Cheam Camera Club

Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults

 

1 OVERVIEW

The aim of the Club is to promote the art and science and appreciation of photography within it’s membership and the wider community. In this context, young people between the ages of 13 and up to 18 and vulnerable adults are welcome to join or visit the Club. The Club has a legal duty of care to people in these groups and in order to safeguard the interests of all members, the following policy shall apply.

2 SAFEGUARDING VULNERABLE GROUPS ACT 2006 (as amended by the Protection of Freedom Act 2012)

The legislation refers to the protection of vulnerable adults and young people under the age of 18 in respect of: Sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, health and safety issues and protection of personal data.

This latter is now covered by the General Data Protection Regulations to be implemented on 25 May 2018. See separate policy

3 ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS

Young members and visitors under the age of 18 years of age must be accompanied at all regular Club meetings, other Club meetings and other events by a parent or guardian who will be responsible for their safety at all times. This also applies to Club outings, visits to other clubs and ad hoc meetings at members’ houses. The needs of any vulnerable adult will be assessed on joining depending on their vulnerability.

None of the activities of the Club fall within the definition of unsupervised or ‘regulated’ activity with vulnerable groups. Club members and officers will therefore not be required to work with a child or vulnerable adult unsupervised.

4 CLUB PROGRAMME

During club meetings and events, images covering a wide range of styles and content are shown. The range and content of these images should be similar to those acceptable to be displayed in general public exhibitions. Whether or not images are appropriate to show at the club should be judged in this context.

5 HEALTH AND SAFETY

All members of the club should take reasonable care to consider the health andsafety of young people and vulnerable adults who are members or visitors to the club. Neither should be asked to handle or operate equipment, for example, which might be beyond their capability in whatever way.

6 REPORTING INCIDENTS OR ALLEGATIONS

Allegations of incidents set out in section (2) of this policy should be reported to any member of the committee in confidence, who in turn should pass these on immediately to the Chairman (or in his or her absence, another officer of the Club). The Chairman shall liaise with one of the other officers or another member of the committee in deciding what action should be taken. This could include sharing information about concerns with agencies who need to know such as the police or social services and involving parents or a guardian or carer as appropriate. A copy of all written records, reports, notes and correspondence relating to any incident, will be kept by the Secretary.

7 CONFIDENTIALITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

A database of members’ contact details is maintained by the Club Data Copntroller. Care is taken to protect this information in line with the Data Protection principles and the forthcoming GDPR legislation. Please see separate policy.

The contact details of any young member or vulnerable adult will be included in  this database if the responsible person agrees in writing that this can be done once an explanation of how the data will be used and kept is given.

8 POLICY REVIEW

This policy will be reviewed regularly and immediately after any reported incident

 

 

Version 1 April 2018