Safety In Scouting
All adults in Dorset are guided by The Scout Association’s policies and procedures. There is much support material that adults can reference. Best practice and working together aims to create the safest environment we can.
If an adult needs to deal with an accident, refer to the Purple Card procedures.
Contact your DC or the CC asap.
All adults undergo training as part of their Getting Started training modules. After that all adults must do refresher training every 3 years. Other training modules such as ’17-Running Safe Activities’ give further guidance.
Safety includes running activities, maintaining safe premises, food hygiene, safety online, managing emergencies, and accident and near miss reporting. Then there’s advice on bouncy castles and ticks, the list goes on.
All adults should regularly review their White Card which is a summary of our Best Practice and available from the Scout Shop free of charge.
Stay vigilant. Work together. Remember:
Safe scouting: a code of conduct (listed on the Purple card)
Do…
- Do ensure all activities are approved in accordance with POR (Rule 9.1)
- Do identify hazards and discuss how they will be managed to reduce risk (see the Activities – Risk Assessment factsheet; Staying Safe checklists for managers, trustees and sectional leaders).
- Do ensure all meetings, events or activities have a leader in charge who is responsible for overseeing the activity and all adults and young people. This includes, registers, headcounts, allocation of roles to specific adults and checking they are aware of their specific responsibilities (see leader in charge info at www.scouts.org/safety). The best way of doing this is for all adults who will be involved in the activity to agree which one of them will undertake this function.
- Do give young people appropriate training, guidance and rules.
- Do be prepared to deal with accidents (have a first aid kit and relevant emergency contact details).
Don’t…
- Don’t be afraid to stop or alter an activity being run by you or another leader.
- Don’t put your needs above those of young people. Ensure activities are appropriate for the young people involved.
- Don’t ignore concerns expressed by adults or young people.
- Don’t assume that someone else is managing safety – always check.
