Roots & Wings takes extremely seriously its responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974, and other relevant legislation, to provide a safe environment for its staff, volunteers and the adults, children and young people in its care.
The Health and Safety Officer for Roots & Wings is the Director, Rachel Gillett.

1  Responsibilities

1.1  Although final responsibility lies with the Health and Safety Officer, day-to-day health and safety is the responsibility of all Roots & Wings staff and volunteers. As such, staff and volunteers must be prepared to act immediately if they believe our practices, environment, work or activities are putting our families, staff, volunteers or other stakeholders at risk.

1.2  Overall and final responsibility for health and safety lies with the Health and Safety Officer.

1.3  Responsibility for health and safety for a Roots & Wings activity is delegated to the training/activity leader.

1.4  Staff and volunteers are responsible for co-operating with the Director on health and safety matters, not interfering with anything provided to safeguard their health and safety and reporting all health and safety concerns to the person responsible for appropriate health and safety. This may be the Health and Safety Officer, the activity leader or the Safeguarding Lead. In addition, staff must take reasonable care for their own health and safety.

2   Identifying and assessing risk

2.1  The Director is responsible for overseeing the overall risks to the business.

2.2  In circumstances where the nature of risk changes significantly, including events outside of our control, it is recognised that new assessments of risk may be required. These circumstances may include, but are not limited to, significant changes in legislation, external/environmental safety or wider community behaviour.

2.3  For any Roots & Wings activity, it is the responsibility of the training/activity leader to carry out a risk assessment in advance of the activity, submit it for approval to the Health and Safety Officer and carry out any action required.

2.4  For any work involving children or vulnerable adults, risk assessments, and the implementation of them, must have safeguarding at their heart. To this effect, the Designated Safeguarding Lead(Rachel Gillett ) must be consulted on all activities involving children and vulnerable adults.

2.5  It is the responsibility of the Health and Safety Officer to ensure that the actions required from risk
assessments have been carried out and to monitor the effectiveness of these measures.

3. Consultation

3.1 Roots & Wings will consult staff and volunteers on health and safety by listening and talking to them
about the work they do, how risks are controlled and the best ways of providing information and
training. Our team are often the best people to understand risks in the workplace and are encouraged
to raise concerns and influence decisions on the management of health and safety. This can be done
through line management meetings, staff meetings or through day- t o -d a y work.

3.2 Staff should be aware that they can discuss any health and safety concerns with the Healthy and
Safety Officer. This is in addition to their responsibility to report any health and safety concerns to
the appropriate person responsible.

4. Information, training and supervision

4.1  Roots & Wings will provide staff and volunteers with appropriate levels of information, induction,
training and equipment so that activities can be carried out safely and without harming health.

4.2  All staff have access to appropriate training- including up to date Health and Safety training. Staff
complete training when they first join Roots & Wings and are expected to keep training up to date.

4.3  Roots & Wings provides each worker with a copy of the required leaflet which outlines British Health
and Safety laws and includes a straightforward list that tells workers what they and their employers
need to do. This leaflet can be found here: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/lawleaflet.pdf

4.4  Staff and volunteers, as well as any contractors or self-employed people who may be working for
Roots & Wings, will be provided with the right level of information about:
• hazards and risks they may face, if any
• measures in place to deal with those hazards and risks, if necessary
• how to follow any emergency procedures.

4.4.  It is the responsibility of the Health and Safety Officer to ensure all workers are given relevant health
and safety information. Induction training and job-specific training will be provided for members of staff
and volunteers by their line manager and/or the Director. Training records are kept securely and
c e n t r al l y  b y  Roo t s & Wings. Health and safety training will take place during working hours and,
where appropriate, any external training necessary will be paid for by Roots & Wings.

4.5  Further health and safety training may be necessary for new recruits, people changing jobs or taking
on extra responsibilities or comply with specific legislation relating to the protection of young people
and vulnerable adults at work which can be found here:
https://www.hse.gov.uk/youngpeople/law/index.htm. Young people may be particularly at risk due to
lack or experience, lack of maturity and being unaware of existing potential risks.

4.6. Some workers may have specific circumstances which may require an individual risk assessment to
be carried out. Those who may require an individual risk assessment may include, but are not limited
to, those with health issues, a disability, expectant mothers and under 18's.

4.7 Ongoing supervision of staff and volunteers will be undertaken by the staff member to whom they are
responsible.

5. Insurance

5.1 Roots & Wings maintains Employers' Liability Insurance and the certificate of insurance stating
the minimum level of cover is displayed on the office wall at the registered company address.

6. Premises and facilities

6.1 When working in person, Roots & Wings will provide adequate workplace facilities for staff and
volunteers, including those with disabilities. These include toilets and hand basins, with soap and
towels or a hand-dryer, drinking water, a place to store clothing and somewhere to rest and eat
meals.

6.2 To maintain a healthy working environment, we will make sure there is good ventilation, a
reasonable working temperature (usually at least 16°C, or 13°C for strenuous work, unless other laws
require lower temperatures), lighting suitable for the work being carried out, enough room space,
suitable workstations and seating and a clean workplace with appropriate waste containers.

6.3 Roots & Wings will properly maintain its premises and work equipment, in particular ensuring that
floors and traffic routes remain free from obstruction, windows that can be opened and also cleaned safely
and that any transparent (e.g. glass) doors or walls are protected or made of safety material.

6.4 The Roots & Wings Health and Safety Officer is responsible for ensuring the fire risk assessment is
undertaken and implemented, which includes procedures for fire alarm testing, emergency evacuation
drills, escape routes and fire extinguisher maintenance.

6.5. It is the responsibility of the Health and Safety Officer to carry out risk assessments for the Roots &
Wings registered address. This should be reviewed annually, or when significant changes are made to
the building. A copy is provided on request to users of the building.

7. Personal safety, lone working and working at home

7.1  A lone worker is anyone who works in isolation from their colleagues without close or direct
supervision. This Policy applies to all Roots & Wings staff and volunteers.

7.2  Where possible Roots & Wings will ensure that there are sufficient staff available to ensure that
employees do not work alone and that a minimum of two people are present in Roots & Wings
offices. However, there may be circumstances where this is not possible.

7.3  Where the team are dealing with an individual and feel uneasy about being alone with them, they
have the right to refuse to make an appointment or give access if it would put them in that position.

7.4  Where lone working cannot be avoided, the Healthy and Safety Officer or designated manager must
identify what safe work practices should be implemented, in line with the findings of a general risk
assessment.

7.5  Employees must report to the Healthy and Safety Officer any unsafe or potentially unsafe situations,
and to report incidents in which violence, aggression or threats are used as soon as practicably
possible. These incidents must be logged.

7.6  As part of our flexible working policy, it is recognised that some employees may work at home as
agreed with their line manager. Where working at home is necessary for completion of the person’s
role and where the person concerned does not contract their services to Roots & Wings, it is the
responsibility of Roots & Wings to provide reasonable equipment and technology required to do so.

7.7  Anyone working at home should complete a risk assessment of his or her working environment, to
ensure safe working. Line managers will support staff and volunteers to complete this. Roots & Wings
has a responsibility to advise t h e team of safe working from home practices. Staff and volunteers
have a responsibility to follow safety and advice and to act safely whilst working at home. As with all
work, any risks staff or volunteers are concerned about whilst working at home should be shared with
their line managers.

8. Equipment and substances

8.1 The Roots & Wings Health and Safety Officer is responsible for identifying all equipment needing
maintenance, ensuring effective maintenance procedures are drawn up and ensuring that all identified
maintenance is implemented. Any problems found with equipment should be reported to the deputy
Health and Safety Officer.

8.2 All new equipment will be checked by the Health and Safety Officer to ensure it meets health and
safety requirements and any new substances can be used safely before they are purchased.

8.3 Roots & Wings stores products that requi re a COSHH assessment in a locked cupboard.
Where appropriate, adequate signage to highlight areas of risk are used.

9. Visual display equipment

9.1 Roots & Wings will conduct health and safety assessments of all workstations staffed by employees
who use Visual Display Unit screens as part of their usual work. All workstations must meet health
and safety requirements and a workstation risk assessment will identify correct working practices.
Contractors are responsible for conducting their own VDU assessments.

9.2 Employees must take reasonable care for their own safety and not expose themselves to
unnecessary risk.

10. Emergency Procedures

10.1 The Health and Safety Officer is responsible for ensuring the premises occupied by Roots & Wings
has a clear Fire Procedure and is responsible for briefing new volunteers and staff on the fire
procedure