Equipment Auditors frequently deal with non-compliance that may be considered trivial.

The National Safety Committee adopted the following policy:

An Equipment Auditor may complete an audit on a boat where there is trivial non-compliance with the Special Regulations.

Trivial non-compliance means the risks of an incident due to the non-compliance are low in likelihood and impact, or the non-compliance has no meaningful impact of the safety of the boat and the crew on board. The Equipment Auditor has the sole discretion to decide whether a non-compliance is trivial or not and may consider the opinion of the person in charge.

Equipment Auditors must note the trivial non-compliance and that it should be addressed as soon as reasonably practicable. The Equipment Auditor may still decline to complete the audit. In the event the Equipment Auditor declines to complete the audit they must note the reasons for the declinature on the audit form.

Reasons
1.    Sailing is a recreational activity and sport played out by people in their discretionary time and using their disposable income. Consideration must be given to this context when auditing a boat and enabling a crew to participate in racing.
2.    An Equipment Auditor must be empowered to enable participation as a priority over them declaring the boat as ineligible to compete due to equipment non-compliance where there is no meaningful impact on the risks or safety of the crew.
3.    Examples of trivial non-compliance may be a medical kit with recently out of date disprin or stanchions that exceed the maximum spacings by only a small distance.
4.    Examples of critical non-compliance may be an inadequate medical kit with many missing items or stanchions in significant disrepair.