Risk Assessment Guidance

Download original document here: Safeguarding Risk Assessment Guidance and Risk analysis (pdf)

Safeguarding Risk Assessment Under-18s - Guidance

Any activity involving staff or students (whether paid or unpaid) working with members of a vulnerable group (e.g., children and young people or vulnerable adults) should have a safeguarding risk assessment completed before the activity begins. For this document, we focus on children (defined as those under 18). 

The safeguarding risk assessment for an activity should be completed by the staff member or student responsible for the activity. It should include a clear identification of risks that need to be removed or mitigated, and the operating practices that mitigate or remove them. For example, situations where only one member of staff or one student is present with a lone child or an adult in a vulnerable situation should be avoided. This may require you to consider alternative working practices. 

When conducting a safeguarding risk assessment, we need to consider multiple factors to keep our audience, staff, and students safe. This guidance will help you identify the key considerations when planning an event for under-18s and inform the drafting of your safeguarding risk assessment. 

This document includes questions and scenarios to consider when planning activities involving under-18s, along with a table that explores the risks and impacts in greater detail. It can be used alongside the safeguarding risk assessment template to draft your specific safeguarding risk assessments. The Outreach team is available to help if you have questions or would like advice via email at outreach@imperial.ac.uk.

Planning your event

1. When, Where, What and Who

Identify the nature, duration, frequency, intensity, and timing of any contact when working with under-18s to inform your risk assessment.

Questions you might want to ask yourself are:

• Is your activity face-to-face or online?
• Is your activity aimed at adults, with the possibility of under-18s present?
• How old are your participants? Does an adult accompany them?
• What activity are you going to do with them? Are there health and safety risks you need to control? (Note – if yes, you should liaise with your safety officer to ensure this is fully risk assessed as well)
• How often will you work with this group?
• Are you using the same volunteers/staff regularly?
• How will you determine whether those volunteers/staff are safe to work with under-18s?
• If the activity is face-to-face, is the physical space you plan to use safe for children under 18? Is it secure or publicly accessible? Are you on campus, in school or in another space?
• If your activity is online, which platform will you use? Have you assessed the platform's suitability for under-18s? Is it secure and safe?
• Is the activity after school or on weekends? During the school day?
• Is there a likelihood that staff will find themselves working one-to-one with someone under the age of 18?

2. Supervision ratios
You will need to determine what the appropriate staffing ratio is for your activity. It is recommended that at least two adults be present for any activity involving under-18s, regardless of group size. Guidance from the NSPCC suggests the following minimum ratios:

• 0 - 2 years - one adult to three children
• 2 - 3 years - one adult to four children
• 4 - 8 years - one adult to six children
• 9 - 12 years - one adult to eight children
• 13 - 18 years - one adult to ten children

You need to determine whether these ratios are sufficient based on the activity you are doing (content and duration), where the activity is taking place, the age of the participants, whether participants are accompanied or unaccompanied by a parent/teacher, the skill-set of your staff/volunteers and whether there are any special requirements (e.g. medical needs) you need to support.

3. Staffing
You should consider the following:

• Are your staff/volunteers used to and/or suitable to work with under-18s?
• Do your staff/volunteers need any specific training before working with the participants on this activity?
• What information do they need in advance to ensure they understand their part in keeping the participants safe during your activity?
• Do you or any other staff/volunteers supporting this activity require a DBS check? (Note that guidance on DBS checks can be found on the Imperial website)
• Do staff and/or volunteers know how to report concerns about a participant’s welfare or behaviour, or that of another staff member, including who the report should go to?
• How are you going to make staff and/or volunteers working on this activity aware of Imperial’s safeguarding policy and procedures?

4. Managing concerns, behaviour issues
You should ensure you have a process in place for staff/volunteers, and under-18s to report problems, concerns, or difficulties, and explain how you will respond to and/or manage these issues. Imperial’s safeguarding contacts can be found on the Safeguarding website.

5. Managing lost or missing young people
You should consider what you can put in place to prevent under-18s from getting lost, finding their way to your activity, or getting lost during your activity. You should also consider what your procedure will be if participants go missing before or during your activity. You may wish to consider a designated meeting point for lost individuals (e.g. where this will be, how you will make sure participants know about it and how it will be supervised), how you will contact parents or carers to inform them that their child is lost or has been found, and who will coordinate the initial search for a missing participant. If on campus, you should consider speaking to the Security team about your event.

6. Consent, including photography and filming
You should consider the consent you require from participants and/or their parents/guardians for their involvement in your activity. If you are working with a school, you should determine whether the school is gaining consent for participation. How will you collect emergency contact information for minors under 18, or their medical information, in advance of the activity? Are you going to film or take photos at the event? How do you communicate that to your participants and their parents/guardians, and what consent do you need? More information on obtaining consent for photography and filming is available on these web pages.

7. Emergency procedures
This will also form part of your health and safety risk assessment. To keep under-18s safe during your activities, ensure a trained first-aider is present or identified and local/on-site, and that you and your staff/volunteers understand the fire evacuation procedure. Consider how you will inform parents/guardians in an emergency/accident during your activity, and what procedures you will follow if you need to contact emergency services.

Risk Assessment Example Table for further information and support when submitting Risk Assessments.

Developed: December 2020

Updated: March 2021, September 2023

Safeguarding Risk Assessment procedure (pdf)

Safeguarding Risk Assessment 2023-2024

1. Individual accesses template document and guidance via website
2. If additional support or advice is required, contact outreach@imperial.ac.uk
3. Draft and submit risk assessment according to the timeline outlined below. Risk assessment to be sent to outreach@imperial.ac.uk
4. Feedback on risk assessment to be received within three weeks of submission deadline. Risk assessment is either:
   1. Approved, in which case no further action is required
   2. Received back with comments or suggested edits, along with a contact email address for whom to resubmit the final risk assessment for final approval
5. If the activity or format changes substantially, a new risk assessment must be submitted for any subsequent events. Substantial changes include a location change (on-campus to off-site, or on-campus to online), a change in staffing ratio, an increase in participant numbers, a change in event management procedures, or a change in participants/audience (e.g., age group).

To ensure timely feedback and support, please submit your materials by the deadlines listed below. Submissions are reviewed within 1 week of each deadline, and feedback is provided within 10 days of the submission date.

Submission Deadlines (All Fridays)

• 06 February 2026
• 06 March 2026
• 08 May 2026
• 05 June 2026
• 03 July 2026
• 07 August 2026
• 04 September 2026

If your event takes place before the next scheduled submission and review deadline, and you would like your Risk Assessment (RA) reviewed ahead of time, please email it to  outreach@imperial.ac.uk

In your email, please:

• Clearly state that you would like to receive feedback outside of the standard cycle. 
• Include the date of your event in the email. 
• Attach all relevant documents and ensure these have been prepared with the guidance in mind. 

We will do our best to accommodate your request, but please note that we cannot guarantee a review within a shortened timeframe.

Template and Supporting Materials

Outreach has provided a template for safeguarding risk assessments and a safeguarding risk matrix to help those developing risk assessments for their activities identify the key considerations when safeguarding young people at university events.

If individuals developing risk assessments need additional advice before submission, they can contact outreach@imperial.ac.uk. The Outreach administrator will either act as a first advisor or pass queries to a member of the safeguarding team for advice.

Outreach cannot review or approve health and safety risks for activities; the local or central Safety teams should review them.

Risk Assessment Review panel

• Melanie Bottrill, Head of Outreach Programmes                              
• Jenny Cooke, Mentoring and Tutoring Programmes Manager    
• Danielle Russo, Outreach STEM Programmes Manager             
• Kate Mulcahy, Makerspace Programmes Manager                        
• Rebecca Holloway, Schools Partnerships Coordinator
• Rebecca Sweeney, Makerspace Programmes Coordinator                
• Marta Sousa de Sotto Mayor, Community Programmes and Design Coordinator

‌Download original document here: Safeguarding risk assessment template‌‌