A volunteer's guide to health and safety

Your helpful guide to all things health and safety, including links to our policies, procedures and pre-filled risk assessment templates.

This article is a helpful explanation guide that can be used alongside our health, safety and welfare policy and procedure to help new volunteers understand our processes. Or it can be used as refresher for those of you who’ve been in guiding for a while. 

Guiding is the sleepless nights on camp. It’s the weekday giggles, the adventurous activities and special events. It’s the one-of-a-kind trips, whether they’re close to home or miles away. Thoughtful health and safety plans help make all of this happen which means girls can share more magical moments together. 

As a volunteer, putting health and safety first gives you the peace of mind to enjoy the wild ride of your next guiding adventure worry-free, whether it's another unit meeting or an unforgettable event. 

What is health, safety and welfare? 

Health, safety and welfare is about maintaining healthy and safe environments so that everyone can enjoy guiding experiences. That includes volunteers, girls, parents and carers, staff, visitors or anyone in contact with us. 

A policy versus a procedure 

Here is the difference between a policy and a procedure: 

• A policy explains Girlguiding’s position and commitment on a topic and includes what we expect of our volunteers and staff.
• A procedure explains the practical steps you must follow to meet the expectations of the linked policy.   

This article only talks about our health, safety and welfare policy and procedures. For more information about the different regulations at Girlguiding, here is a list of all of our policies and procedures.

Our health, safety and welfare policy 

This policy is our legal duty to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved in our activities, as set out in the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. This includes our members, volunteers and staff. 

As part of this legal duty, we must have competent and responsible volunteers who: 

• Are prepared. 
• Respond appropriately (and know their limits). 
• Follow up afterwards. 

This might look like asking for help when you need it, writing risk assessments before activities or events, reporting any incidents and being vigilant in your environments. 

Read more about what’s expected of you as a volunteer.

Our health, safety and welfare procedure 

The procedure explains how you, as a volunteer, can apply our health, safety, and welfare policy to your day-to-day activities in guiding. 

The key things are:  

• Writing risk assessments. 
• Staying vigilant. 
• Reporting accidents, incidents and near misses. 
• Securing appropriate insurance for activities. 
• Actively contributing to a safe environment. 

Here are the steps you can take to help do that.

24/7 support is available to you 

You have 24/7 support for serious incidents and emergencies. If an accident or incident happens at a Girlguiding event or meeting that requires calling the emergency services, please contact our emergency health and safety line on 0207 592 1828 within the hour. Save the number for peace of mind – we're here for you 24/7.

Here's what to do in an emergency. 

Helpful resources 

• Safer guiding training. This is the training you’ll need to complete to volunteer with Girlguiding.  
• Managing risk. This is a collection of guidance around managing risk, including setting up a home contact system, risk assessment tips and fire safety. 
• Risk assessments. This is a list of risk assessment templates you may need to complete depending on the type of activity. It includes pre-filled templates for unit meeting venues and activities and pregnancy risk. 
• Emergency file. This is a file that contains all the forms and information you need to manage an emergency situation. 
• What to do in an emergency. This lays out exactly what to do, who to contact and how to deal with queries in case of an emergency.  
• Adventure activity finder. Each activity has a safety and planning section to support you writing risk assessments for adventures.