Student InPlace guide

Overview

The University of Winchester uses InPlace to help you manage your volunteering and / or work placement.

With InPlace you can:

■ Fill in details of your volunteering placement and employer, and complete your own Risk Assessment.

■ Track the progress of your upcoming volunteering placement via your desktop, laptop, smartphone, or tablet

■ Use your Homepage to check for tasks you need to complete and view notifications you need to be aware of

■ View employer (InPlace calls this agency) and placement details after your volunteering placement is confirmed

■ Keep track of your volunteering placement schedule and other engagements using the Calendar

■ Upload relevant documents, complete volunteering surveys and much more!

Logging in

You can find the InPlace link on the Intranet, relevant Canvas page or by navigating to inplace.winchester.ac.uk

When the page loads, click on the Staff and Students button then use your normal University log in to access InPlace.

Once logged in the screen above will be displayed.

The Home tab shows you an overview of the volunteering options available to you (listed under To Do), this will be the module you have chosen as part of your options.

The Confirmed tab will show you any placement you have previously submitted via InPlace

Requirements tab will display what is required for any volunteering you have opted in to, for example a 30-day volunteering placement would show you the below:

Please note: you will need to gather documents from your employer to upload during the Registering your volunteering section below. These are – 1) Learning Agreement 2) Job Description 3) Offer Letter. If you haven’t got these yet you can click the Save as draft button and return once obtained.

Registering your secured volunteering

Once you have secured your volunteering placement you will need to complete the InPlace application form. To do this log in to InPlace as above and then from the Home tab, under the To Do section, click on the volunteering you wish to register.

For the purposes of your InPlace application, your Volunteering Module will be referred to as a placement. Once the Placement Details screen loads, scroll down to Provider Details and begin entering the information required as you won’t need to alter the weekly placement roster or placement details section. Provider name is the organisation you will be working for. Please note, you can click the Save as Draft button at any time during the application process.

You will then have to complete information for the Provider contact details this is often the person that has hired you. Please ensure you complete all required fields.

There may be occasions when you need to provide another contact from the organisation you will be placed with, you can provide those details under the Contacts section. Please note, if the contact here is the same as the provider contact already complete, you can just tick the Contact person is the placement supervisor box, this will copy all the information you have already completed.

The next step is to complete your own Risk Profile, this is a series of risk areas we want you to think about and to rate each area as either High, Medium, or Low overall, considering all risk factors – you will then be required to type explanations into the relevant Comments box.

Work and / or study factors could include the following:

High

■ Work with hazards that have potential to cause permanent injury or fatality, including:

■ Construction site work with work at height, dusts, moving machinery, electrical systems.

■ Operation of machinery, with mechanical hazards such as high-speed rotating parts, crushing and entanglement risks.

■ Laboratory work with toxic / hazardous materials.

■ Community / social work / with known high-risk groups of clients or locations (e.g. drug abusers, homeless, violent patients).

■ Work with animal bedding or large or dangerous animals.

■ Activities requiring specific licences or qualifications (e.g. diving, flying aircraft, crewing an aerial device). Work involving significant hazards in small companies that do not have professional health and safety advice.

Medium

■ Working in proximity to high risk factors (but not directly with them). Low

■ Office based type activities or other low hazard environments and activities.

Location and / or regional factors could include the following:

High

■ Significant risk of civil disorder, crime or similar danger (e.g. placement in war zones, countries where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advises against travel).

■ Unavoidable lone or remote working in proximity to significant risk (e.g. medical student elective in a refugee camp).

■ Medical & rescue services not available quickly or locally.

■ Means of communication likely to be difficult or compromised.

Medium

■ Higher than normal risk of civil disorder, crime or similar danger.

■ Delays likely in communicating with tutors / others.

■ Placements abroad in areas identified as low risk by FCO.

Low

■ Placements in the UK with no significant local risks.

Travel and transportation factors could include the following:

High

■ Significant travel to reach placement, prolonged or on local transport facilities known to be high risk (poor driving or vehicle safety standards).

■ Demanding travel during placement.

■ Student required to drive others or in unfamiliar vehicles.

Medium

■ Travel at night.

■ Long daily commuting required.

■ Student required to drive a familiar vehicle in reasonable conditions. Low

■ No significant travel, comfortable daily commute.

■ No driving associated with placement.

General and environmental health factors could include: High

■ Regional/local health risks require mandatory and specific health protection measures e.g. inoculations

■ Very hot or strenuous working conditions (e.g. manual working outdoors in the sun).

■ Very cold working conditions (e.g. catering placement in a food cold storage/cook chill or freeze facility).

Medium

■ Regional/local conditions require some precautionary measures, e.g. optional inoculations against diseases, medical travel kit is a sensible precaution

Low

■ No significant environmental health risks.

Personal student factors, select either Yes or No, if you have selected Yes then please give details.

Insurance limitations, again select either Yes or No here together with an explanation if you have selected Yes

If your volunteering is abroad, please state the location of your placement (include region and country). You must also have checked the foreign office travel pages for latest advice and guidance on visiting that country. Tick the box provided to confirm you have done this.

Volunteering Documents

For your volunteering to be considered you will need to complete the Learning Agreement relating to the volunteering you will be doing. If you haven’t completed this yet you can click the Save as draft button at the bottom of the screen.

You can download the Learning Agreement from the Volunteering Module Support Canvas page under the Useful Resources section.

Submitting your application: Once you have completed all the above you can submit your placement application by clicking on the Submit button at the bottom of the screen.