Risk Assessment in Safeguarding Training

In safeguarding training, risk assessment plays a pivotal role in ensuring the safety and well-being of children and vulnerable individuals.

It involves identifying potential risks, evaluating their severity, and implementing strategies to mitigate them effectively. Understanding and conducting thorough risk assessments can make a significant difference in preventing harm and promoting a secure environment.

Usefulness of safeguarding training and supervision

Often when I teach about safeguarding training and supervision I am met at the start with the faces of doom. A room full of participants who are thinking ‘We have to spend the next few hours listening to details about abuse, exploitation, neglect and trauma’. I get why the topic of safeguarding does not engender excitement. It takes us to dark places we’d rather not go to. Commonly I ask what delegates want to get from the session and the responses are ‘it’s mandatory’ and ‘I need my certificate’.

So how can we make safeguarding training and supervision meaningful?

Professional Anxiety

I always sense that professionals feel a sense of responsibility. Professionally and personally it’s our duty to learn about safeguarding. What if I’m the one to get a decision wrong? I could be blamed if something awful happens.

So how do we provide training that equips professionals to face the risks associated with frontline practice confidently? How do we make safeguarding training fit for purpose and not just another tick-box exercise?

Simplifying the Decision Making

I think it is simple. There is a need to demystify the subject of safeguarding. Change the ethos that as professionals we always think we have to make the right decision. How can we? Safeguarding practice is fraught with risks and difficulties. We can only risk assess on what we actually know. The clients we work with bring multiple factors to each situation: adversity, disability, illness and deception.

Phrases like safeguarding is ‘everybody’s business’ and ‘work together’ only add to the pressure professionals feel to ‘get it right’.

Teaching Professionals how to Risk Assess

We teach people how to risk assess safely and effectively. We can only work with what information we have currently. What we know historically is also of relevance as long as we do not use that information disproportionately. Evidencing professional judgement is also crucial. Sounds easy, but in practice, it’s often far from simple.

A large part of our work is providing complex case supervision. It is always immediately apparent that the more people ‘in the mix’, the more confusing the decision-making becomes. Supposition and assumptions based on individual past experience dominate and a picture of confusion and increased professional anxiety emerge.

Whose advice do we take, and which path do we go down?

Communication

I’m not disputing that we should share and communicate safeguarding risks. Clear escalation pathways and communication channels are fundamental. Risk assessment of safeguarding situations requires a level-headed approach with suggested actions based on actual risks. Not easy when we can all see loads of potential risks too, those are the scary ones to manage.

You can guarantee that if you present a safeguarding scenario to colleagues, you will be met with numerous different recommendations as to what to do… very stressful.

Risk Assessment Tool for Safeguarding Training

I have developed a risk assessment tool which is utilised by professionals in training and subsequent practice to enhance safe and effective evidence-based decision-making. In safeguarding training, we practice using the tool in scenarios and sometimes delegates bring actual live or historical cases to the table to test out the tool.

It makes safeguarding training dynamic and relevant to day-to-day practice. Simplifying safeguarding decision-making leaves delegates feeling empowered to face the next scenario they may encounter. When risk is approached systematically, we reduce the potential for error and increased staff anxiety.

Join us in a training session to see if it works for you or your organisation.