Safeguarding During Emergencies in Adult Social Care

Emergency situations can rapidly increase safeguarding risks for people using services. Disruption, reduced staffing and heightened stress can all compromise safety if safeguarding arrangements are not actively maintained.

This article supports emergency preparedness and aligns closely with incident management and escalation.

Why safeguarding risks increase during emergencies

Emergencies often disrupt routines, staffing levels and support environments. People may experience increased anxiety, behavioural distress or reduced supervision.

Maintaining safeguarding oversight

Providers must ensure safeguarding responsibilities remain clear during incidents. Emergency responses must never override duties to protect people from harm.

Operational example: Staffing disruption and safeguarding

A provider experiencing severe staff shortages increased management presence on-site to monitor safeguarding risks and support decision-making.

Operational example: Environmental risk escalation

Following flooding at a supported living scheme, additional safeguarding checks were implemented to manage increased risk of falls and distress.

Operational example: Behavioural escalation

During a prolonged power outage, staff adjusted support plans to prevent restrictive responses to heightened anxiety.

Safeguarding decision-making under pressure

Emergency decisions must still be proportionate, least restrictive and defensible. Staff require confidence and authority to escalate safeguarding concerns immediately.

Commissioner expectations

Commissioners expect safeguarding referrals to continue during emergencies and for risks to be escalated without delay where thresholds are met.

Regulatory expectations

Inspectors assess whether providers maintain safeguarding standards during incidents and whether emergency actions were justified and recorded.

Governance and learning

Safeguarding outcomes from emergencies should be reviewed through governance structures to strengthen future preparedness.