To achieve this the SBA Committee delegates its authority to Event Organisers who are people with the knowledge of the the intended venue of the event. Organisers are the "people on the ground" who will make the necessary risk assessments, consult the relevant waterway authority, the local boat club(s), and so on. The Event Organiser will make arrangements following the guidelines set out in the Organiser Pack issued by the SBA Committee Events Co-Ordinator.

The Event Organiser is backed by the SBA's Public Liability insurance cover. This is intended to cover any liability that might arise from the negligence of the Event Organiser. Negligence is essentially failure to do that which might be expected of the "reasonable person", or doing something that the "reasonable person" would not do. After all, SBA Event Organisers are human and humans can make mistakes sometimes.

However, the main feature of an SBA Event is the steam boat flotilla. These vessels are privately owned and skippered by the SBA Members. To enable the SBA to meet its duty of care obligations it is necessary to have a suitable set of rules to guide the Member/skippers. After all, the skipper is responsible for his/her boat and all the decisions relating to it. The SBA cannot, and would not wish to, take that responsibility away from her/him.

The SBA has published, and regularly updates, its Requirements For Members And Boats Attending SBA Events which provides the general framework of rules. The SBA also has in place a system for establishing that Members are abiding by these rules. This has changed over the years and most recently was the SBA Boat Registration Scheme (also known as the Disc Scheme). As from the AGM of 2009 this scheme has been replaced by the Boat Owners Declaration Scheme.

Under the the Boat Owners Declaration Scheme, any Member wishing to attend an Event fills in the Declaration form confirming that s/he will have a valid boiler ticket and appropriate insurance at the Event. These forms are sent to the Event Organiser who will check that they are correctly completed and signed. Provided the boat owner has completed the form correctly, s/he will be admitted to the Event. In practice that means the Organiser will send her/him joining instructions and such other information is appropriate for participation in the event.

After the Event the, Organiser will send the Declaration Forms to the SBA Safety Officer who will file them. At some point between the receipt of the forms and October the Safety Officer will carry out an audit of a sample of Declaration Forms. This will involve the Members whose forms have been chosen producing the documents that they have listed on the Declaration Form. A report on the Audit will be presented to the Committee at the November Committee meeting.