RMC Handbook

This document is intended to be a reference and training tool for Risk Management Counselors (RMCs). In an urgent situation feel free to contact  me (Niklas Mannhardt, Risk Management Chair) directly at 617-710-7294 or ifc-riskmanager@mit.edu. 

Please use this document to help address any uncertainties you have, or any questions which are raised as you are performing your duties as an RMC. You may also find this handbook to be a useful reference when enforcing policies.

This document is the first iteration of the RMC Handbook and is unlikely to be all-encompassing. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any needed clarifications, missing information, or suggestions for improvement.

The RMC system is not in place to enforce risk management and social policies. Instead the purpose of the RMC system is to act as an early warning system when policies are not being followed before these become issues involving MITPD or Boston PD.

As an RMC you are responsible for

• Familiarizing yourself with the current Social and Risk Management Policies

• Helping hosts spot policy violations and advising them on how to mitigate risk

• Answer hosts’ questions related to Social and Risk Management Policies

• Showing up to the shifts you are assigned to and communicating when you require a replacement for your shift

• Completing the RMC Check-in form honestly, and to high standard

In contrast, you are not responsible for

• Shutting down, or otherwise removing people from parties and social events

• Communicating with the police

• Doing a host’s job of running an event

As mentioned in the previous section. You are responsible for familiarizing yourself with the Risk Management Policy. Pages nine and ten refer directly to procedures specific to RMCs and these should be well understood.

You are also responsible for familiarizing yourself with the most current Social Policies. Especially during the fall of 2021, the social policy may be different from what it has been in previous years.

• All IFC chapters are required to keep contact tracing information in their guest-lists/sign-in sheets until Tim Tickets is released on September 13th.

• IFC chapters must keep their guest-lists/sign-in sheets accessible after an event. In the event that contact tracing is necessary guest-lists/sign-in sheets must be given to the FSILG office.

• Hosts and Attendees are required to wear masks at social events indoors as per MIT’s indoor mask mandate.

• Food and drink must be served in a separate room from the main guest area. Guests must remain socially distanced (6ft) from each other when eating or drinking

These policies are likely to change throughout the semester. Be sure to check back regularly to see how the current covid-19 policies impact social events.

Last updated: August 31, 2021

Upon arriving at a social event, be prepared to fill out the RMC Check-in Form. There are even some items that you can begin completing before entering the building.

Once you’ve entered the building, quickly inform the nearest brother that you are an RMC and ask to speak with the President/Risk Manager. Avoid giving hosts enough time to clear any evidence.

While the form is generally quite straight-forward I’m including additional information and advice below.

RMC Name
These are both dropdown items for consistency. If you do not see your name in the dropdown, I have likely not yet added you or there is a bug. Please contact me to fix the error and choose “other” in the meantime. 

IFC Chapter
Chapters are listed by their full names as well as their more common colloquial names.

Was there an event registered?
If you’ve been sent to this chapter’s event by the Risk Management Chair then the answer to this question is always “yes” unless explicitly stated otherwise. If you come across the building of an IFC chapter that is clearly hosting an event and it has not been registered, it is fully within your authority to investigate the event and fill out a Check-in form.

Was there an event taking place?
“No” in the event that a chapter has scheduled and registered an event but later canceled the event. Feel free to mark the report as “Successful” and finish your submission early

Safety Checklist

• There was no crowd or line outside the building - There will often be guests loitering outside the building. If there are people waiting around, the hosts should be actively trying to disperse the crowd. (This can be done before entering the building to save time).

• Music was not audible from outside the building - There is some nuance to this, the music should not be loud enough to disturb neighbors, who can and will file noise-complaints. Exercise reasonable judgement when deciding if the volume of the party will disturb nearby residents. (This can be done before entering the building to save time).

• Someone was working Door - There should always be a member of the hosting chapter standing at the door during a social event controlling the flow of people entering the building. The exception to this is during closed events when all the expected guests have arrived.

• Guestlist/Sign-in Sheet -  The guestlist/sign-in sheet should keep track of all the guests entering the building. It should also keep track of whether guests are over 21, what school they go to, and contact tracing information if they are not from MIT

• Clickers used to keep track of number of guests - If a host’s guestlist is larger than their maximum capacity, hosts should use clickers to keep track of people entering and leaving the building to keep the event under capacity.

• Valid IDs were used to check guests’ age if over 21 - If a guest claims to be over 21 on a sign-in sheet this must be verified by checking a valid legal ID

• Wristbands given to guests over 21 - After verifying if a guest is over 21, the host should put a wristband on them so that bar-tenders can identify guests who can legally drink.

• No drinks other than beer and wine were served at the bar nor elsewhere at the event -  Under the IFC’s policy, chapters are only allowed to serve beer and wine to both guests and members. Even if the main bar only serves beer and wine, make sure that other alcohol or drugs are not being served elsewhere at the event.

• Bar is cleared of empty/unaccompanied drinks - Under IFC’s policy, drinks must be accompanied at all times for everyone’s safety. Hosts should be disposing of unaccompanied drinks.

• There are no drinking games being played nor is there evidence of drinking games - Drinking games are forbidden under IFC’s policy. If you arrive at an event and no one is playing drinking games but there’s a table with two triangles made of solo cups and a ping pong ball, feel free to leave this box unchecked.

If the hosts failed any of the above, how were these issues resolved
It is your responsibility to Identify when any of the items in the Safety checklist are not being followed. It is also your responsibility to raise these as concerns to the Risk Manager of the hosting chapter and advise them on how to resolve these issues. Please explain what advice was given and what actions were taken by the Risk Manager.

Photo with Risk Manager
This is for validation purposes to ensure that the check-in form was completed at the event.

Photo of bar
Make sure to get all (or as much as possible) of the bar into the photo. In the past RMCs have submitted photos of only a corner of the bar. This is not enough to validate the claims of the report and ensure the safety of hosts and guests. 

Photo behind bar
This is to see the bartender’s setup and ensure that alcoholic drinks other than beer and wine are not being served.

Photo of main guest area
The bar is not the only place that RMCs are responsible for checking. Please take a photo of the main guest areas. If there are multiple you should submit multiple photos. If the area is too large to capture on a single photo please submit multiple photos of the room from different angles.