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Make sure you know what your health and safety responsibilities are, says the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health
 Health and safety is shrouded in myths and fantastical tales of banned playground games and door mats. Before you can understand your role in risk management, you should take a minute to separate the fact from the fiction at the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) myth of the month web pages. For example:
The HSE bans everything
You might have read about the HSE banning things like flip flops at work, knitting in hospitals, playing conkers, school sports days, and hanging baskets. These reports come from over-zealous people who make health and safety decisions without getting advice from health and safety professionals. The HSE supports and promotes sensible risk management.
Everything needs a risk assessment
The law requires you to assess and manage significant risks, not all risks. Risk assessment is a positive and proactive tool. It helps you identify what can go wrong and then plan appropriate practical steps to prevent it.
The key word here is appropriate – we’re not talking about banning activities without sufficient reason. The best approach to risk assessment is a simple one, one that isn’t overcomplicated by trivial risks but concentrates on the ones that can cause real harm and suffering.
If a student is hurt, the teacher is likely to be sued
The main legal duties lie with the employer, not the teacher, or even the head teacher unless they own the school and employ the staff. Very few teachers have been prosecuted, and this has been following very serious incidents, when they have failed to follow direct instructions and common sense.
Who’s in charge?
Everyone within a workplace has health and safety responsibilities. These will range from basic risk assessment of day-to-day activities, to setting and monitoring strategies that ensure the health and safety of staff, students and visitors.
In order to understand what your responsibilities are, you need to know whether you’re an employer or an employee (see table).
Employer responsibilities
Education employers have a duty to ensure the health and safety of a number of different types of people:
- teachers and staff
- pupils when they are in school or on off-site visits
- visitors to the school
- volunteers involved in school activities.
In the case of most schools, the LEA is the employer, but in practice much of the health and safety management will be delegated to head teachers who are in a position to manage risks on a day to day basis and report back to the LEA. This puts the head teacher in a position of a director/manager, which means they will have more health and safety responsibilities than other teachers and staff at the school.
As an employer, an LEA must ensure that health and safety policies are carried out and that everyone employed at the school, whether in paid roles or as volunteers, are trained and competent to fulfil their health and safety tasks. The LEA must also monitor how schools are following health and safety policies and take action if standards aren’t reached.
Head teacher commitment
Health and safety policies and procedures won’t succeed in schools without commitment from the head teacher, who has the role of director/manager employed by LEA, governing body or proprietor.
The Institute of Directors (IoD) published the guide ‘Leading health and safety at work’ for directors and board members that has sound advice for head teachers who face similar challenges. The essential principles of the guide are:
Strong and active leadership - show a visible commitment
- communicate effectively to staff
- integrate health and safety management with all business decisions
Worker involvement - engage staff with positive health and safety messages
- listen to their concerns and comments, and act on them
- provide training if required
Assessment and review - identify and manage health and safety risks
- access and follow competent advice
- monitor, report and review performance
When accidents happen
The head teacher of a private school in Bangor, Gwynedd, was prosecuted in his role as proprietor in 2007, after the death of a three-year old boy who jumped down four steps in an out of bounds area in 2004. Appeal judges later ruled that this conviction was unsafe.
During the prosecution, the HSE found that on the day of the incident, there was one member of staff supervising 59 pupils with an age range of three to 11. The principal inspector said: “This was well out of line with accepted ratios found elsewhere. It was not possible for the teacher on duty that day to see all parts of the split-level playground. Some areas were simply out of sight." The judge found that he had failed in his duty of care to the boy, and ordered him to pay £20,000 in fines and legal costs.
His barrister challenged the conviction, claiming that there was nothing “reasonably practicable” that could have been done to completely remove the risk of a child jumping and hurting themselves. Three appeal court judges ruled that the conviction was unsafe, and Lord Justice Moses said that all pupils could fall down steps and the only way to stop them would be to hold hands or to prevent access, which was “impossible”.
Employee responsibilities
Employees have their part to play in effective health and safety management – not only by following the instructions and training provided by their employer, but also taking care of themselves and their colleagues in the workplace.
The key responsibilities are: - take reasonable care of their own health and safety and others’
- co-operate with their employers
- follow training and instructions
- inform their employer of serious risks
Getting competent advice
The most important thing to remember about health and safety is that it should help you get things done. The person making health and safety decisions must have access to competent advice – which could mean going to an LEA, the HSE website, IOSH and the IOSH Education group. About IOSH
IOSH is Europe’s leading body for health and safety professionals. We have 33,000 members worldwide, including more than 13,000 Chartered Safety and Health Practitioners. The Institution was founded in 1945 and is an independent, not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation that sets professional standards, supports and develops members and provides authoritative advice and guidance. IOSH also has an Education Group which offers support to members and non-members of IOSH. www.iosh.co.uk.
Teachernet
www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/healthandsafety
HSE
www.hse.gov.uk/myth
www.hse.gov.uk/schooltrips
www.hse.gov.uk/leadership
Leading health and safety at work
www.iod.com/hsguide
Head’s relief over safety ruling
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7411622.stm |
