It is the responsibility of leaders and senior managers to take a helicopter view of safeguarding within their organisation. This is carried out by promoting a safer culture with effective Governance and modelling safer values, attitudes and behaviours.
What is a Safer Culture
A safer culture typically refers to an organisational that views safeguarding as everybody’s responsibility and integrates safeguarding considerations into all aspects of operations, decision-making processes, and individual behaviours. In a safer culture, there is a collective commitment to identifying and mitigating risks, fostering open communication about safeguarding concerns and promoting continuous improvement in safeguarding practices.
Whether you are a small or large organisation a safer culture starts with effective governance. To begin, it's about mapping a framework that is clear, robust and easy to understand for your safeguarding procedures within your organisational structure. This will ultimately lead to positive values, attitudes and behaviours for safer working practices.
How to create a safer culture
Effective governance should be able to show clear evidence trails of information from the service user to member of staff directly up to the CEO or Director then the Board. Accountability and responsibility are key. Every safeguarding concern or allegation needs to be recognised, reported and recorded to identifying outcomes leaving an evidence trail.
By being able to share best practices across your organisations and have an unambiguous transparent approach to safeguarding children, young people and adults at risk are valued and have a voice. All people are treated with respect and dignity – staff feel safe and equally, those that use your services feel safe.
Providing the right environment and culture can be difficult and needs significant leadership to maintain. All organisations need enabling processes in place to allow their staff and volunteers to feel safe and their voices valued.
Whistleblowing and Speak Up pathway arrangements can include:
- Team meetings/ team building days
- Multi-discipline focus groups
- Supervision sessions and one to one meetings
- Issues raised on training sessions (including induction)
- Customer feedback opportunities/focus groups
- Partner feedback opportunities/focus groups
- Open door policy
All organisations need to develop a culture of listening to children and adults at risk, making sure that what they say is taken seriously.
Embedding safeguarding in the culture of your organisation comprises of:
- Safeguarding Policies and procedures
- Safer recruitment practices
- Management and safeguarding supervision of staff and/or volunteers
- Training and raising awareness of safeguarding issues
- Review, audit and quality assurance safeguarding practices
Policies and procedures
The key safeguarding policies and procedures that an organisation should have are:
- Safeguarding Policy and Procedures
- Whistle blowing Policy
- Safer recruitment and selection policy
- Complaint and discipline policy
- Allegations against staff Policy
- Code of conduct
- Social Media Policy
- DBS disclosure check policy
- Mental Capacity procedures contained within safeguarding policy
- Allegations against staff contained within safeguarding policy
- Code of conduct- Expected Behaviour – Staff Handbook
- Safer Practice Handbooks
- Serious and Untoards incidents
Making copies available in communal areas such as receptions, workers' rest areas, meeting spaces, and toilets and ensuring that intranet documentation is up to date will also support a culture of vigilance. Making your commitment to safeguarding explicit on your website for anyone to read is also important.
How to promote a safer culture
You might want to also consider the following as a means to promote, embed and enhance a safer culture within your organisation:
- Safeguarding Facilitation Days
- Policy and Procedures Reviews
- Safeguarding Champion Models
- Safeguarding Supervision
- Training and Raising Awareness of Safeguarding issues
- Reviews and Audits of safeguarding practices
- Safeguarding Handbooks
Achieving a safer workforce, keeping all who safeguard others confident and competent in best practice. Creating safer cultures in partnership with all those who have a duty to protect those in need of safeguarding.
Contact us for more on our bespoke safeguarding training and consultancy services.