Team Challenges

Bleakholt is willing and happy to facilitate 'Team Challenges' and 'Community Projects' for staff of employers that feel this would be a useful team building exercise.

Suitable employers:

Bleakholt will accept placements from nearly all places of work where the staff members concerned are aged 18 or over. In cases where the business of the proposed employer might have a deleterious effect or be considered to be unethical in animal welfare terms the offer of a team challenge will be declined. Authority for this decision lies with the sanctuary manager, Mr Neil Martin.

Suitable employees:

Employees that are able bodied and have sufficient cognisance to be effective in their task and able to comply with the health and safety aspects of being around rescue animals will be welcome. It is essential that the coordinator for the employer notify Bleakholt, via the manager of any physical or mental special need at the consultation stage. Revealing this information is unlikely to cause the person concerned to be excluded from participating. However employers who deliberately avoid revealing these details will be considered as unsuitable employers to be involved in team challenges at Bleakholt. Health and safety is paramount and cannot be overlooked. In nearly all cases people who have special needs and are in mainstream employment will be suitable and welcome. In these situations an individual risk assessment is done by the manager in consultation with the employers coordinator.

Risk Assesment

Please follow this link Risk Assesment

Tasks that might be involved:

Accurate predetermination of the tasks to be undertaken by any particular group is difficult unless prepared only a very short time before the event. This is because Bleakholt as a charity regularly has volunteers come and assist in most areas of work undertaken and also much of what is done by both volunteers and team challenges is weather dependant. Consequently when asked to prepare a programme for team challenges the manager or coordinator will keep the brief as wide as is possible so that participants aren't disappointed if the task they carry out is not the one that they thought was planned. Tasks that are the most likely to be included are: painting, gardening, tidying of the site, carrying out minor upgrades to facilities, assisting with the animal care on a closely supervised basis and other similar tasks.
If the group in question includes any one with special needs (e.g. allergic to animals etc.) there are alternate tasks such as assisting with reception, data entry, etc. This can help to avoid any exclusions and associated perceived stigma. As an animal charity that works with many interest groups Bleakholt is very familiar with the measures required to ensure that nearly all personal situations can be accommodated.

Areas/duties that will be excluded:

Dependant on the tasks involved some areas of the Sanctuary may be declared off limits. These would vary but could include: certain dog kennels or blocks, stables and stable yards whilst the horses are in their stables, fields containing horses and the workshop if certain equipment is being used by staff in the workshop area.
Volunteers on community projects and team challenges will be excluded from operating most of the machinery on site. This will include: driving heavy plant, operating most equipment that is powered by petrol engines, operating angle grinders, welders, power saws etc. This list should not be considered to be exhaustive; it is an illustration of the type of equipment that is deemed unsuitable for volunteers. Final determination on this matter would be made by Bleakholt support staff as and when appropriate.
All access equipment at Bleakholt is to the appropriate industrial standard; however the use of this equipment is variously restricted. The Bleakholt support staff will know what access equipment can be used and by whom. Volunteers are requested to consult support staff before using this equipment.
Bleakholt also has certain products that must not be used by most volunteers. These can include weed killer, solvents and petrol. If there are any of these products in the work area used by the volunteers this will be brought to their attention.

Personal Protective Equipment:

Bleakholt has PPE in stock for all tasks that might be involved. These items are available to volunteers as appropriate. Some businesses that participate in these schemes have their own stock of PPE and equip their staff accordingly. Bleakholt is always grateful for this extra assistance.

Bleakholt support staff:

All team challenges and community projects will have a nominated coordinator from among the Bleakholt staff. In most cases this would be the Manager or the Stable Manager. This person will be responsible for the coordination and logistics on the day in question. In addition there may be a heavy plant driver assigned to the project. The names of these people and how to find them will be included in the health and safety briefing.

First Aid and accident reporting:

All accidents must be reported. If there is an injury involved, this report will be, in the first instance to a first aider. The first aider will then additionally notify the appropriate supervisor. If there is no injury involved the accident should be reported to the Bleakholt coordinator for the day's events.
In order that visitors can easily find a first aider it should be noted that all staff working in reception are fully qualified first aiders.
If the teams employer wishes their own first aider to be responsible for the first aid of their staff this is acceptable. Bleakholt will need to see a current certificate of competence for the person concerned. That person can then carry out any first aid required and use the first aid kits provided by Bleakholt if they wish. However Bleakholt staff must handle the accident report.
Due to the nature of the work carried out at Bleakholt the first aid kits are considerably above the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act. Approved visiting first aiders are welcome to familiarise themselves with the contents of the kits.
If either a Bleakholt first aider or an employer's first aider recommends that a hospital visit is required this will be mandatory even if the person injured prefers not to go. Bleakholt will facilitate transport and a senior member of Bleakholt staff will accompany the injured person until such time as they feel that the hospital staff are fully informed of the situation and Bleakholt's responsibilities have been fulfilled. This visit would then require a RIDDOR report that would be done by Bleakholt with the cooperation of the employer and employee concerned.

Health and safety briefing:

At the beginning of the day, usually at 9.00 am, a welcome and health and safety briefing will be given by the person designated by Bleakholt to coordinate the days events. All volunteers are requested to pay attention to this briefing and observe the health and safety requirements involved.

Logistics:

For the duration of their stay volunteers on team challenges or community projects will be given sole use of the visitor centre for their breaks, lunch and storage of their belongings. Visitors are welcome to use all the facilities of the kitchen and café including the tea and coffee making supplies. The keys for this building will be entrusted to the coordinator designated by the employer. For security purposes this building needs to be kept locked when it is not being used. It is essential that visiting teams nominate people to bring this building back to a level of cleanliness that would allow it to be used for its prime purpose of café and kitchen at the end of the day.
At the beginning and end of the day site regulations require anyone who has access to staff only areas to sign the visitors log. For the purpose of these projects a separate visitors log can be kept in the visitor centre.
Lunches for Bleakholt staff are delivered to site from a local bakery. Volunteers are welcome to use this service. If this is to be used an order sheet and list of available lunches can be obtained from reception. The completed order with the money needs to be in reception by 10.00am at the latest for the order to be sent to the baker. The lunches will be delivered at approximately 12.30 pm.
In most cases the number of volunteers is sufficient to require being broken up into smaller groups. We have found that a realistic group would be four or five people. To facilitate accurate and efficient communication and coordination we request that each of these groups have a nominated leader. As the Bleakholt supervising staff cannot be immediately available to all the groups it is essential that the nominated leader keeps on top of what is required from their team. If team members wander away from their work area they may inadvertently breach the health and safety requirements of the area they have gone in to. Bleakholt does not want this requirement to limit the enjoyment of the day by the volunteers but does have to insist on this requirement.
In most cases team challenges and community projects include gardening duties. Bleakholt does not have sufficient gardening equipment for groups larger than six to seven. However experience has taught us that volunteers are usually willing to bring this type of equipment with them. If the group in question is larger than six or seven and volunteers are not able to bring their own equipment other tasks will be found.
There are car-parking facilities for up to 100 cars. This is in the two main car parks that are accessed from Bury Old Rd. There is additional parking for drivers with current disabled badges. This is located on the main yard near the offices. Volunteers that have these disabled badges are welcome to use these spaces. They should however make sure their badge is clearly displayed. If team members have items to unload such as materials for the task in hand they may take their vehicles to the barn or other area designated by Bleakholt support staff. Once unloaded these vehicles can then be parked on one of the main car parks. Drivers should always be aware that whilst driving in public areas they might encounter animals or people. They should also be aware that the pedestrians in these areas could well have special needs and therefore not be very traffic aware.

Material supplies:

In all cases the materials for these projects will either be in stock or can be procured by Bleakholt. In some cases the employers, in addition to making their staff available, are also willing to fund or partially fund the materials required. Bleakholt is always grateful for this assistance and will provide details if required.