Charity and Voluntary Workers

Introduction
Charity and voluntary workers make significant contributions to the quality of life of many people both at the local communities level and also more broadly at the national and even the international levels. The effective management of Health and Safety can be a challenging area in any organisation, but the problems can be greater in the charity and voluntary sector as many of the workers are not paid employees working regularly for the organisation, but are often unpaid workers making small, but valuable, time contributions. The charity and voluntary sector also uses workers from a very wide age range and probably has a greater proportion of very elderly workers than any other sector, as many people find more time for voluntary work when they have retired from other work. All workers, including paid employees and voluntary (unpaid) workers, have a right to work in a safe workplace where appropriate actions have been taken to prevent accidents and ill health. Both paid and unpaid workers also have a duty to contribute to the general health and safety of their workplace, in the same way that employees do in other work areas.

Charity and voluntary work can cover a wide range of activities, almost as broad as other working areas, but generally without the industrial aspects. Such work can include: office work; handling patients; retail work; driving (either alone, with others or transporting people); visiting people in their homes; etc. Typical hazardous are similar to other workplaces (such as fire; electrical; slips, trips and falls; etc.) as well as lone working and the manual handling difficulties associated with lifting and moving people. There may also be issues associated with fund raising activities, such as money handling, and with lone working.

Charity and voluntary organisations and Health & Safety law
It should come as no surprise that charity and voluntary organisations are subject to the same health and safety laws as comparable non-charity and non-voluntary organisations. They have a duty to ensure the health and safety of their employees and also any non-employees who may be affected by the undertakings of the organisation. These duties arise from Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974. Also, they are subject to a requirement to undertake assessments of the risks to employees (and non-employees) arising from their undertakings under Regulations 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The application of other health and safety legislation depends on the exact nature and undertakings of the organisation, just as it would in all other sectors.

In order to determine what health and safety legislation applies and how to comply with its variation provisions, charity and voluntary organisations must have access to competent health and safety advice. This may be provided from within the organisation or can be brought in from external sources, such as consultants.

As it is not uncommon to have elderly workers engaged in charity and voluntary work, the potential extra vulnerability of these people to injury needs to be accounted for in the risk assessments and in the control measures.

Training
Voluntary workers are not exempted from training and should be included in your training health and safety programmes. Due to the nature of voluntary work, consideration needs to be given to the most suitable way of doing this and the organisation will need to be flexible with the training times and the venues. Voluntary workers should be given suitable induction training, just like all other workers and this should include: Fire arrangements for the workplace; First aid arrangements for the workplace; Awareness of higher risk areas and operations; etc.
On the job (or tool box style) training may be provided to ensure that workers are aware of the risks to which they may be exposed and to ensure that they are aware of (and use) the appropriate control measures (such as those arising from the risk assessments) to avoid and control these risks.

In line with other work areas, records should be maintained of all of the training provided to workers.

Two examples of issues facing charity and voluntary workers

Dealing with donated goods
Charities often receive donations of goods for use or to be sold (such as in charity shops). Often, these goods are delivered in boxes or bags and are not sorted and are not packaged with the safety of the sorter in mind. The bags and boxes may be heavy and not substantial enough for the loads contained. After sorting, the goods may need to be cleaned before being displayed for sale.

Typical hazards and harm from sorting donated goods
• Manual handling of boxes and bags (often many of each and of variable, unknown and often heavy weights), leading to:
o Back injuries
o Slips, trips and falls while handling the bags and boxes
• Poor housekeeping arising from the number of boxes and bags donated and the unpacking and sorting of the materials, leading to:
o Slips, trips and falls
o Manual handling injuries due to over reaching
• Sharp objects (such as knives, broken glass and china, etc)
o Cuts and puncture wounds
• Contamination (materials that have leaked or clothing that is soiled or has become mouldy, etc)
o Exposure to substances hazardous to health
o Infections
• Ergonomic issue ( from working on tables of poor height and working from boxes and bags of variable size and shape)
o Back injuries
• Work Equipment issues (such as washing machines, steaming equipment, ironing equipment, etc)
o Electrical
o Burns and scolds

Typical measures to control the risks associated with sorting donated goods
• Ensure that there are sufficient people to handle the number (and weight) of the bags and boxes that need to be sorted
• Where appropriate, provide trolleys, sack trucks or other manual handling aids
• Provide suitable instruction to workers on how to lift and carry boxes and bags
• Ensure that workers take breaks from the physical exertion of lifting carrying
• Ensure that the work areas (including the means of access to and egress from them) are kept clean and clear of obstructions
• Ensure that the lighting in the sorting area is satisfactory
• Provide an sufficient number of suitable bins for the safe disposal and, where appropriate, segregation of waste from the sorting operation
• Provide a clear, flat surface of sufficient size for bags and boxes to the emptied out onto before sorting the contents
• Ensure that the work surface is at a suitable height for the workers involved in the sorting operation
• Provide appropriate personal protective equipment, such as protective gloves for handling sharp objects and appropriate gloves for handling contaminated items
• Establish a policy for dealing with broken glass (hoe to deal with it and how and where to dispose of it)
• Provide suitable bag openers or bag holders for holding “rag bags” open when they are being filled with fabrics
• Restrict the use of work equipment (such as steaming equipment) to those who have been trained in the use of the equipment.
• Provide a suitable ironing board that adjusts to a suitable height for the working using it
• Arrange for all work equipment to be maintained in good condition and for electrical equipment to be tested and inspected by a competent person regularly


Working in a drug “drop in” centre
Voluntary workers often help to man the various drug “drop in” centres around the country, either providing administrative support or providing counselling skills. Such centres provide help and advice as well as counselling services to their clients, which include: drug users and to their friends and families. In these settings, the potential for unpredictable behaviour from drug users visiting the centre means that aggressive and even violent situations are not uncommon.

Typical hazards and harm from working in a drug “drop in” centre
• The unpredictable nature of some drug users and other clients, leading to aggressive and violent behaviour, resulting in:
o Verbal abuse from clients
o Property damage caused by clients
o Personal injury caused by assault by clients

Typical measures to control the risks associated with working in a drug “drop in” centre
• Ensure that all workers are aware of what might happen in the centre and are aware of the procedures to be followed
• Establish and practice effective emergency procedures, including the use of panic alarms (that summon aid from other areas of the premises and (maybe) also from the local police service)
• Establish, and publish details of, a “zero tolerance” approach to violence and aggression – display suitable posters and bring this policy to the attention of all users of the centre
• Provide workers with suitable and sufficient training and information. In particular this should address:
o the adoption of a non-confrontational and non-judgemental approach to clients and the avoidance of patronising behaviour
o workers should be trained to help to create an equal balance of power between workers and clients
o the various control measures that are in place throughout the centre to safeguard workers
o identifying challenging behaviour in clients and strategies for diffusing the situation
o instructing workers not to compromise their own safety
• Consideration to the layout and design of the premises, with consideration to the safety of workers and also to the privacy needs of the clients. This would include:
o Suitable access control to the premises
o Provision of light, spacious, airy and well-decorated public and working areas, designed to give a calming and welcoming effect
o Provision of a Reception desk designed to provide a central control point from which all client accessible areas can be supervised
o Ensuring that the counselling rooms provide privacy, but are also within hearing distance of the reception and that they have suitable panic alarms fitted
o Design of the workers’ office areas such that they are located out of client sight, but are open plan to allow workers to see each other
• Establish suitable work procedures to help to minimise the risks of conflict, including:
o a good, accurate appointment system
o avoiding keeping clients waiting (which may result in them becoming annoyed or frustrated)
o continuous staff of reception by trained workers
o procedures to respond to panic alarms in a prompt and appropriate manner

Summary
The challenges associated with the management of health and safety charity and voluntary workers are not that different from those facing other businesses. Many of them can be dealt with by the application of thought and common sense. In line with all other businesses, there is a requirement to consider the risks that workers may be exposed to and to establish controls to avoid and control these risks. The examples above demonstrate that the processes to control the risks are not difficult to identify or to implement. There are two particular problems that need to be considered carefully for the charity and voluntary sector: training of workers and the potential for elderly workers.

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