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HOW DO WE ENSURE OUR APPROACH IS PROPORTIONATE?
A good approach to safeguarding includes carefully assessing risk and taking actions identi ed to mitigate those risks. The level and nature of any particular safeguarding approach should be determined by and proportionate to the risk inherent in the activities of the role in question. It is important to remember that sometimes even occasional or informal roles can potentially involve risk.
So at one end of the scale you might have a volunteer participating in a one-off event with little public interaction – here you might expect to have a simple chat/introduction about the role and practicalities e.g. health and safety and there would be no need to provide an induction or training meeting or to obtain DBS checks.
At the opposite end of the scale, recruiting an employee or volunteer to provide unsupervised care for children or vulnerable adults several times a week would require a far more robust safeguarding approach, for example, obtaining references, DBS check and possibly a barred list check, comprehensive induction and a trial period to allow work to be observed etc.
In reality, roles and activities are rarely black and white which makes it important to consider each role carefully and identify the measures needed. A "one size ts all" approach will lead to one of two outcomes – ineffective safeguarding or unnecessarily restrictive practices.
Safeguarding is not a one-off exercise - it should be continuously reviewed and updated
Reviewed
Proportionate
Appropriate
Level & nature of safegaurding approach should be determined by and proportionate to risk
To the role - a ‘one size fits all’ approach must be avoided
Chapter 9
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