Your health and safety is important to us. Your Volunteer Support Person will give you information during your induction.

Our aim is to prevent injuries and accidents, involve and motivate volunteers in health and safety matters, promote a high standard of health and hygiene, and control situations which may threaten life, health or property. For health and safety to be effective, it is essential for staff and volunteers to co-operate with safe working practices.

It is your responsibility to familiarise yourself with and comply with the Society’s procedures and systems on health and safety and to take reasonable care of your own and other people’s health, safety and welfare. You must comply with all relevant instructions and procedures relating to safety and follow guidance provided by Humanist Society Scotland; inform your Volunteer Support Person of any personal health and safety requirements that you have; and report any situation which may pose a serious or imminent threat to the well-being of yourself or of any other person.

If you have any doubts regarding your health and safety role or responsibility, or if you are unsure how to perform a particular task, do not know how to use a piece of equipment, or feel it would be dangerous to perform a specific task or use specific equipment, then it is your duty to seek advice and report this as soon as possible to your Volunteer Support Person or a member of staff.

Accidents, incidents and near misses must be reported

Please contact your named Volunteer Support Person, or the Community Engagement Manager for assistance with this.

Adapting to life with COVID 19

If you have not yet been vaccinated against covid-19 but you would like to be, you can arrange a vaccination through NHS Scotland, and we encourage those eligible to do so.

Please follow the latest coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance from NHS Scotland and the Scottish Government, including protective measures, how to get a test and how to self-isolate.

For useful information and advice produced by Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) and Public Health Scotland, visit the SCDC website. It's based on Scottish Government guidance and best available knowledge about COVID 19. It will be most useful to our local groups, and any of our groups planning in-person meetings.

Food hygiene basics are addressed on our StreetCare page.

Running events safely

When running events it’s vital to consider the health and safety of everyone involved, whether that’s volunteers helping to organise an event or the participants or beneficiaries of the event.

Carrying out a Risk Assessment

You must carry out a risk assessment ahead of every event you do, to identify risks and address these, as this will help reduce the likelihood and / or severity of any accidents that could happen. As well as helping to keep our volunteers and supporters safe, this will also help safeguard Humanist Society Scotland’s good reputation.

Carrying out a risk assessment helps us show that safety has been considered and managed. This is a legal requirement as well as a condition of our public liability insurance, so it's essential that you do this.

You can download our risk assessment template form.

You can also download our one page quick guide to carrying out a risk assessment.

Read our guide to Keeping your events safe.

If you have any questions about your health and safety responsibilities as a volunteer or how to carry out a risk assessment, please speak to the Community Engagement Manager - we're here to help.