk before anyone gets on the water — not a replacement for your club's own risk assessment.
By Civil Digital, the team building BoatLog · Last updated 2 August 2026
What RAG flagging actually is
Red, Amber, Green (RAG) is a traffic-light convention used across sports, construction, healthcare and workplace safety to communicate risk quickly, without expecting everyone to read a full risk assessment before making a decision. Green means normal operating conditions. Amber means proceed with extra caution — perhaps with restrictions on crew experience or boat class. Red means stand down; nobody goes out. The value isn't in the labels themselves — it's in making a decision visible to everyone at the boathouse, not just the person who made it.
Why a rowing club might want one
Most clubs already make a safety call most days — whether informally ("bit windy, senior crews only") or formally through a Rowing Safety Adviser's decision. The problem is usually that the decision lives in one person's head, or in a message that scrolls past in a group chat. A flag posted at the boathouse, or attached to the day's outings, means every member sees the same answer before they carry a boat down.
Setting it up: a starting point
- Decide who sets the flag. Usually the Rowing Safety Adviser or a nominated, competent deputy — the same person who'd normally make a stand-down call.
- Agree what factors it's based on. Typically stream or flow rate, wind, visibility and light, water temperature, and crew experience relative to conditions. Base this on your existing risk assessment and local waterway, not a generic list — conditions on a tidal estuary and a still lake mean very different things.
- Decide what each flag actually restricts. Amber might mean novices only go out with a coach; Red might mean the boathouse is closed. Write it down so it's consistent, not decided fresh each time.
- Make the flag visible where people sign out. On a whiteboard by the door, or against each outing if you're using a digital sign-out.
- Review it after any incident or near miss. If an outing went ahead under a flag that turned out to be wrong, that's exactly the kind of thing worth reporting — see our British Rowing incident reporting guide.
Where this fits with BoatLog
BoatLog's safety tools let a club attach a RAG flag to an outing or a day's conditions, visible right where members sign a boat out — so the flag travels with the sign-out rather than living only on a whiteboard someone forgot to update. It's one part of a wider safety picture that also covers boat sign-out and incident reporting.
Questions
FAQ
Is RAG flagging an official British Rowing system?
No — RAG (Red, Amber, Green) is a general risk-communication convention used widely across sports and workplaces, not a British Rowing scheme. It's a simple way for a club to apply its own risk assessment and RowSafe guidance day to day.
Who decides the RAG flag for a given day?
That should be your Rowing Safety Adviser or a nominated, competent person — the same person or people who'd normally make a stand-down call. RAG flagging doesn't change who's responsible for the decision; it just makes the decision visible.
What factors should set the flag?
Whatever your club's risk assessment already covers — commonly stream/flow, wind, visibility and light, water temperature, and crew experience relative to conditions. This guide doesn't set thresholds for you; that's a club-specific decision based on your waterway.
Does a Green flag mean no risk at all?
No system removes risk from being on the water. Green just means conditions are within the club's normal operating parameters — individual judgement, supervision and your club's rules still apply on every outing.
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