Chapter 1 Building Your Garden Community
IN THIS LESSON
Volunteer Safety
The E.A.T. South farm is a lovely, secluded garden tucked under a hillside and behind downtown buildings. Our isolation from city life can be relaxing after a busy workday or potentially frightening if you are alone feeding chickens and a stranger startles you.
Consider any potential threats to your volunteers’ safety. Have a plan for inclement weather. Provide clear instructions on how to safely use equipment. Fix any rusty nails sticking out of raised beds. These safety issues can be anticipated and planned for.
This section is focused on harms caused by other people.
Ideas for keeping your volunteers and staff safe include:
Have a buddy system when working in the garden if your center is closed. Make sure no one is in the garden alone.
Make sure volunteers know it’s ok to leave if something just doesn’t seem right. Volunteer and staff safety is more important than watering plants.
Give staff and volunteers a cell number to call if they can’t complete their task or have questions.
If you have a security guard or police who drive by your center or garden when it is closed, make sure they know when someone should be in the garden after hours. If possible, introduce your after hours helpers to security staff and garden neighbors. You don’t want neighbors calling the police on your volunteers.
Make safety plans with your staff and volunteers for other potential safety threats in your garden like thunderstorms. What will you do to keep people safe in the garden? Write down your ideas. Then train and inform everyone.
