General Induction
General volunteer inductions may be carried out in a group setting (if you have a number of volunteers fulfilling the same role) or individually (particularly if volunteers are placed in a wide variety of geographical settings and alongside differing client groups or environments). Some Trusts combine volunteer induction with staff induction.
NAVSM, in conjunction with Skills for Health have produced Guidelines for Volunteer Induction, Stautory and Mandatory Training which can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.
General inductions may include any of the following:
- Trust vision & values
- Health & Safety Policy
- Moving & Handling Policy
- Fire Safety Policy
- Security
- Information governance
- Uniform policy / dress code
- Confidentiality
- Boundaries of the role
- Safety & Accidents / Incident reporting
- Management / Line reporting
- Volunteer support
- Training
- Basic life support
- Volunteer Do’s and Don’ts
- Food hygiene
- Expense claims
- Safeguarding
- Infection control policies and procedures
All the information provided at this induction (plus any other information that would be useful to volunteers) should be put together into a Volunteer handbook for them to take away with them for future reference.
Some Trusts will require volunteers to attend the standard employee Trust Induction; others do not. The key consideration is what is proportionate to the volunteer role and not to discriminate against those who are not able to attend. It is important to recruit as diverse a volunteer cohort as possible, ideally one that reflects local demographics. This may include those in full-time work or study, who cannot make themselves available for Trust induction.
