Reporting tool for threatening or dangerous situations for Finnish volunteers

The Finnish Red Cross and Youth Shelters reporting tool for threatening and dangerous situations is intended for volunteers in Finnish Red Cross branches, activity groups, and Youth Shelters.

The tool can be found here:

https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/109CEBBF8290BA89

Why does the tool exist?

As a volunteer, you may encounter a situation during a volunteer task that feels threatening or unsafe. With the help of this tool, you can report external threatening or dangerous situations that have occurred during volunteer tasks. The report can be made by:

• the volunteer who personally experienced the situation
• a group instructor or the volunteer in charge on behalf of the volunteer.

What does an external threat or danger mean?

An external threat refers to a situation where the threatening behavior or danger comes from a person who is not part of the Red Cross activities: not from a volunteer, employee, or other actor within the organization.

For example:

• a passer-by or a customer behaves aggressively
• an intoxicated person or someone behaving disruptively arrives at the scene
• something occurs in the environment that causes insecurity (e.g., traffic, crowds)

In other words, the situation does not come from your own volunteer group, but from people outside the activity or from the environment.

What happens after the report is submitted?

The system automatically sends information about the report to the staff member responsible for volunteer safety, either within the Finnish Red Cross district or at the Youth Shelter.

You will be contacted if necessary or at your own request to resolve the situation.

What are the reports used for?

With the gathered information, we are able to:

• offer volunteers support in processing and resolving the situation if needed, and
• develop volunteer activities and volunteer support locally and nationally.

When the situation involves internal actors or you wish to report anonymously

If the threatening or dangerous situation you experienced has been directed at you from within the organization, or if you wish to file an anonymous report, please submit your report using the Finnish Red Cross misconduct reporting tool:

First Whistle Service

Processing of personal data

Personal data is processed in accordance with the privacy policy for the Red Cross volunteer register. Further information:

https://www.redcross.fi/privacy-statement--volunteer-register.pdf