Blesma are committed to safeguarding our people from harm. This includes our members, staff, volunteers, Trustees and all those who use or come into contact with our services. We recognise that all our people, regardless of race, age, ability, gender, identity, sexual orientation, religion or belief, have the right to protection from all types of harm or abuse.
Blesma has a comprehensive safeguarding policy, the implementation of which is overseen by our Chief Executive and nominated safeguarding leads, supported by a cross-organisational safeguarding committee.
We take robust steps to ensure that the people who join our organisation through employment or volunteering, are suitable for their roles. Additionally, we have a code of conduct for all staff, volunteers and Members. Some of our colleagues carry out roles that require them to work with people who are considered vulnerable to harm, including children and adults at risk. We carry out Disclosure and Barring (DBS) checks for colleagues in these roles and for others where we have risk assessed this as being necessary to their function.
We take the safety and wellbeing of our members, beneficiaries, staff and volunteers seriously, and we have put systems and processes in place to identify and assess potential areas of risk across all our activities; and we ensure remedial plans are put in place to address these risks.
All our staff, volunteers, trustees and directors are trained to recognise signs which could indicate that a child or adult at risk may be being abused or neglected. We actively encourage our staff, volunteers and those who use or come into contact with our services, to speak up about things which they think could cause harm to people and we act promptly when concerns have been raised.
We have a clear and consistent approach to anyone who causes or is experiencing harm or abuse and will respond to any concern, where appropriate, by reporting such matters to the police and/or local authorities.