Safeguarding

Safeguarding Policy — St. Mary’s, Hook

Our church recognizes that everyone needs to be rightly valued and cared for in all aspects of their lives but most especially when they are vulnerable. 

We understand ‘vulnerable’ to mean
– whenever someone is in a position where someone has power over them:

Thus all people are at times vulnerable and it is even possible to use ones own power to put oneself in a vulnerable state. For example: – when even the most competent and strong willed adult is in a dentist’s chair they are in a vulnerable position which incidentally they have chosen to put themselves in.

So our approach is that in all we do we work to the principles that::

Whenever and however anyone has power over anyone or their situation
they use that power for good and minimise the risk of harm
And whenever someone could be in a position where someone may misuse their power over someone appropriate precautions are taken to minimise this risk.

Within this we all recognise that we can never fully remove risk, but we can minimise risk and inform people of ongoing risk in a way that they can understand and choose to accept the risks in what they do (or not take part if they so choose).

To enable this to happen effectively and well we all need to be aware of and understand the following points.

All Volunteers and Staff will be appointed and work to ‘safer recruiting’ guidelines

– They will agree their role, have appropriate DBS checks, know who their ‘leader’ is, have an annual review –

We will risk assess all our activities and facilities and mitigate against any identified risks

Records of risk assessments will be kept, mitigating actions achieved and relevant information communicated to all the appropriate people.

Our activities will be undertake with transparency and openness usually with at least two ‘leaders’ present.

Any concerns about any activity / part of activity; or facility / part of a facility or anyone who has acted on the church’s behalf are welcomed and should be communicated to the appropriate person – see list below –

Any issues which are of concern, about the general well-being of an individual or issues they present or raise (disclosures), should be taken seriously. If necessary the persons or person concerned should be kept safe, reassured that their concerns are being addressed and will be communicated to only those who need to know (kept appropriately confidential). The issues should not be investigated by anyone other than the appropriate experts who should be consulted as soon as possible.
Records of what has been, said, seen and done should be made as soon as possible and kept.

Attendance at and participation in our activities will be at the choice of users or their legal guardians.

As necessary information about the risk in activities will be communicated and permission to partake in activities will be obtained.

Record keeping will be secure yet accessible to users and any legally required others. Only necessary information will be retained or communicated on. All incidents will be recorded and as necessary passed to authorities.

Touch, language and tone of voice will be appropriate and proportionate.

If any volunteer or person working on the church’s behalf is not sure about a ‘safeguarding’ issue or the safety of an activity or action they should always get clarification and guidance from a better qualified source before proceeding. The full diocesan safeguarding policy is available in church and is likely to be a good place to find clarification but if other ‘expert advice is needed’ do seek it out from Diocesan Safeguarding Officer or other sources.

When raising a concern
If there is an immediate and grave issue or risk
take appropriate action to reduce and minimise the ongoing risk
– but always act within as much expert advice as is know / can be obtained AND never in a way which increases risk –

Otherwise – the usual approach, to raising concerns, would be:

in the first instance tell the leader of the activity or safeguarding lead and take their advice on the appropriate action, or in emergency ring 999

Then – if you feel your concerns are not being taken seriously by those you have contacted – contact the appropriate experts until you are satisfied that the matter has been properly dealt with.

The following would be the normal order to do this

firstly: the church safeguarding officer, vicar or health and safety representative, as appropriate
Vicar Revd Philip Ball – 01405 767721,
safeguarding officer Mr Peter Jessop 01405
H&S Mr Ken Barclay 01405 761173 

secondly: the diocesan safeguarding system use
https://www.sheffield.anglican.org/safeguarding
or ring Siân Checkley (Safeguarding Adviser) work (Monday to Thursday). 07741 013 775, or Elina Penttila (Assistant DSA) work (Monday to Friday). 07871 796 682, Or If you have a concern and require safeguarding advice that won’t wait until the next working day, please contact Thirtyone:eight on 0303 003 11 11. Please inform Thirtyone:eight that you are calling from Sheffield Diocese

thirdly: childline 0800 1111 or similar national helpline and/or the Police on 101

Appendices to St Mary’s Church Hook Safeguarding Policy

In all we do we PRIORITISE that people are well looked after.
Our systems for ensuring this happens must be robust, easy to use and therefore effective.

We are always open to ideas and suggestions as to how this can be achieved better.

Where possible we will minimise any administrative burdens
by use of clear procedures, simple forms, training, support staff and as appropriate the use of technology

For example when appropriate we will use smart phones or other technology
to quickly make visual and aural records rather than longwinded written record keeping.

I.e: At the end of an annual review the leader might, in the presence of the volunteer, record onto their phone a short summary of what they have discussed and agreed with a verbal acknowledgement from the volunteer that this is a correct record – this would then be stored securely and confidentially for future reference, but no further paperwork produced for this purpose.

Or when doing a risk assessment, whilst those doing the assessment are moving through the space in which the activity will take place -.they might film with commentary what they observe. They might later, film any changes that have been made to minimise the risk and securely store both files – no need to write this up, only a need to ensure that any actions which need communicating more widely are achieved and a record made that this has been done.

Safer Recruiting, Staff and Volunteer undergirding:

Safer recruiting is about ensuring that no one is given a role in the church for which they are not fit or which they do not understand or do not have the proper ongoing support and review structure in place.

So those who undertake tasks on behalf of the church need to be properly informed about the task; agree to their role in it, supported to carry that role out with clear understanding of who they are working with and who is leading what and given the right ongoing training and regular reviews.

They also need to be checked as to their suitability to the task (i.e. where appropriate Safeguarding Self-Assessments, full DBS checks and / or other declarations or checks made (i.e. all trustees/P.C.C. Members should make declarations about financial interests and.or their financial suitability to the role.)

For all written records required, a simple set of forms, procedures, filing and record keeping will be used to ensure this is done effectively. All ‘leaders should know what these are, where they are and how to use them rightly.

Where written records are not necessary for example agreeing a role, or the summary of an annual review maybe recorded aurally or visually (see above) in order to minimise and streamline the administration or a simple hand written and counter signed summary at the time of appointment or review will be used rather than a long winded writing up of roles and re- views. Again all leaders should know what is the necessary and best form of record keeping.

Keeping Yourself Safe

Sadly even the best of friends can fall out and it is possible for anyone to ‘falsely’ accuse someone else of inappropriate or wrong actions so part of safeguarding is not just about doing what is right but ensuring that non of our workers can be falsely accused of doing what was not right.

In general this is dealt with by ensuring that all our activities and all parts of our activities take place in an ‘open’ way (i.e. in a place which others nearby can see and hear what is going on) and with at least two trained leaders present. This is partic- ularly important when working with children or very vulnerable adults.

Working in this way has the added benefit that it should not be easy for one person to act wrongly toward someone else because they know someone else is watching them.

When working with adults particularly less vulnerable adults it maybe appropriate more often for workers to work alone, but the should always take extra care when doing so and if anything which seems inappropriate should occur, they should as soon as possible make a record of what took place and communicate this with their ‘leader’.

Appropriate Touch, and Tone of Language

We all need the touch of others from time to time. Similarly others talking with us is a vital part of our lives. However both touch and language can cause people harm and can be open to misinterpretation, particularly as what one person consid- ers ‘normal’ or insignificant can be understood by someone else in ways the ‘giver’ does not realise they are communi- cating, particularly if someone is vulnerable and in need of care.

Therefore we need to learn to be cautious and careful with our touch and the type and tone of our language so that it is helpful to others not harmful, finding the right level to use in any situation.

Appropriate is an important word in determining this level – for there can be few ‘hard and fast’ rules as to what touch or language we can or should use as we can see from the following examples:

it might seem right that one shouldn’t usually shout at someone else, but if they’re about to step in front of a mov- ing car shouting a warning is usually the best thing to do;

It makes sense that intimate language should be avoided between adults except those in a ‘relationship’ yet it may well be that and adult talking to another who there are not in a relationship with should appropriately say ‘I love you’ and indeed the Bible states we should us to greet one another with a brotherly kiss;

similarly it would be ‘normal’ not to touch someone else’s bottom but a trained and certified nursery nurse would be expected to change a nappy and thoroughly clean a very vulnerable person’s bottom.

It can be seen then, that a set of complex rules for to what is to be done in each situation is not possible to make and wouldn’t by most people be able to be kept in mind and remembered. So it is that, decisions about appropriate touch and language need to be made by understanding general principles and guidelines. Underpinning these must be the recogni- tion that what is appropriate or acceptable to one person is not necessarily the same for someone else.

In general all church ‘workers’ should err on the side of only using touch when it is absolutely the right thing to do and only using a forceful voice , what might be construed as coercive language or intimate language when absolutely necessary. Intimate touch or language should in particular be avoided unless absolutely appropriate and sexualised language or touch is never appropriate. All workers should know the difference between a ‘hug’ and a cuddle.

In general with other adults the Touch or tone of language should be that which is acceptable and comfortable to the other person – but it should be remembered that when someone is vulnerable they may not be able to easily discern what they need and will often want more touch or a deeper expression of care than they might ‘normally’ consider appropriate.

With children or vulnerable adults they cannot be expected to know what they are comfortable with so it would be normal to assume that one would only use the touch or language which their legal guardians have agreed before hand with the church workers is appropriate.

Risk Assessments

Risk is part of life – we cannot eliminate it, but we can minimise or understand risks, so that we can live with them in a way which maximises the safety in living actively and well. So dynamic risk assessment forms the basis of the way that all peo- ple live with everything that each of us does taking place, with all involved, constantly assessing the risks and acting to mini- mise risk – apart from the most vulnerable; who do not understand or maybe even cannot understand the risks. They therefore need others to assess and minimise the risk for them – which we do.

The intensity of how this dynamic risk assessment goes on depends on how ‘safe’ the environment in which an activity or action is taking place in is deemed to be. So if someone is doing something they know well in a place they know well they will proceed with less caution than if they are in a new or unknown situation where they will be more careful. Similarly If a vulnerable person is in what might be deemed a ‘safe’ place (such as a toddler in a play pen) then, the person caring for them does not need to be as vigilant as if they are in a ‘dangerous’ place (such as a toddler near a road) when the ‘carer’ needs to constantly assessing and minimising the risk.

Formal Risk Assessment – is simply an extension of this ‘normal’ approach to life, but it is done pre-emptively to try to en- sure environments and activities are not unnecessarily risky and any ongoing risks are understood and communicated

clearly – to aid all involved with their risk/benefit analysis, choice of participation and any particular issues to be aware of in their dynamic risk assessments. All our users can rightly expect that we have done what is ‘reasonable’ to keep them safe from harm and where necessary informed them or their legal guardian of a risky activity or environment so that they can make their own risk/benefit analysis and choose whether or not they take on this risk.

So before any activity is undertaken (or annually for any regular activities) the space in which the activity takes place and the activity itself should be thought through and examined for the potential risks and a record made of these. Then deci- sions should be made as to how to minimise these risks and these decisions actioned, either by physical changes to the environment or activity, or by communicating effectively with users about the risks.

For all ‘risky activities’ we should keep records clearly showing who has agreed to undertake them and ensure that only these people do so. This is particularly important for ‘vulnerable’ people such as in particular children and vulnerable adults. AND as an activity is being undertaken ongoing dynamic risk assessment should be taking place by the leaders of that activ- ity and any newly identified risks should be minimised or communicated immediately, if necessary, pausing or delaying the activity to enable this to happen.

To ensure this best practice is occurring and provide a record of what has been done clear records of assessments and ac- tions needs to be kept. This can be done in written or ‘technological’ form (see overleaf). What is critical is that risks are not only identified but that minimising actions are carried out AND where there is a need to communicate to other leaders or end users about risks this is properly achieved. If a dynamic risk assessment leads to ‘immediate’ changes the record should be at bare minimum two adults being informed verbally about the assessment and ‘action’ as two witnesses forms a legal record. After the activity it would normally be wise to ‘formalise’ this record using written or technologically recorded means.