Risk Assessment Policy

The purpose of this Risk Assessment Policy is to set out how Street Lights Collective CIC identifies, assesses, manages, records and reviews risk across all areas of its work.

Street Lights Collective CIC works with young people, families, schools, community organisations, faith groups, local authorities, partners, volunteers and practitioners. The Organisation delivers youth development, mentoring, psycho-education, school programmes, community engagement, outreach, events, NEET futures support, family education and professional training. Because of this, risk assessment must be a core part of planning, delivery, safeguarding and governance.

Risk assessment is not designed to stop positive work from happening. It is designed to make sure that the work is safe, responsible, proportionate and properly planned. Street Lights believes that strong risk management protects young people, families, staff, volunteers, partners, the Organisation and the wider community.

Street Lights Collective CIC is committed to taking reasonable and proportionate steps to protect children, young people, adults, families, staff, volunteers, practitioners, partners and members of the public from harm.

The Organisation will assess risk before delivering activities, review risk during delivery, respond to emerging risks, record significant findings and learn from incidents, near misses and feedback.

Risk assessment at Street Lights will be guided by the values of Presence. Power. Purpose.

• Presence means being alert, visible and responsive to what is happening in the room, the school, the venue, the street, the online space and the wider community.
• Power means using leadership, planning and professional judgement to reduce harm and enable safe participation.
• Purpose means ensuring risk management supports meaningful, safe and transformational work rather than becoming unnecessary paperwork.

This policy applies to all Street Lights Collective CIC activities and to everyone acting on behalf of the Organisation, including directors, advisors, staff, sessional workers, six trauma informed practitioners, volunteers, youth ambassadors, external partners, consultants and contractors.

This policy applies to activities including but not limited to:

• school based programmes, workshops and assemblies
• TIPS: Theory Into Practical Solutions sessions
• Street Lights Ambassador Programme delivery
• NEET Futures Initiative activities, placements and employer engagement
• Hood Lessons programmes
• The Unity Tour, Community Blast, community fairs and festivals
• one to one mentoring and group mentoring
• family education and parent or carer sessions
• youth voice and ambassador activities
• professional training and consultancy
• outreach, detached engagement and community based delivery
• online sessions, digital communication and social media activity
• events, trips, celebrations, showcases and residential style activity where applicable
• meetings, planning sessions and partnership activity

Street Lights Collective CIC will follow relevant health and safety, safeguarding, data protection and equality duties. The Organisation recognises the Health and Safety Executive approach to managing risk, including identifying hazards, deciding who may be harmed and how, controlling the risks, recording findings and reviewing controls.

The Organisation will also consider risk in line with its safeguarding duties, contextual safeguarding approach, safer recruitment, insurance requirements, venue requirements and funder or commissioner expectations.

This policy should be read alongside the Organisation’s Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy, Data Protection Policy, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy, Complaints and Whistleblowing Policy, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy, Website Privacy Notice and any activity specific procedures.

Street Lights Collective CIC will apply the following principles to risk assessment.

• Risk assessment must be proportionate to the activity, setting, participants and level of risk.
• Risk assessment must be completed before significant activities begin.
• Risk assessment must consider physical, emotional, safeguarding, contextual, digital and reputational risks.
• Risk assessment must include children, young people, vulnerable adults, staff, volunteers, practitioners, partners and members of the public.
• Risk assessment must not be a tick box exercise. It must shape real decisions about delivery.
• Risk assessment must be reviewed when circumstances change.
• Safeguarding concerns must always be escalated through safeguarding procedures, not handled only as health and safety risks.
• The Organisation must be willing to pause, adapt or cancel activity where risk cannot be managed safely.

A written risk assessment must be completed before any activity where there is a significant possibility of harm, safeguarding risk, public involvement, travel, venue use, youth participation or external partnership delivery.

A risk assessment must be completed for:

• new programmes, projects or delivery models
• community events, fairs, festivals, showcases and public activities
• school based programmes delivered on site
• one to one mentoring and small group work
• off site visits, trips and travel arrangements
• work with children, young people or vulnerable adults
• activities involving volunteers, youth ambassadors or external partners
• delivery in areas affected by postcode conflict, community tension or serious youth violence
• online sessions and digital engagement involving young people
• activities involving food, sports, physical movement, equipment or public access
• placements, work experience or employer engagement under the NEET Futures Initiative
• any activity requested by a funder, school, local authority, venue or insurer

Street Lights Collective CIC will use a clear five stage process for risk assessment.

Street Lights Collective CIC will use a simple likelihood and impact scoring system. The score helps the Organisation decide whether an activity can proceed, whether more controls are needed or whether delivery must be paused or changed.

Street Lights Collective CIC recognises that risk to young people is often shaped by context. Harm may arise in peer groups, online spaces, schools, transport routes, parks, estates, public events, community settings and postcode territories.

Risk assessment must therefore consider not only the activity itself, but also the wider environment around the young person and the community.

Contextual safeguarding risks to consider include:

• postcode conflict and area based tension
• gang association, perceived gang association or retaliation risk
• criminal exploitation and county lines
• online threats, filming, harassment or social media escalation
• unsafe travel routes to and from venues
• peer pressure and harmful group dynamics
• weapons, knife carrying or threat of violence
• sexual exploitation or harmful sexual behaviour
• adult intimidation, coercion or grooming
• community fear following a serious incident
• young people being identified publicly through photos, videos or social media
• risk to staff, practitioners or volunteers when entering high tension areas
• Where contextual risk is identified, the Programme Lead must consult the DSL before delivery. The activity may require additional staff, venue changes, staggered arrival times, partner intelligence, local authority input, police community safety advice, safe travel planning, restricted photography, or postponement.

Dynamic risk assessment is the real time process of noticing when risk changes during delivery and taking immediate action.

Staff and practitioners must use dynamic risk assessment where:

• a young person becomes distressed, dysregulated, aggressive or withdrawn
• new information suggests a young person may be at risk
• community tension increases during an activity
• unexpected individuals attend or attempt to disrupt delivery
• a venue becomes unsafe or unsuitable
• social media activity creates immediate concern
• travel arrangements change
• staffing levels become unsafe
• weather, crowding, equipment, illness or behaviour creates new risk
• Where risk increases, staff must take immediate steps to reduce harm. This may include pausing the session, removing the audience, contacting the Programme Lead, contacting the DSL, calling emergency services, ending the activity or moving to a safer space.

All incidents, accidents and near misses must be recorded and reported promptly. A near miss is an event that could have caused harm but did not on that occasion.

Reports should include:

• date, time and location
• names of people involved where appropriate
• what happened
• injury, harm or potential harm
• immediate action taken
• who was informed
• whether safeguarding escalation was required
• follow up actions
• learning for future risk assessments
• Serious incidents involving safeguarding must be escalated to the DSL immediately. Serious health and safety incidents must be escalated to the directors and recorded in line with the Organisation’s reporting procedures.

Where Street Lights Collective CIC delivers events, trips, youth activities or community programmes, emergency arrangements must be considered in advance.

Emergency planning may include:

• named lead person on site
• first aid arrangements
• emergency contact list
• fire exits and evacuation procedure
• lost child or missing young person procedure
• safeguarding escalation route
• nearest hospital or urgent care information for higher risk activity
• communication method between staff
• arrangements for contacting parents, carers, schools or emergency services
• clear decision making authority to pause or cancel activity

When using an external venue or working with a partner, Street Lights Collective CIC must establish who is responsible for venue safety, safeguarding, first aid, insurance and emergency procedures.

The Organisation should request or confirm relevant information such as:

• venue risk assessment or safety information
• public liability insurance where appropriate
• fire safety arrangements
• accessibility arrangements
• toilet and changing facilities where relevant
• first aid provision
• safeguarding procedures
• staffing and supervision arrangements
• permission for photography or filming only where consent and safeguarding controls are in place
• Where a venue or partner cannot provide reasonable assurance, Street Lights may choose an alternative venue, increase controls, restrict activity or decline the partnership.

Risk assessment is only effective if the control measures are communicated clearly. Before delivery, the Programme Lead or delegated person must ensure that relevant staff, practitioners, volunteers and partners understand:

• the key risks identified
• who is responsible for each control
• the safeguarding escalation route
• the emergency procedure
• the behaviour and boundary expectations
• the reporting process for incidents and near misses
• any changes to venue, timing, staffing, access, travel or online delivery

Where activities involve children, young people or families, risk assessment must include consent, communication and participant needs.

Street Lights must consider:

• parent or carer consent where required
• medical needs, allergies and accessibility needs
• emergency contact details
• known safeguarding concerns shared by schools, parents or partners
• photography and media consent
• behaviour expectations
• safe arrival and departure arrangements
• whether participation could increase risk due to local tensions or identification online

Street Lights Collective CIC shall maintain an organisational risk register for significant ongoing risks. This should be reviewed by the Board at least quarterly.

The risk register should include:

• risk description
• risk category
• likelihood and impact score
• risk level
• existing controls
• additional action required
• responsible person
• review date
• status of the risk

All staff, practitioners and volunteers must receive appropriate induction before delivering activity on behalf of Street Lights Collective CIC.

Induction should include:

• this Risk Assessment Policy
• Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy
• contextual safeguarding and community risk
• incident reporting
• emergency procedures
• professional boundaries
• data protection and confidentiality
• equality, diversity and inclusion
• role specific risk controls
• The six trauma informed practitioners must be briefed on any activity specific risk assessment before delivery begins.

Risk assessments must be reviewed when:

• an activity changes
• a new venue is used
• new young people or participant groups are involved
• new safeguarding information becomes available
• an incident, accident or near miss occurs
• staffing arrangements change
• community tension increases
• a funder, commissioner, school or local authority requires review
• at least annually for repeated activities
• After significant delivery, the Programme Lead should review what worked, what did not work, what risks emerged, what controls were effective and what should be changed for future activity.

Street Lights Collective CIC may use the following template for activity level risk assessments.

An activity may proceed only when the Programme Lead is satisfied that risks have been identified, proportionate controls are in place, staff and practitioners have been briefed, safeguarding escalation is clear and the residual risk is acceptable.

Where risk remains high or critical, the activity must be escalated to the directors and the DSL before proceeding. Street Lights Collective CIC reserves the right to pause, adapt, postpone or cancel any activity where risk cannot be managed safely.

This policy will be reviewed annually by the Board of Directors, or sooner where required by a serious incident, safeguarding concern, change in law or guidance, change in delivery model, new venue, new partnership, funder requirement or organisational growth.

This policy is informed by Health and Safety Executive guidance on managing risk and risk assessment at work, including the practical steps of identifying hazards, assessing who may be harmed, controlling risks, recording findings and reviewing controls.

It is also informed by HSE guidance for organisations involving volunteers, which emphasises that risk assessment should be sensible and proportionate, focused on real risks that could cause harm.

This Risk Assessment Policy was adopted by Street Lights Collective CIC, company number 17300794.