Safeguarding:
Safeguarding means doing everything you can to protect defenceless adults and children from harm, especially sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment. It also means taking the right steps when harm does happen. This definition, based on our beliefs and guiding principles, shapes our culture. It focuses on preventing and minimising harm caused by any real, attempted, or possible abuse of power, trust, or weakness, especially for sexual purposes.
What Makes the 6 Safeguarding Principles So Crucial?
These six guiding principles are essential for protecting children and other vulnerable individuals. It not only ensures people’s safety but also encourages safety and gives people more control.
Protecting children and vulnerable adults from damage, abuse, and neglect is the goal of the principles of safeguarding. Additionally, it’s crucial for the following reasons:
- The prevention of abuse before it affects anyone.
- Promoting human rights and empowering those who are weak.
- Addressing damage and abuse as soon as feasible.
- Delivering safety education and enforcing laws where necessary.
- Establishing connections with institutions that assist those in need.
- Provide the finest support and care for both children and the elderly.
The UK government developed the 6 Principles of Safeguarding for these reasons.
6 Principles of Safeguarding:
The six safeguarding principles describe how to protect vulnerable adults in the most effective ways. The protection of children’s and vulnerable people’s health, well-being, and human rights is what safeguarding is all about, and they serve as its foundation.
In order to protect vulnerable people from injury, abuse, and neglect, it is crucial to understand the principles and how to adhere to them.
The following six safeguarding principles are:
- Empowerment
- Prevention
- Proportionality
- Protection
- Partnership
- Accountability
In this blog, we explain what each of these basic protection ideas means. We also talk about the importance of safety and how to make the workplace a safe place to work.
- Empowerment:
This idea is all about letting people who are weak make their own choices and getting their “informed consent.” For example, a person who is weak should be able to agree to medical treatment while fully knowing what could happen.
Before letting a vulnerable person make a choice like this, you should make sure they have all the information they need in an unbiased way. Also, services should be tailored to the specific needs of the adult who is fragile. For example, ask them what the best thing to do would be and then make your answer fit that.
As with other safety rules, it’s important to act in the best interest of the defenceless person. The idea of freedom makes sure that their feelings, thoughts, and ideas are taken into account. They should always make their own choices, unless the Mental Capacity Act of 2005 says that they don’t have the mental capacity to do so.
- Prevention:
This key concept of safety is like the saying, “Prevention is better than cure.” When there are signs that someone could be abused, hurt, or ignored, it is important to do something to stop that from happening.
To make this possible, it is important to raise knowledge about who may be more likely to become vulnerable. Adults with mental or physical disabilities, those with long-term or terminal illnesses, and the old are all examples of vulnerable adults.
It’s also important to know how to spot signs of abuse, hurt, or neglect. To do this, you need a lot of teaching on how to keep people safe. Advice and information about safety must also be easy to find and share so that any warning signs can be seen and dealt with as soon as possible.
- Proportionality:
How to handle a safety problem depends on how dangerous it is. In general, it’s best to answer in a way that doesn’t get too close. But in order to make sure that a concern about safety is dealt with in the best way, you need to correctly assess the risk.
How likely is it that someone will hurt, or not care for the animal? Also, how bad is the problem? Serious dangers, like when a person’s life is in danger, may call for a quick, more direct response, but some situations may only need a little bit of help. Always think about what the susceptible person needs.
- Protection:
The Protection Principle reminds us that the whole point of protection is to help people who are weak and keep them from getting hurt. This has to be done in the best way possible for the person who is weak.
Under this concept, organisations and people should know how to protect themselves and what the best practises are. They will need to know what to do if they are worried about someone’s safety, how to stop danger from starting or getting worse, and how to help and support a vulnerable person who needs it.
Here, knowing is power. Accessible training, education, and communication between people and groups can help make sure people know how to handle safeguarding concerns, which can protect those who are at risk.
- Partnership:
The partnership concept encourages organisations and local communities to work together.
Organisations are asked to help people learn more about safety problems. Local groups will be better able to protect vulnerable people if they know how to spot, avoid, and report abuse, harm, and neglect.
If it’s absolutely necessary to keep a vulnerable person safe, organisations may also share important information about that person with other groups and the area.
- Accountability:
Everyone has a responsibility to look out for the safety of others. If you meet a vulnerable person, it is your job to notice any safety issues, write them down, deal with them, and report them. You must follow this rule if you are that person’s caretaker, doctor, social worker, or even a friend, family member, or neighbour.
Setting clear jobs and responsibilities for safety at work is a good way to keep people accountable. So, everyone knows what they are responsible for when it comes to making sure the safety of those around them.
What are the Main Tasks and Achievements?
In order to improve safety, GOAL (committed to safeguarding in the UK) hired a full-time global safety advisor and made a board member the organisation’s main safety contact.
GOAL set up a training plan in each of the 15 countries where we do business. Each country has a Safeguarding Focal Point that has been trained to keep track of, write down, and share Safeguarding rules. They chose Field Level Focal Points who have had Training of Trainers (ToT) so that the training can be done again for the whole GOAL staff.
Conclusion:
Everyone has the right to live a life free of neglect and maltreatment, which is why the six safeguarding rules are so important. This can be done with the help of protection and its six key ideas. In a nutshell, it is made by:
- letting defenceless adults take charge of their own lives as soon as possible; recognizing dangers and taking proper, ideally non-intrusive action;
- making sure that everyone has the information and training they need to protect victims of abuse, working with other organisations and groups to help vulnerable people, and making sure that everyone knows their safety responsibilities.
These rules are important for preventing abuse and neglect and making sure the best care is given. We can be sure that we are doing everything we can to keep vulnerable people safe by following the safeguarding guidelines.
FAQS:
1. What is Safeguarding?
The term “safeguarding” refers to all measures done to uphold an adult’s right to a safe, healthy, and neglect-free life. Protecting their well-being, safety, and standard of living involves performing certain actions. Verify that they receive respect and decency. Assure that they have freedom of choice and control over their lives.
2. What is the Most Crucial Safeguarding Principle?
Accountability:
Everyone has a role in safeguarding people who are fragile, and accountability makes sure that everyone does their part. Everyone is responsible for what they do as people, business owners, and service providers.
3. How do the Six Principles Apply to Safeguarding?
There are six principles of safeguarding
- Empowerment
- Prevention
- Proportionality
- Protection
- Partnership
- Accountability
4. Why is Safeguarding Necessary?
Safeguarding is necessary to defend weaker individuals against harm, exploitation, and abuse. By putting precautions in place, standing up for their rights, and averting additional injury, ensures their safety, well-being, and dignity. Safeguarding satisfies regulations and promotes confidence in addition to benefiting individuals and society as a whole.
5. What would Occur if There Was No Safeguarding?
Society would be exposed to countless risks and abuses if there were no safeguarding procedures in place. People who are vulnerable are more likely to be exploited, neglected, or violently treated. Examples of such people include children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
Without safeguarding, no official procedures would be in place to prevent harm, stop abuse, or make sure these people are okay. Lack of protection would likely lead to an increase in cases of abuse—physical, mental, and sexual—as well as neglect and discrimination. The absence of control and responsibility would foster an atmosphere in which criminal activity would be tolerated, endangering the most defenceless citizens in the community unimaginable harm.
Blog Author Ticharwa Gwanzura
