Talking to young people and their parents or carers about safety
FS120338 (Published July 2021)
Why’s safety important ?
Keeping everyone safe in Scouts is everyone’s responsibility and creating a culture of safety within Scouts will help to do this.
We do this by making safety part of everything we do and not just when we think something is high risk.
Being safe is a fundamental skill for life for everyone.
Why do we do it?
Nobody wants anyone, their friends or others to get hurt. Neither do they want their things to get damaged. We focus on working together with all involved in an activity, reflecting our Scout values, particularly Care and Co-operation.
The trust and expectation of young people and their families and carers is that Scouts is seen as a safe place to develop and have fun.
What do we include?
Everyone can contribute to managing risk. Adults will bring experience based on maturity, but young people also add to the understanding by including their expectations of the activity to be considered in the way it is run.
Talk out loud to other leaders and young people your planning. This helps in sharing knowledge and building young people’s future life skills. You could talk through who is involved, what they will be doing, where they do it, what training or instruction they need and what equipment they should have.
How do we go about it?
It’s not about spoiling people’s fun, but about adapting what we do to control any risks to ensure that all involved enjoy their adventure.
Not considering those risks could lead to people being harmed and it’s important to help all involved, young people or adults, to understand risks and what to do to avoid and manage the risk.
Hold a safety briefing and demonstrate what to do
Explain the activity, demonstrate what to do and identify possible risks and what you can do to avoid the risk. You can make it fun and make it part of the activity.
Discuss with your young people what the activity involves, then ask them what dangers there might be from doing it. Who could be hurt or how?
For example: an active game with Cubs might get them thinking about running, tripping, falling over; Scouts might be cycling and will think about the terrain or about how to brake safely. This promotes a culture of reasoned understanding and buy-in to the controls needed to stay safe.
Have a section code of conduct
You'll talk about safety without realising it, your section code of conduct will outline certain behaviours which are important to keep everyone safe.
Make sure that these are developed in discussion with young people and that they understand why they are being asked to behave in this way. Be sure to review these regularly and explain them to new members.
Reflect at the end of the activity
Reviewing how an activity went helps us know how we might run it next time.
Taking time to reflect on the activity with the young people and adults together is an ideal opportunity for all to appreciate what they have achieved and learnt through the activity.
These reflection sessions will also provide the opportunity to introduce thoughts about ‘how safe were people?’, ‘did anything get damaged?’, developing the young peoples understanding of safety.
This promotes the conversation about what they can improve for the next time (reviewing the controls).
Keep them informed
Explain the activities or camp. Identify potential risks and reassure parents. Things like having contact telephone numbers, planned activities – who will be leading – sharing risk assessments.
Explaining how we keep young people safe to a parent and carer will start early on in the journey of a new member joining. It’s important to be open with parents and carers about the kind of activities on offer and how these are managed.
Make sure to explain key information, such as how the arrival and departure at your meetings is kept safe, how you have guidelines for behaviour to keep everyone safe, your InTouch process, and what happens if an incident does occur.
Some parents and carers may be more inquisitive than others, so don't be concerned if they ask for information on the training those leading activities undertake or if you've had incidents occur.
Let them watch
You could have parents and carers stay and observe the meeting, so they can see how you put this into practice. A short observation can be really reassuring to a parent or carer in the early stages of a young person's involvement with us.
Share your programme
Sharing your programmes with parents and carers will keep them informed of what you are up to. You can also use it to share relevant information, such as what footwear is needed on a certain night or how an activity is being managed if it's a bit more unusual.
Plan for Nights Away, day trips and larger events
If you have larger events, a day trip or a Nights Away event, you’re likely to be providing a bit more information than the usual section meeting. A parents and carers meetings or briefing session can be a great way to share more information. Remember to talk through the activities, the menu, free time, what to pack, insurance and how you’ll be managing safety while on the trip too.
Risk assessments
Everything we do involves an element of risk, so we need to have plans in place to manage this. This guidance will help you to do that, both before and during an activity or event.
Planning and assessing riskInTouch Process
InTouch is the system that helps you to communicate at all Scout activities and events. It's flexible and lets Groups and Sections work out the best way to keep in touch during these activities.
InTouch