Risk management for charities and not-for-profit organisations

The legal responsibilities for ensuring effective risk management in charities and not-for-profit organisations relate to the safety of staff and volunteers. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 imposes a duty on all employers to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of your board or trustees and directors, employees and others (such as volunteers). It also provides assurance to enforcing authorities such as HSE, CQC, local authority, and the fire and rescue service.

Your charity is at risk of financial and reputational exposure if you do not have a systematic approach to managing safety and health risks. When an effective system is in place, it helps avoid costly accidents, disruption losses and damage to the charity’s morale and reputation. It also enables the charity or not-for-profit organisation to comply with its duties under health and safety law.

Yes, a charity could be deemed negligent without effective risk management systems in place. If you’re not managing risk adequately you could be seen to be operating inappropriately and carelessly. By implementing strong risk management principles, you can be confident in your own approach and provide assurance to:

• Board of trustees & directors
• Supporters, partners, donors/fundraisers, beneficiaries, community
• Enforcing authorities such as the HSE, CQC, Local Authority or the fire & rescue service
• Your insurers and auditors

Yes, Endsleigh offers a risk management health check. We offer single or multiple consultancy day(s), where we visit your charity or not-for-profit organisation and work with you to understand and enhance your safety management systems. Our Health Check consultancy service is completely flexible to suit your individual needs.

Our Health and Safety Audit allows us to provide you with a baseline of where your risk management currently stands. During a visit to your charity, we will cover:

• Health & Safety Management such as policies, training and risk assessments
• Premises and grounds statutory duties
• Domestic Premises (if applicable)
• Landscaping/Maintenance (Plant and equipment)
• Sector specific areas such as care, publicly managed premises, leisure facilities, retail shopping

Our Fire Risk Assessment allows us to provide you with a baseline for where your risk management currently stands. We will tell you what you are managing adequately or well and where you need to improve. The assessment will enable you to be confident that you are:

• Meeting your fire safety and health and safety legislative duties of care.
• Reducing the likelihood of incurring an enforcement visit from the local fire safety officer.
• Following a ‘Plan, Do, Check, Act’ system to ensure you are continually improving your fire safety culture and performance.
• Following sector specific best practices such as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) – fire safety guidance and British Standards.

Our physical security audit will provide you with a baseline for where your physical security risk management currently stands. The audit will review perimeter fencing and gates, potential weaknesses in your buildings security systems, access control and closed circuit television (CCTV) management. We will tell you what you are managing adequately or well, and where you need to improve.