Health & Safety Policy
Registered Charity No. 1216036
1. Policy Statement
Impact Buckingham (“the Charity”) is committed to providing and maintaining a safe and healthy environment for its trustees, volunteers, beneficiaries, partner schools, and any members of the public who come into contact with the Charity’s activities. The Charity recognises its duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and associated regulations, and accepts its responsibility to manage health and safety risks so far as is reasonably practicable.
The Charity’s activities are small in scale and are delivered by volunteers. The principal activities are: the packing and distribution of festive food hampers (delivered primarily through local schools to families at end of term, with a small number of home deliveries); occasional fundraising events; and the future distribution of grants or vouchers to Pupil Premium families identified by partner schools. This policy is proportionate to those activities and will be revised if the scope of operations changes.
2. Purpose of this Policy
This policy sets out the responsibilities of trustees and volunteers in relation to health and safety, the principles the Charity will apply to identify and control risks, and the procedures to be followed in the event of accidents, incidents, or emergencies.
3. Scope
This policy applies to all trustees and volunteers acting on behalf of Impact Buckingham, and to all activities carried out in the Charity’s name, including hamper packing and distribution, fundraising events, and partner-school based activities. Where the Charity uses premises or facilities provided by a third party (such as The Mitre pub, a partner school, or an event venue), the Charity will work within the host’s own health and safety arrangements and will defer to the host’s rules where these are more stringent than this policy.
4. Legal Framework
This policy has been drawn up with reference to the following legislation and guidance:
- The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
- The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
- The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR)
- The Food Safety Act 1990 and the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013
- The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
- Charity Commission guidance on managing risk (CC26)
5. Responsibilities
The Board of Trustees has overall responsibility for health and safety within the Charity. The trustees collectively:
- Ensure that this policy is implemented, reviewed and updated.
- Ensure that risks associated with the Charity’s activities are identified and that proportionate control measures are in place.
- Ensure that volunteers are properly briefed before participating in any Charity activity.
- Make sure that any accidents, incidents or near misses are recorded and that lessons are learned.
A Health & Safety Lead will be appointed from among the trustees to act as the principal point of contact for health and safety matters. The Health & Safety Lead is currently Peter Edwards, Chair of Trustees.
Volunteers are responsible for:
- Taking reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by their actions.
- Following any instructions, briefings or risk-control measures provided by the Charity or by the host venue.
- Reporting any hazards, accidents, incidents or near misses to the Health & Safety Lead as soon as reasonably practicable.
- Not undertaking any task they feel unable to perform safely.
6. Risk Assessment
Before each new activity, and at least annually for recurring activities, the Health & Safety Lead (or another trustee on their behalf) will carry out a written risk assessment. The risk assessment will identify the hazards, the people at risk, the likelihood and severity of harm, and the control measures to be applied. Risk assessments will be kept on file and reviewed if circumstances change.
The Charity has identified the following recurring areas of risk, which will be addressed through its risk assessments:
- Hamper packing: manual handling of bulk food items, slips, trips and falls in the packing area, knife or sharp-object injury, allergens, and food hygiene.
- Hamper distribution at schools: vehicle movements in school car parks, manual handling, working in proximity to children, and compliance with the school’s own visitor and safeguarding procedures.
- Home deliveries (minority of cases): lone working, manual handling at the doorstep, and the risk of misunderstanding with the recipient household. Home deliveries will only be made in pairs wherever possible, and never by a volunteer alone in a household where the recipient is a child or vulnerable adult without an appropriate adult also present.
- Fundraising events: crowd management, food and drink service, electrical equipment, tripping hazards, fire safety, and (where alcohol is served) compliance with the host venue’s licensing conditions.
- Future grant or voucher distribution: secure handling of vouchers, data protection in respect of beneficiary information, and avoidance of any face-to-face contact with beneficiary children outside the school’s own safeguarding framework.
7. Food Safety and Hygiene
Where food items are handled by the Charity, the following principles apply:
- Food will be sourced from reputable retailers or suppliers.
- Best-before and use-by dates will be checked at the point of packing and again before distribution; any item past its use-by date will be discarded.
- Volunteers handling open food will wash their hands before doing so and will not handle food if they are suffering from any illness that could be transmitted through food.
- Common allergens will be clearly identified on hampers where practicable, and recipient families will be made aware that hampers may contain allergens.
- Chilled or perishable items, where included, will be kept at appropriate temperatures and distributed promptly.
8. Manual Handling
Volunteers will be reminded before each packing or distribution session to lift safely, to use trolleys or wheeled aids where available, and not to attempt to lift items beyond their individual capacity. Heavy items should be split into smaller loads or carried by two people. Volunteers with back, joint, or other relevant conditions should inform the Health & Safety Lead and will not be asked to undertake manual handling tasks.
9. Working on Third-Party Premises
When the Charity’s activities take place on premises owned or operated by others — in particular partner schools, The Mitre pub, or fundraising-event venues — the Charity will:
- Sign in and out as required by the host’s visitor policy.
- Observe the host’s fire evacuation, first aid, and safeguarding procedures.
- Ensure that any volunteer who will come into contact with children or vulnerable adults on school premises has been authorised under the school’s own visitor and safeguarding arrangements, in addition to the Charity’s Safeguarding Policy.
- Not bring onto host premises any equipment, electrical item, or substance that has not been agreed with the host.
10. Accidents, Incidents and Near Misses
Any accident, incident or near miss occurring during a Charity activity must be reported to the Health & Safety Lead as soon as reasonably practicable. The Lead will:
- Ensure that any injured person receives appropriate first aid or medical attention.
- Record the event in the Charity’s incident log, including date, location, persons involved, a description of what happened, and any immediate action taken.
- Where the event is reportable under RIDDOR, ensure that it is reported to the Health and Safety Executive within the required timescale.
- Where the event occurs on third-party premises, ensure that the host is informed and that the host’s own incident procedures are followed in parallel.
- Review the relevant risk assessment and update control measures if necessary.
11. Emergency Procedures
When operating on host premises (schools, The Mitre, event venues), the host’s own emergency procedures take precedence. Volunteers must familiarise themselves with the fire exits, assembly points, and first-aid arrangements at the start of any activity. When operating off-site (e.g. during home deliveries), volunteers should carry a mobile phone, have a designated trustee contact for the session, and call 999 in the event of a medical or other emergency.
12. Insurance
The Charity will maintain appropriate insurance cover for its activities, including public liability cover and, where required, employer’s liability cover in respect of volunteers. The trustees will review insurance cover annually and before any significant new activity is undertaken.
13. Volunteers, Children and Vulnerable Adults
The Charity’s beneficiaries include children and vulnerable adults. Volunteers who will have direct contact with beneficiaries must also comply with the Impact Buckingham Safeguarding Policy. Wherever possible, contact with beneficiary children will take place within the partner school’s own safeguarding framework rather than directly. Home deliveries to households with children or vulnerable adults will be made in pairs and only at pre-arranged times.
14. Training and Information
All volunteers will be given a verbal health and safety briefing at the start of each session, covering the relevant hazards, control measures, emergency procedures, and the identity of the Health & Safety Lead for that session. Trustees will keep themselves informed of any developments in health and safety law and good practice relevant to the Charity’s activities.
15. Review
This policy will be reviewed annually by the Board of Trustees and updated as necessary. It will also be reviewed following any significant accident or incident, or following any material change in the Charity’s activities.
Contact Details
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Health & Safety Lead |
Peter Edwards, Chair of Trustees |
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Health and Safety Executive (HSE) incident reporting |
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Emergency services/p> |