EA Appoints National Safety Officer

Equestrian Australia (EA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Roger Kane to the newly created position of National Safety Officer. 

Roger has extensive management experience within Australia and Asia in technology-related businesses including IT, telecommunications and engineering. He holds a BSc (Physics) from Imperial College London and an MBA from Deakin University.

He has strong Equestrian credentials as an Event Organiser and Technical Delegate across FEI and National events across Australia and in Japan. He is also currently a member of the Risk Management Working Group for the National Eventing Committee and led the review following the death of Caitlyn Fischer at last year’s Sydney International Horse Trials.

The appointment of Roger to the part time position of National Safety Officer is a major step towards improving safety standards for riders and horses at Equestrian competitions throughout Australia.

With an initial focus on Eventing, his responsibilities will include a review of the existing safety and risk management practices and policies, the identification and recommendation of suitable, new initiatives and management of the implementation of prioritised safety initiatives.

Roger will also liaise with and report to the FEI on National Federation matters including those relating to serious accidents at FEI sanctioned events. He will also contribute to the EA “Make Eventing Safer” Project Committee, as well as act as the primary contact for media enquiries relating to safety initiatives.    

Paula Ward, EA’s Chief Executive, says, “Roger’s experience as a business leader, combined with his technical knowledge within equestrian, positions him well to lead our safety and risk management initiatives and we are delighted he is joining our team. With Roger’s leadership and guidance, EA aims to identify, prioritise and implement initiatives that will improve safety across Equestrian sport and enable Australia to be a leading nation in setting global best practice benchmarks.” 

“I look forward to working with the EA team to implement key safety initiatives in Equestrian Sport not least because my daughter and many of my friends are current competitors. The opportunity to work with the many talented individuals in EA, the membership and the FEI on these initiatives is very exciting,” Roger Kane said 

Roger will commence in the National Safety Officer role on 3 April 2017 and will be working closely with others in the Equestrian community to assist with the development and implementation of new initiatives.

This position has been realised by the generosity of Terry Snow, owner of Willinga Park Equestrian Centre and Stock and Performance Horse Stud on the NSW South Coast, who donated $250,000 towards safety initiatives in equestrian sport. EA’s safety program is a partnership with the Australian Sports Foundation which is the only sports body where donors received a tax deduction for donations to registered fundraising programs. Donations to EA’s safety program can be made at https://asf.org.au/project/making-eventing-safer