Health and safety
Natural England is committed to ensuring the health, safety and welfare of employees and volunteers alike.
Volunteers, like our paid staff, have a responsibility to carry out their role in a safe manner. We ask all our volunteers to consider the effect that their actions may have on their own safety and that of other people.
Natural England provides volunteers with health and safety information during their induction and then keeps them informed with regular updates. Volunteers can also find more detailed health and safety information here on our website.
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No matter how safe we try to make things and how carefully you carry out your role, accidents can and do happen!
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All Natural England reserves and offices have fire plans, which set out actions to be taken in the event of a fire. These define areas of high risk, list the action procedures and show staff contacts and emergency telephone numbers.
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For many people, part of the pleasure of being out in the countryside or volunteering is being alone. However, if you have an accident, your safety could be at risk - especially if there is a long delay before anyone realises that you haven't returned.
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In the event of personal, or third party, accident or injury Natural England ‘self-insures’ both volunteers and staff in the same manner (incidents are dealt with on a case-by-case basis).
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Personal safety for all volunteers
Risks are not only present from the nature of the site or type of voluntary work you are involved in, but also from external sources.
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Risk assessments and protective clothing
A risk assessment is simply a way of carefully considering an activity, a site or a persons circumstances in order to develop ways of minimising the risk of injury or ill-health.
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Safety whilst volunteering on National Nature Reserves
If your voluntary role involves visiting or carrying out management tasks on NNRs, you must ensure that you are aware of any natural or man-made hazards which may affect you.
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We want to ensure that our volunteers enjoy their voluntary role.
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Safety for voluntary batworkers
Detailed information on safety and the law relating to bat conservation is contained in the Batworkers Manual, a publication produced by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
