All young people have the right to be safe and enjoy their hockey. We all have a duty to safeguard and protect young people from harm.
We believe that every young person our care, has at all times and in all situations a right to feel safe and protected from any situation or practice that results in a member being physically or psychologically damaged. In our Club, if we have suspicions about an individual’s physical, sexual or emotional well being, we will take action. All volunteers or staff are encouraged to share concerns with the DHC safeguarding Officer Jonathan Causier.

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

The aims of the Safeguarding Policy are as follows:
1. To ensure that the welfare of every young person involved in DHC activities is paramount;
2. To state that all young people involved in DHC activities, without exception, have the right to protection from abuse;
3. To ensure that such protection is adequately provided by DHC;
4. To ensure that all suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately; and
5. To ensure that all the DHC personnel understand the definitions of abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and exploitation and the need to be vigilant in identifying cases of abuse at the earliest opportunity;
It can also involve a range of potential issues such as:
• Bullying, including cyber bullying (by text message, on social networking sites, and so on) and prejudice based bullying.
• Racist, disability, and homophobic or transphobic abuse
• Radicalisation and extremist behaviour
• Child sexual exploitation (CSE)
• Children Missing from Education (CME)
• E-safety
• Sexting
• Substance misuse
• Issues that may be specific to local area or population, for example gang activity and youth violence
• Peer on Peer abuse
• Particular issues affecting young pepole including domestic violence, sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation and forced marriage.
6. To ensure all DHC personnel understand how to support and respond to a young person who discloses significant harm.
7. To understand that all DHC personnel have a responsibility and an opportunity to report concerns about a young person’s’ welfare and safety.
8. To ensure DHC personnel have been recruited safely and a record is kept, satisfactory DBS checks are made in accordance with guidance.
9. All DHC personnel understand the categories of abuse, indicators and know how, when, who and how to record and report all safeguarding concerns