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There are many different things that you should do in your Church or Place of Worship to keep people safe. The most important ones are listed on this page, although you might find that you need to do other things.
All Places of Worship are different and what works in one building might not work in another.
If you are part of a large organisation, you should have some Health and Safety documents, which you also need to read and use. If you are new to Health and Safety, take a look at our Getting Started page.
Page contents: Risk Assessment, Safety Issues, People and Safety, Fire Safety, Managing Safety, Additional Information.
Risk Assessment
Risk Assessment is a method that allows you to find things that could cause harm to people, which are known as hazards, and then work out the possibility of an accident, which is called the risk.
Many different things can cause harm to people, and it important to look carefully around your building for significant hazards and typical safety issues.
Fire Risk Assessment is slightly different from other kinds of Risk Assessment, but the general techniques are the same. With these assessments, you need to look at two kinds of fire hazard: fuel sources which could catch fire and ignition sources which could start a fire.
The information from the Risk Assessment is then used to try to reduce the risk.
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Safety issues
One of the most important things that you need is a first aid kit. Typically, a bought kit is preferred and the kit should be kept somewhere so that you can get it quickly in an emergency. You are also required by law to keep an accident book and some severe accidents might also need to be reported to your local council.
Electrical safety is important in Places of Worship as electricity is used for heat and light. Electrical equipment and the fixed wiring in any building can cause people to have an electric shock if it is not looked after. Many Places of Worship have older electrical installations which might be dangerous, especially if wiring has been done by somebody who is not fully qualified.
There are many items in use in Churches and Places of Worship that could burn or scald people. It is important that these risks are reduced with heating systems, in kitchens and with other equipment in use.
Most Places of Worship use chemicals in one form or another. Usually, these are cleaning fluids, paints and similar materials but they must be checked to make sure that they are safe enough to use. You might need to provide things like gloves to protect people's skin or goggles to protect their eyes.
There are many hazards in Places of Worship that can cause someone to Slip, Trip or Fall. It is necessary to identify these things and avoid someone being injured by them. Cables and similar hazards need to be secured and certain parts of the building might need to be roped off or otherwise secured.
Loud noise and sound can affect people's hearing and can potentially lead to hearing difficulties and partial hearing loss. It might be necessary to provide some people with hearing protection and warning signs might need to be on display in some areas.
Many Churches and Places of Worship have grounds, and these need to be taken care of to prevent harm to people. There are many hazards from trees and memorial stones and the equipment that is used for the upkeep of the grounds.
The things that you have in your building need to be maintained and looked after. This includes regular checks and tests on things like emergency lights and fire alarms along with routine servicing. Safety is also important in all aspects of maintenance, whether simply changing a plug or where more major works are needed.
Musculoskeletal Disorders include back pain and upper limb disorders. These can be caused though the use of equipment, such as computers or through manual handling (lifting and carrying objects).
In a number of Places of Worship, personnel safety is important. Attacks on personnel can range from mugging/robbery to racially motivated attacks or conflicts. There are a number of precautions you can take to protect people if you feel there is a personnel safety problem.
Stress is an adverse reaction to pressures. There are many different symptoms of stress and stress related disorders but these can be avoided by being aware of pressures and preventing stressful situations.
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Fire safety
New Fire Regulations are going to come into force soon.
Perhaps the most important thing to start with is fire prevention. Firstly, the things that can catch fire and things that could start the fire should be separated from each other. In addition to this, you need to keep your exits clear of fire hazards to make sure that people can get out safely and quickly as fire spreads rapidly.
A fire procedure is needed to ensure that people know what to do should they discover an outbreak of fire and what they should do if they hear a fire alarm. Special instructions might be needed for some people, such as stewards and people in charge of groups.
Fire extinguishers are provided in buildings to allow people to make their way out of a dangerous situation and possibly put out smaller fires. It is important that commercial standard foam and water extinguishers are provided throughout the building in readily accessible places. Additional equipment can be provided next to specific risks, like cookers.
A fire alarm is designed to provide an essential warning of fire to the people in a Places of Worship. Many buildings would need an electrical system (which could include fire detectors) but a manual bell or whistle might be adequate smaller Places of Worship.
An often overlooked requirement is exit signs. You need to mark all your exits and fire exits clearly so that people can easily find their way out of the building. Signs must now include a suitable graphic symbol or symbols and signs that only show words are not legal anymore.
Once people have evacuated the building, they need to meet in a safe assembly point. This could be somewhere like a car park which is away from the building. You need to make sure that everyone is safety outside and nobody is trapped.
Emergency lighting is useful to show people the way out of the building in a power cut (which could be caused by a fire). Although emergency lighting that is connected to the mains is best, torches are adequate in many smaller Places of Worship.
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Managing safety
You need to tell people how safety affects them. You could run a simple training course, especially for people who have some kind of responsibility for others. Some types of training are simple, but very effective, like a fire drill.
You could set up a small committee to help you with Health and Safety. A regular meeting could be used to decide how to improve safety in your Place of Worship and the members should represent any different groups that use your Place of Worship.
You need to have a Health and Safety Policy which details how you are dealing with safety. Also, you must display a Health and Safety Law Poster, which is available from all good stationers and bookshops.
Signs can be used to tell people where safety hazards are and also where equipment is located. There are different styles of sign and they are used to tell people different things.
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Other Useful Information
Please see our Other Information Overview page for more details on further legal issues.
Additional information
This Website is only intended to introduce you to Health and Safety and gives you some background information to help. Health and Safety is a large topic, and we have not been able to include everything here. For information about ways to get more information and a list of books and free publications, please go to our Extra Information Resources page.
It might also be beneficial to seek professional advice from a consultant if you are not certain about what you must do. Please see our Services page for more information.
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