What Do We Already Have in Place?

Where do we start?

WHAT DO WE ALREADY HAVE IN PLACE?

Check at church for policies that already exist, but have fallen by the wayside in implementation. Find out what verbal agreements you have in place and if these satisfy the recommendations. Then it is only a matter of using what you have agreed on verbally and use the on-line resources to document what you already have in place.

SAFETY TEAM

Having the right policies and procedures is one thing, keeping them in place and up-to-date is another. Communicating policies and procedures to the whole church is the right place to start, but there is also the need for ongoing awareness. Appointing a safety person or a small team to help team leaders and ministry leaders implement the procedures will keep church safety on the agenda.

However this is an oversight role and the implementation is not solely the Safety person or the senior leadership.

Ministry leaders and team leaders need to recruit for and supervise their teams and carry out program specific planning (risk management).

STEPS TO IMPLEMENTATION

A quick-start guide:

1. Church Council or Senior church leadership

·  Adopt and communicate to whole congregation the Safe Church Policy.

·  Appoint a Team to oversee the process and to be a contact point for the denomination.

·  Appoint a Safe Church Contact Person for reporting and debriefing purposes.

2. Safety team

·  Write and implement WHS policy (liaise with Uniting Resources for help with this).

·  Meet with Ministry Leaders and Team Leaders to discuss implementation plan.

·  Regularly check to see how implementation is going.

·  Auditing process (after 12-18 months)

3. Program/Event/Ministry Coordinator/Team Leaders

·  Safe leaders - Appointment process

·  Safe Programs

i.  Work out which recommendations will become whole- church procedures and which are appropriate only for your ministry, e.g. transport procedure can be whole church, a discipline policy might vary dependant upon age group.

ii.  Yearly Ministry Approval. Grant permission for programs when team leaders have completed safety plans.

iii.  Ongoing safe church training – All leaders to complete Safe Church workshop & refresher courses (every 3 years)

iv.  Prepare your approval for ministry plan and submit for approval to your Church Council.

Getting Started Checklist

1.  Appoint implementation people

·  Senior Church Leadership to appoint Safety officer/team

·  Plan dates for implementation meetings

2. Adopt Safe Church Policy & Procedures

·  Church Leadership adopt the policy

·  Provide the whole church with a copy of this of policy

3. Ensure all leaders have attended a Safe Church workshop

·  Ministry coordinators role to ensure all leaders have done this in their first year of ministry, refresher every 3 years

4. Appoint a Safe Church Contact Person

·  Church Leadership to appoint and communicate who this person is with whole church.

5. All leaders ensure they follow the reporting abuse and misconduct process

6. Ministry Coordinator to complete the Approval for Ministry Process (annually)

7. Screen and recruit leaders using procedure (including existing leaders)

8. Plan in-service meetings for this year (each ministry team to develop own plan)

9. Safety team communicate a procedure for handling complaints/disputes to whole church

10. Safety Team communicate WHS policy & procedure

11. Ensure all ministry leaders understand policy & procedures for incidents - at a ministry level

12. Safety team ensure that people from each ministry have a basic first aid certificate. Safety team ensure that an up-to-date first aid kit on-hand

13. Safety team ensure a copy of your food safety guide in a visible place in the kitchen (Safety team)

14. Program /event leaders use checklists and procedures in the Safe Church Manual for ensuring safe environments