In Safe Hands Toolkit Safety in community groups and the In Safe Hands Toolkit The resource ‘In Safe Hands Toolkit’ Edition 3 is now available. The toolkit has been developed by Conservation Volunteers Australia who has over 30 years of experience in safety management whilst completing activities in conservation.

“Common sense is not enough, when it comes to the health and safety of volunteers. You have got to have a system that is implemented on a consistent basis” says Graeme Hickingbotham – Director of the Conservation Skills Centre.

Conservation Volunteers Australia has recently released the 3rd Edition of the In Safe Hands Toolkit. The Toolkit is a safety management system for community groups involved in environmental activities.

The In Safe Hands Toolkit provides a system which includes:  Safety Policy and Procedures  OHS Guidance Notes  Safety Prompts  Volunteer Induction, and  Document Templates.

Graeme comments, “The In Safe Hands Toolkit is a user friendly package. Yes, it does take effort to implement, however it is absolutely worth it. Doing nothing and hoping you will be OK is a dangerous place to be. Groups can decide to implement some or all of the In Safe Hands Toolkit. Community Groups must take charge of safety management and the In Safe Hands Toolkit is a ready to use resource.”

The In Safe Hands Toolkit is a must for a community groups who do not have the resources or the knowledge to develop safety management systems. It has been done and is available now to implement. The In Safe Hands Toolkit shows you HOW to be safe on a community practical conservation activity. It clearly shows you WHAT you can do, in very practical, ways to manage safety. There are three key elements to the In Safe Hands Toolkit program. They are: 1. In Safe Hands Toolkit 2. Training in safety management 3. Mentoring individual groups in safety management CVA is not a regulator or an enforcer but is itself not-for-profit group assisting other community groups to improve their safety management. ____________________________________________

Training and the In Safe Hands Toolkit It is Conservation Volunteers experience, with safety management, that people lack confidence in safety management. It is common for people to be reluctant to start looking at safety management practices because they believe it is too hard and that they don’t have the capacity to implement it. Conservation Volunteers Australia is convinced that attending a half day In Safe Hands Toolkit workshop demonstrates that community groups can implement safety systems and it is not too difficult. Conservation Volunteers has delivered over 400 In Safe Hands workshops in Australasia and has helped over 4000 environmental community groups improve their safety practices. The In Safe Hands Toolkit workshops are designed by educational experts to be engaging and enjoyable. Participants in the workshop have a ‘hands on’ experience on what it means to use the In Safe Hands Toolkit and conduct a Risk Assessment.

In Safe Hands Toolkit training Key Learning Elements The design of the workshop presentation and engaging activities are used to meet the following learning elements. 

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Key Learning Element 1 – Safety management in community groups is important o Accidents/incidents do occur in volunteer organisations o Volunteer organisations are accountable for incidents that occur o The likely occurrence of an incident can be eliminated or reduced o If an incident occurs, the severity of an incident can be reduced Key Learning Element 2 – The Work Health and Safety legislation o PCBU – meaning with in WHS legislation o Volunteers are workers under the WHS legislation o Requirements of a volunteer organisation under the WHS legislation o Resources available to support volunteer organisations with WHS legislation matters Key Learning Element 3 – In Safe Hands Toolkit Policy and procedures o Rationale for having safety policy and procedures o Development of ISH policy and procedures o Implementation of policy and procedures o Managing the change in safety culture Key Learning Element 4 – Conducting a Risk Assessment o Principles of a Risk Assessment o Hierarchy of control measures o Identifying ‘hazards’, ‘risks’ and ‘controls’ o Using ‘safety prompts’ o Acceptable / unacceptable risk evaluation Key Learning Element 5 – Emergency response planning o Importance of ER plan o Essential aspects of a ER plan Key Learning Element 6 – Safety management and documentation o Importance of documentation and accuracy o Record management o Accident / incident reporting

Participants leave the workshop with tangible actions to take back to their group. Participants’ knowledge and skills are significantly improved; however the most obvious outcome is the increased confidence of workshop participants. ____________________________________________ In Safe Hands Toolkit Mentor Program In addition to the In Safe Hands Toolkit and the training in the use of the Toolkit, Conservation Volunteers provides safety mentoring to individual groups. CVA is able to spend quality time with an individual group, listen and research what is currently in place for safety management and is unique about the group. CV has a systematic audit process to use in mentoring which ultimately results in an Action Report for the group to review and decide on their next steps. ____________________________________________

In Safe Hands Toolkit in Detail In Safe Hands Toolkit is divided into 6 sections. Each section is easily accessed with tabs. Once a section tab is opened a table of contents is easily accessed. In developing the In Safe Hands Toolkit, Conservation Volunteers were keen to make it user friendly and easy to navigate. The content of In Safe Hands Toolkit includes: Section 1 – Guidance on the Health and safety at Work Laws Section 2 – Safety Policy and Implementation Guidelines         

Safety Policy General Safety matters Work Site Safety Motor Vehicle and Road Safety First Aid Project Records and reporting Tools and Appliances Chemical / Dangerous substances Specific Projects

Section 3 -Guidance Notes           

Risk assessment process Providing Toilet facilities at project sites Lightning and electrical storms Working with schools Pre-existing medical conditions First aid Kits Using lawn mowers Accident – incident reporting Involving and managing older volunteers Contractor management Handling animal traps

Section 4 – Safety Prompts This section has 39 Safety prompts for specific activities a community group may undertake. Each safety prompt is presented in two sections:  

Risks to the activity Risk Management strategies – to minimise or eliminate the risk

Safety prompts are included for:       

Slips, trips and falls Working in hot conditions Manual Handling Tree planting Working near water Working at heights Handling animal traps

There are 39 Safety prompts in total that assist in the understanding of risks and the implementation of controls of the risk. Section 5 – Volunteer Induction and Briefing   

Volunteer induction format Safety guide for volunteers Project Manager – Project briefing guide

Section 6 – Documentation Volunteer Registration  

Volunteer Registration Form Large event – Volunteer Registration/ Attendance

Volunteer Risk Management   

Project Risk assessment form Emergency Response Plan Project Report

Safety Monitoring  

Work Site Safety Check Work Site Safety Inspection Report

Recording and reporting Accident /incidents   

Register of Injuries Accident / incident report Serious Incident Investigation report

Do you want to know more? Do you want to implement In Safe Hands Toolkit? The contact for the In Safe Hands Toolkit is:

Graeme Hickingbotham Director | Conservation Skills Centre | RTO 4624 a. PO Box 423, Ballarat, VIC 3353, Australia t. +61 (0)3 5330 0237 | f. +61 (0)3 5330 2922 m. 0404 828 906 e. [email protected] w. www.conservationskills.org.au | www.conservationvolunteers.com.au

Conservation Skills Centre is a division of Conservation Volunteers