Health, safety and welfare procedure

Make sure all volunteers and visitors have completed the correct checks and forms

All volunteers must follow our recruitment and vetting policy and procedure.

All parents, carers and family members who choose to help with a unit must read the unit safeguarding guidelines. If you have parent or carer helpers, who help more than twice a term, they must register as volunteers to continue their valued contributions. Read more about involving parents and carers.

If you’re inviting a visitor to your unit or come to an event, you must make sure that they’re suitable to attend and complete an external visitors agreement form with them before the meeting. Read our guidance on inviting visitors to your meetings.

• External visitors agreement form (Word, 149 KB)
• External visitors agreement form (PDF, 104 KB)

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Check volunteer training is up to date 

Everyone is responsible for keeping their training up to date, especially completing mandatory training.

We offer a variety of training opportunities for volunteers focussing on health, safety and welfare.

You can find our e-learning courses and webinars on our learning platform.

Your local commissioner or training coordinator can help if you can’t find what you need.

Leadership training

To run a unit you must have completed our becoming a leader training available on the learning platform, or be actively working towards it. Learn more about the programme.

First aid

There must be first aid cover at every unit meeting or activity or event. This could be either the Girlguiding 1st response training or a suitable external qualification. Any external qualification must be verified via the learning platform for your country or region to ensure it meets the requirements of the 1st response syllabus.

We encourage all our volunteers to complete our 1st response training. It’s especially useful for commissioners, leaders, young leaders, unit helpers and helpers at other levels.

Make sure you check any additional qualification or first aid requirements in the adventure finder for girls.

For events, the level of first aid cover required will depend on the type of activity. It’s important to assess the needs of the event and ensure that appropriate first aid provision is in place.

Safer guiding or a safe space 

All volunteers need to have the correct level of a safe space training or safer guiding for their role. And units can’t meet without at least one leader who holds a safe space level 3 or safer guiding. Find out what level of training you'll need to do.

Going Away With scheme

If you’re planning an overnight trip or running a residential you must hold or be working towards the Going Away With scheme. Our Going Away With scheme covers all the essential elements, including health and safety, to help you take members on residential events. Check the qualification required for your residential.

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Check your venue is appropriate

Unit meetings

If you need help when choosing a new venue or checking whether your existing venue is safe, have a look at our handy venue requirements risk assessment.

Meetings or activities that involve young members in private homes and gardens aren’t allowed. However, volunteers aged 16 and over, like young leaders and young external volunteers, can go to adult volunteer meetings in private homes and gardens.

In very exceptional circumstances, HQ may give approval for occasional meetings to take place in a private outdoor space.

 There must be:

• Public liability insurance in place.
• An access route that isn’t through the private home.
• Toilets that can be accessed without going through the private home.
• An effective way to contact the emergency services if needed.

Get in touch with [email protected] for more information.

Residentials

Districts, divisions, counties, or regions maintain lists of approved venues for residentials. If a venue isn’t on the list, it must be approved before use. Contact your local commissioner for guidance and visit our going on residentials page for details.

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Risk assess your venue and activities 

You must write a risk assessment for all guiding activities and events, including unit meetings, activities both at and outside the unit meeting place, days out and residential events. Writing a risk assessment will help you decide if it’s safe for your activity or event to go ahead. We expect you to consider and control risks as much as possible.

During guiding activities, you must have access to your risk assessment and share relevant information from it with everyone running or participating in your meeting or event. 

The guiding environment is constantly changing, so you must dynamically assess risks and take appropriate steps to keep everyone safe. Read our guidance on when and how to write a risk assessment.

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Check you have the right insurance 

Girlguiding has public liability insurance. This covers Girlguiding members, or anyone acting on behalf of Girlguiding, when they’re taking part in a guiding activity. 

Girlguiding’s insurance doesn’t cover third parties including venues, activity providers and visitors representing a different organisation or business. More information on inviting visitors to your meetings. 

If you're using a space Girlguiding doesn’t own or manage, you must check it has public liability insurance cover for up to £5 million. The management for your unit meeting place may also want to see Girlguiding’s public liability insurance certificate. See our certificate and more information about public liability. 

Girlguiding provides employers liability insurance for everyone. If you have employees, you must inform them of this cover.

If you own or manage a building, make sure you renew your building and contents insurance each year. You might need to insure equipment separately. Check our insurance advice for property owners. 

If you use your car for any Girlguiding activities, you must check that your car insurance covers this. If you need to, let your insurer know what you’ll be doing. Take a look at our drivers handbook (PDF, 124KB) and information about vehicle insurance too. 

If you’re travelling abroad, you must have travel insurance. If your trip is within the country you live in, you don’t have to arrange travel insurance, but you still need to think about all the risks when you complete your risk assessment. Large or expensive trips, and large events will need their own insurance. 

If your activity or event will have over 5,000 participants, you must notify our insurance team to ensure coverage under our policy.

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Check your ratios and supervisions

It's important that the number of adults available to supervise an activity meets the needs of the unit and activities, and the minimum ratio requirement.

Find out more about minimum adult to child ratios. You may need more adults depending on the type of activity or needs of your members to provide the appropriate levels of active supervision at all times.

Adults must not drink alcohol if they’re directly responsible for the supervising or caring for girls and young women. Under 18’s must not drink alcohol under any circumstances.

Alcohol, smoking and vaping and supervision

If alcohol is available to adults outside of activity times, this must be planned carefully to make sure all supervision and responsibilities are covered. There must always be the correct ratios of adults and supervision.

Additionally, the appropriateness of offering alcohol should be considered, as it may exclude some individuals based on personal, cultural, or religious beliefs.

Read our going on residentials page which provide guidance on drinking alcohol during residentials and managing expectations for trips.

Adult members must ensure they smoke or vape discreetly, safely, and only in an appropriate, legal location, away from young members and individuals who may have health conditions. Remember, the correct ratios of adults and active supervision must be maintained at all times.

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Get parent or carer consent

You should let parents and carers know about all the activities you’ve got planned each term. Let them know any safety information, and remind them about any regular safety arrangements, for example around pick-up and drop-off. 

You must get parent or carer consent for any activities that are: 

• Adventurous.
• Local to the unit meeting place during unit meetings.
• Outside your unit meeting place and/or times.
• Virtual.

If parents or carers have completed either of these forms:

• December 2023 version of the new starter form
• One page local activity consent form (Word, 239KB)

Then you don't need separate consent for activities local to the unit meeting place during regular meeting times. For adventurous activities, you'll still need to get separate consent.

Read our guidance on getting consent from parents and carers to find the forms you need to use for each type of event or activity. 

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Make sure you open and close your unit meeting place safely 

Opening and closing a unit meeting place is an important responsibility, so you need to make sure you know what to do. You might want to make a checklist, especially if your venue has given you specific instructions to follow, such as setting alarms or opening windows for ventilation.

Every meeting place is different, but at a minimum you must visually check the space for any issues when opening and closing. For example, making sure nothing is blocking the emergency exits and there aren't any trip hazards on the floor.

When leaving you must check that no one is left in the space before locking any doors, and that all young members have left safely.

If you have any concerns about opening or closing your unit meeting place, speak to the unit meeting place management or your commissioner.

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Move things safely

If you need to carry or move any large or heavy objects, it’s important you know how to do this safely.

• Stop and think about the object and how much you can carry. Check the surface of the object before you lift it.
• Plan where you’re going and make sure there’s nothing in the way. Get help if you need it.
• Pass items down, rather than trying to carry them down a ladder.
• When you lift something, keep your feet apart and your knees bent. Try to keep the object close to you and avoid twisting your body as you move.
• Avoid repetitive tasks.

A useful acronym to help you decide whether it’s safe to move an object is TILE.

• Task: what is it you’re going to move and how? Will you be pushing, pulling, lifting or carrying?
• Individual: are you capable of moving the object? Do you need help?
• Load: think about the size, shape and weight of the object?
• Environment: is the area easy to move around in and free from any hazards?

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Do a fire drill with young members and adult volunteers

At least once a year, practice what you would do if there was a fire at your meeting place. If possible the venue management should conduct the evacuation, but if this isn’t practical you can just walk through the evacuation process. If you have any issues or concerns, report these to the appropriate person. This could be the venue manager or your commissioner.

You must tell all new members or visitors to your venue what to do if there’s a fire.

If you visit another venue for activities or events, check that everyone knows the fire evacuation procedure and where the assembly point is.

More information to help:

• Fire safety
• How to use a fire extinguisher (PDF, 173 KB)
• Health and safety for hired spaces
• Health and safety guidance for small properties (PDF, 345 KB)
• Doing Our Best safety and safeguarding checklists

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Be prepared for emergencies

All documents in your emergency file must be reviewed and updated at least once a year. You'll need these if there's an emergency or incident. You must have your emergency file, including the emergency contact list, with you at all meetings and activities, and everyone in your team must know where to find it. This can be a physical file or a document on your device. Visit the help zone in GO to find out how to generate the emergency contact list for your unit.

You must also have an appropriately stocked first aid kit at your unit meeting place. Replace anything you use or that's out of date at least once a term. Check our list of the recommended minimum contents you need in a first aid kit, but you may want to include other items too. For example, if you're doing adventurous activities, you may need some extras compared to a normal unit meeting. Don't forget to think about this when you do your risk assessments.

Download the forms for your emergency file.

More information to help:

• What to do in an emergency
• Insurance
• Fire safety

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Respond to accidents and incidents

If anyone is injured or ill during a guiding activity or on Girlguiding property, this should be dealt with as appropriate. Once the situation has been dealt with, you must speak to the young member’s parent or carer so they know what happened too. You must also tell your local commissioner immediately.

This flowchart will help you to understand if the accident or incident is reportable.

A notification of accident or incident form must be completed for the following incidents:

• Those resulting in significant injury, discomfort or illness. Those resulting in damage to property.
• Incidents that involve acts of aggression or violence towards a member of staff or volunteer, including verbal abuse. If you have a safeguarding concern, follow our safeguarding policy and procedure and report to the HQ safeguarding team.
• Any potential insurance claims.
• Any significant near misses (see the flowchart for more information).

Significant injuries or illnesses are those that need substantial first aid or treatment from a medical professional. If you’re not sure about when to report, email our insurance team at [email protected].

For minor incidents or injuries, you don’t need to fill out a form unless someone received significant first aid or there were further developments, like a cut getting infected or a visit to the doctors. But you must  let the parent or carer know what happened.

Send the form and any extra documents to our insurance team. You can post them to Girlguiding HQ or send them by email to [email protected]. Keep a copy of the form until we let you know we’ve received it. Once confirmed by the insurance team, you must safely destroy it.

The incident review form (Word, 233 KB) is a tool you can use to help understand what caused the incident, what lessons can be learned, and what actions can be taken to help avoid in the future. While completing this form isn’t mandatory for every accident or incident, you may be asked to complete it by the insurance team after reporting an accident or incident. If requested, completing the form is required.

In the event of a serious accident or death, Girlguiding must be contacted within 1 hour via the emergency safety line on 0207 592 1828.  

More information to help: 

• What to do in an emergency
• Insurance
• Notification of accident or incident form (PDF, 797 KB)

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Complete the right form for any trip or event

Check out our forms library, which shows you the forms you need to complete for different activities.

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Getting approval for your residential event

You must complete a residential event notification (REN) form for any event with an overnight stay.

Your REN form must be approved by a commissioner before the event starts.

The REN form includes everything you need to do to make sure your residential event is as safe as possible. This includes carrying out risk assessments, having appropriate insurance in place, and having health information forms for all young members. Find out more about the REN process.

GO is the best place to fill out the form. GO will automatically check everyone has the right training and recruitment checks in place. It also helps your commissioner keep track of all the residential events happening. However, if you prefer, paper forms are still available and can be used as an alternative.

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Set up a home contact system if needed

A home contact is a person that you've agreed will act as a first point of contact if plans change, or if an accident or emergency occurs.

If you’re going on a day trip or residential, you must have a home contact system in place.

If your unit meetings take place away from your usual unit meeting place, you may want to set up a home contact system in case of emergency. You can decide if this is appropriate based on the activity and where it's taking place.

You must not share health information and consent forms with the home contact.

The home contact must shred or delete all personal data after the activity or event has finished.

More information to help:

• Setting up a home contact system
• Home contact role outline (Word, 166 KB)
• Home contact role outline (PDF, 219 KB) 
• Home contact role outline for international trips (Word, 232 KB)
• Home contact role outline for international trips (PDF, 525 KB) 

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Follow our lone volunteering guidance

Lone volunteering is when you do volunteering activities on your own, like meeting a prospective volunteer to do ID verification, or delivering paperwork and equipment.

Lone volunteering can be risky. You should try to avoid it where possible. If you have to, minimise the risks where you can.

Girlguiding doesn't expect you to put yourself in any situation where you feel uncomfortable or unsafe. If you’re worried about lone volunteering, talk to your commissioner.

Take steps to reduce the risks of lone volunteering:

• Don’t enter or remain in a situation that makes you feel unsafe. Have a plan for what to do in an emergency.
• If you're meeting others, try to do it in a public place.
• Let someone know where you're going to be and when to expect you back. If you're going to be away for more than a couple of hours, arrange to check-in by phone with them.
• Carry a mobile phone and set up speed dial keys for emergency numbers and your home contact. Consider registering your device to a mobile phone tracker.
• Don't do anything at height, like using ladders or going into a loft or attic.

Always think about your own health and wellbeing. Just because you’ve volunteered alone once doesn’t mean you should do it again.

If you have any accidents or incidents, or safeguarding concerns while lone volunteering, report them in the usual way.

If you're a commissioner, you need to make sure anyone volunteering alone:

• Has the support they need, and knows who and how to ask for support.
• Has completed a risk assessment if necessary.
• Makes changes to keep themselves safe after any accidents, incidents or near misses.

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Hosting or staying with other guiding groups

At jamborees and other international events in the UK and abroad, guiding groups often need a place to stay. The whole group must stay together, for example in a hall, school or campsite, so girls have a great experience in a supervised and safe environment. This is called group hosted hospitality.

When doing group hosted hospitality, you must keep to all residential rules, such as having separate sleeping and washing areas if boys or men present. Additionally, for hosted hospitality outside the UK, all aspects of travelling abroad regulations must be followed.

Young members mustn’t take part in individual hosted hospitality where they live as part of the family.

Adult volunteers of Girlguiding are allowed to take part in individual hosted hospitality if they want to. Read more about hosted hospitality and what needs to be done to keep everyone safe.

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Change log 

• April 2025 – existing rules have been clarified, and other rules from various sources have been centralised here. The forms table is now in the forms and resource library. Policies on alcohol consumption, smoking, and vaping have been clarified. The updated emergency process is now highlighted in the call-out box at the top of this page.
• October 2024 - added links to the new accident reporting forms. 
• September 2024 - all risk assessment templates and guidance moved to the risk assessment
• June 2024 – clarified which forms must be used and when. Added details on when to fill in an accident and notification form for better consistency with the pre-filled unit risk assessment.
• March 2024 – updated guidance about Girlguiding risk assessment forms.
• January 2024 - updated links and guidance about consent forms.
• November 2023 - added links to the new pre-filled risk assessment for new unit venues.
• September 2023 - risk factors in pregnancy risk assessment updated. Please use this updated version. 
• September 2023 - minor change made to the pre-filled unit risk assessment template, personal emergency evacuation plan, and pregnancy risk assessment. You don't need to redo these forms. 
• June 2023 – added links to the new pre-filled pregnancy risk assessment and personal emergency evacuation plan. 
• June 2023 – new section added under Complete the right forms for any trip or event to explain when to use which forms. 
• April 2023 – added links to the new pre-filled risk assessment template for activities.