to not do Safeguarding training?

[Sausagenbacon]

I belong to a church, and occasionally serve coffee at the end of the service. I am being asked to take Safeguarding training, which I think is utterly pointless.
I have expressed this and been told that it's policy, and I have to do it.
AIBU to just stop doing coffee?

I have to do the same. I'm a singer in the church band. Them's the rules - however over the top they may seem.

Refer it to their safeguarding officer.

That's literally what everyone should be doing if they suspect anything.

Great question. I say this as a safeguarding manager. Elderly people can usually be classed as vulnerable therefore why wouldn’t they be safeguarded?
it’s not hard, it’s not pointless and you could make a huge difference to someone’s life. If you don’t agree then you are right, just stop doing it.

So you are currently allowed access to a demographic which is known to be potentially vulnerable to abuse and you have this access in a context historically known as a potential breeding ground for abuse.

You're right. You mustn't do it.

You wouldn't understand it if you did it.

The OP won't do anything other than refer it to a safeguarding officer.

No , because you're not seeing how important safeguarding is. It's everyone's responsibility.

This

If you see preventing abuse as being "questioning authority" then you are very much part of the problem and I hope you never get near anyone vulnerable.

The term safeguarding is not just referring to children and under 18s. It also includes vulnerable adults of whom, some of your generally elderly customers probably are.

It is everyone's responsibility...to refer it to a safeguarding officer.

Nobody should be setting up their own private investigation into a situation, that isn't their role here.

Do you actually understand what safeguarding is, or are you just being deliberately goady?

I’m sorry you think safeguarding vulnerable people is pointless. You might be one at some point and be very grateful that someone knows of the signs to spot and who to tell.

I think you have a point, a lot of safeguarding training is box ticking overkill. G
Handily one course can cover multiple sports but I'm aware of teachers, medics and social workers who have to do "extra" safeguarding training for sporting volunteering roles even where it is part of their day job. I think some safeguarding trainers might even have to tick the box by attending a course, same way as an A&E nurse or paramedic might have to do a first aid course to get the certificate to carry out the role on a voluntary basis...

I wouldn't expect handing out coffee to trigger a need for safeguarding training unless it's at a "coffee and chat" type session.

The training I have done has been repetitive and more about ass covering than anything useful - have renewed too many times to count since it started 20 odd years ago - the little booklets were identical for the first 3 I did!

OP could do with the training though to explain this seen as she thinks she’s ‘standing up to authority’ but refusing to do the training.

And awareness of what to escalate

“Question authority” 😂

No, you’re just being awkward. You’re not making any kind of stand or point, you’re just embarrassing yourself.

You go to a Church, you don't question anything, you refuse to engage with ideas you don't like.

I've done so many safeguarding training courses. I've lost count. They aren't always riveting but there's usually something useful in there. I know it's all report anything suspicious etc, but I've actually found it useful having examples of what I should be looking for. Sometimes it isn't obvious.

It is also probably for insurance or whatever, in case they are ever sued for a safeguarding failure! They will want the evidence they have trained everyone. You might think that's not a good enough reason to be inconvenienced, but for the church it will be a very good reason!

So, YABU, although I do moan a bit when my annual training has to be done again. There is a point even though i don't love doing it.

It's not just about referring it to a DSL though. Do you know the signs to look out for? Do you know what to do if the DSL was implicated in a disclosure? Would you know how to react and respond in the case of a disclosure? What if the DSL wasn't available to report to? What would you do if you made a report and nothing seemed to change?

None of that is to do with "setting up your own investigation", nobody has suggested that.

I'm pretty gobsmacked that you'd rather quit providing a service, something you are presumably happy to do, over just attending a training session.

Safeguarding training isn't just there to tell you what to do if you notice a problem. It's to raise awareness of what needs to be noticed, then what to do with it.

I wish our dinner ladies had done safeguarding training. I was being sexually abused. One day I had a breakdown at school and ended up confiding in one of our school dinner ladies. It never got dealt with, because there was no 'safeguarding training'.

Had there been, my abuse might have been stopped a lot earlier.

If you think it's not important that you're part of a whole network of people that can help prevent abuse, then maybe you shouldn't be in this role.

But yay! Go you for being 'anti authority'

Well she probably won't do that because she won't have a clue what needs to be referred and what doesn't.

It always amazes me in our first sessions what people think should be referred. And you only have to look at the utter tripe on here that people think is a "safeguarding issue".

Pass them along to someone actually running the place, or in charge, not expecting someone who volunteers to dole out coffee to be able to do anything other than that.

You need too these days. I would just do it if you want to carry on volunteering.

YABU

"pointless" how on earth can you say that when you have not been on it?

I was like that with some aspects of training in my job. Guess what, yes I was really good at what I did and managers confirmed this but I still walked away from a training session with at the very least a new bit of knowledge and how to better execute my duties that would benefit the people we saw/met.