Archive for April, 2013
Surrey woman to run London marathon for local sexual abuse charity close to her heart, as government cuts hit the charity’s prevention work
Posted by Internet Business Press in Uncategorized on April 12, 2013
April 12, 2013: After months of training Krystal Newbury, 32, an Administration Manager from Epsom, is going through final preparations for the London Marathon on Sunday, April 21st.
Krystal is raising funds for the Surrey based Lucy Faithfull Foundation and its Stop it Now! UK and Ireland Campaign and Helpline which work to prevent child sexual abuse – a charity very close to her heart.
The Foundation has been working to tackle child sexual abuse since 1992 and launched the Stop it Now! Campaign and Helpline in 2002. The Confidential Freephone Helpline, which operates from Surrey, is available for anyone with concerns about child sexual abuse. Due to a decision by the Department for Education to not provide funding to Stop it Now! England, the campaign now has limited capacity to deliver its successful sexual abuse prevention programme, Parents Protect!. The Helpline is also looking at cost-cutting measures despite a continued increase in demand for its services.
Krystal selected the Foundation and Stop it Now! as her chosen charity because tackling child sexual abuse and protecting children from harm is a subject very close to her heart. She said:
“Someone I know was sexually abused as a child and I have seen first-hand the impact it can have. Being so close and seeing them live a daily battle is heartbreaking. I have struggled at times with feeling so angry about the trauma they have suffered, are still suffering and will always suffer. Knowing that I am helpless to say any words of comfort to help marginally soothe their pain is really hard.
“By raising money through running the London Marathon I want to help The Lucy Faithfull Foundation make a difference to the lives of others. The Foundation not only assists victims and the families of those affected, it also works to prevent child sexual abuse from happening in the first place.
“I’d also like every adult in Surrey to do just one thing to protect a child – that could be visiting the Parents Protect! website to get tips on keeping children safe or it could be talking to their child’s nursery or school about their child protection policies.”
Spokesperson for the Foundation and it’s Stop it Now! Campaign, Deborah Denis, said:
“Child sexual abuse is a real issue that affects around one in six children across the UK. In Surrey, this could mean at least 45,000 children are affected.
“While it is a problem that has always been around, recent media coverage of cases such as that of Jimmy Savile have brought it to the forefront of people’s minds. And while demand for our services, and crucially our Parents Protect! prevention programme, have never been greater, we unfortunately we don’t have the funds to meet the ever growing demand. That’s why support from people like Krystal is so greatly appreciated. She’s a fabulous supporter and we wish her all the very best for the Marathon which she has trained so hard for.”
Krystal originally set a target of raising £1000 but has already exceeded this and raised over £1800.
To make a donation in support of Krystal’s determination search for ‘Krystal Newbury Virgin Money Giving’ online or go to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=KrystalNewbury
To find out more about how you can protect children from sexual abuse visit www.parentsprotect.co.uk
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Notes to editors:
For more information and/or interview opportunities with Krystal or Deborah, please contact Deborah Denis on ddenis@stopitnow.org.uk | 01372 847160 | 07540 690 315
1. About Stop it Now!
Stop it Now! UK and Ireland is a national campaign and Freephone confidential Helpline. It aims to prevent child sexual abuse by increasing public awareness and empowering people to act responsibly to protect children. Stop it Now! believes that it is the responsibility of all adults to take positive action to prevent the sexual abuse of children. Stop it Now! is an alliance of leading children’s charities including the NSPCC, Action for Children, Children England and The National Association of People Abused in Childhood, working with the government and child protection agencies, to promote public education and prevent child sexual abuse. The Stop it Now! helpline has been operating since 2002 and aims to prevent child abuse by encouraging abusers and potential abusers to seek help and by giving adults the information they need to protect children safely. The helpline is funded by the Ministry of Justice and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation. www.stopitnow.org.uk
2. About the Lucy Faithfull Foundation
The Lucy Faithfull Foundation celebrated 20 years of protecting children from sexual harm in 2012. Named after its founder, Baroness Lucy Faithfull of Wolvercote, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation is the only UK-wide child protection charity dedicated solely to reducing the risk of children being sexually abused. It works with entire families that have been affected by abuse including: adult male and female sexual abusers; young people with inappropriate sexual behaviours; victims of abuse and other family members. Drawing on expert knowledge about child sexual abuse the charity offers a broad range of services for professionals and members of the public. These include: assessments, intervention and treatment of known offenders, case specific advice and support, training and development courses and workshops, educational programmes for internet offenders and their families, circles of support and accountability, internet safety seminars for schools (teachers, parents and children) and Parents Protect! training for professionals, parents, carers and other adults. http://www.lucyfaithfull.org.uk. It also runs the Stop it Now! Campaign and Helpline (0808 1000 900) www.stopitnow.org.uk and www.parentsprotect.co.uk
Leadership – its impact on safety and accidents
Posted by Internet Business Press in Verax on April 3, 2013
Report by Keith Bedingham, Chairman, Verax International.
April 3rd 2013. Sharon Clarke of the Manchester University Business School recently published (March 2013 edition of the Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology) her findings on the relationship between Leadership practices and safety behaviour and accidents.
Her findings were based on a study over 5000 people working in hazardous environments. To summarise, Sharon found two types of leadership styles or practices, each of which impacted safety behaviour differently.
(i) Transformational Leadership
This consisted of: –
– A vision for the future which supports the achievement of safety goals
– Demonstrating in their own behaviour that safety is important.
– Inspiring and encouraging individuals to reach higher safety levels and a “safety voice” speaking up about safety issues.
– Allowing staff to suggest new and innovative ways (not risky solutions) of reaching safety targets.
– Coaching, caring/demonstrating a concern for employees’ safety and wellbeing.
– Proactively monitoring employees’ behaviour and correcting errors before they lead to problems.
This led to:
– Close attention to safety rules and regulations by employees and greater safety compliance.
– Greater trust between managers and their direct reports.
– Greater safety participation.
– Staff prepared to go beyond formal obligations.
– Higher levels of safety performance.
(ii) Transactional Leadership
– Emphasising rule based compliance
– Active monitoring of staff
-Intervening in a visible way when problems occur
-Providing feedback on errors
-“Walk the talk” about safety
This led to:
– A perceived positive safety climate
– Safety compliance
– Less safety participation
A highly critical and punishment approach i.e. “catch them doing something wrong” was seen to increase the likelihood of accidents and more dangerous safety behaviour.
These findings are interesting in that they chime with Verax research into safety behaviour and as used in our Organisational (OTI) Health & Safety survey and our individual (Personal Effectiveness Profile – PEP) Safety and Wellbeing 360.
Verax found that informal recognition and praise for “good” safety performance was one of the factors most responsible for positive safety behaviour and low accident rates.
From a personal perspective, PEP, Self Presentation (Self Image, Self Worth, Self Confidence) – all of which could be bolstered by positive recognition – had the most positive impact on individual safety behaviour and on personal accidents, minor illness, and absenteeism.
One conclusion that can be drawn from all these studies is that while organisations can do whatever they can to create safe environments and draw up policies, rules, regulations etc to keep people safe, it is in the interaction between manager and employee that we find the subtle nuances of human attitudes and behaviour that ultimately make the difference between safe/unsafe behaviour, accidents and injury.
Ref. Clarke. S. Safety Leadership; A meta – analytic review of transformational and transactional leadership styles as antecedents of safety behaviours: Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology (2013), 86, 22 – 49
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