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Health and Safety

Health and Safety

The O’Brien International School

 

 

Pupils should be safe in school and when undertaking out of school activities. The risk management to keep them safe should be proportionate to the nature of the activities and in accordance la Ley 31/1995.  

Teachers should be able to take pupils on exciting school trips that broaden their horizons. Pupils should be able to play freely in the playground and be able to take part in sports.

The employer or, in the case of private schools, the proprietor, is accountable for the health and safety of school staff and pupils. The day-to-day running of the school is usually delegated to the Director and the school management team. In most cases, they are responsible for ensuring that risks are managed effectively. This includes health and safety matters.

Schools must appoint a competent person to ensure they meet their health and safety duties. A competent person is someone with the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to give sensible guidance about managing the health and safety risks at the school.

This can be someone appointed directly by the school, one or more of its staff, or the employer can arrange support from outside the school. The centre have employed the services of Europroven Prevencion de riesgos. To manage and maintain risk assessment according to Spanish regulations. Including the management of COVID-19, advising people on how to protect themselves and others, alongside targeted interventions to reduce risk.

 

2. Leadership

Commitment from senior management is essential for effective health and safety management. Strong leadership is also vital. HSE provides information on leading health and safety at work.

Schools must have a health and safety policy in place. This should be an integral part of the school’s culture, values and performance standards.

The key elements of the policy should:

  • set out the roles and responsibilities within risk management processes

  • the mechanisms to control risk

  • specific control measures that need to be implemented

In most schools, the headteacher is responsible for implementing this. Based on a thorough risk assessment, they should update it to reduce and reflect new risks. The risk assessment must cover the risks to the health and safety of employees and of persons (including pupils) who are not employees of the school.

Review the assessment if:

  • there is any reason to suspect that it is no longer valid

  • there has been a significant change in related matters

Schools are obliged to record significant findings of the assessment. They must identify any group of employees identified by it as being especially at risk.

Read the HSE’s further information on accountability for health and safety in a school and sources of competent guidance on health and safety.

If senior leaders or teachers feel the process is inappropriate, they should discuss this with their employer. Examples may include processes which are too bureaucratic or which do not mitigate risk sufficiently. All staff can request that procedures be reviewed.

3. Elements of a health and safety policy

Every health and safety policy is separated into 4 elements:

  • Plan – leaders should set the direction for effective health and safety management

  • Do – introduce management systems and practices that ensure risks are dealt with sensibly, responsibly and proportionately

  • Check – monitoring and reporting

  • Act – a formal management review of health and safety performance

HSE explains the elements in more detail in its guidance on leading health and safety at work.

As outlined in the guidance, the policy should include:

  • a general statement of the policy

  • who is responsible for what (delegation of tasks)

  • arrangements for risk assessments and the practical control measures to reduce risk

  • how the school will establish, monitor and review its measures to meet satisfactory health and safety standards

The policy should be proportionate and relevant to the school. The elected competent person in the school should work with the employer and its health and safety advisers to create the policy.

The following list gives examples that schools could include their health and safety policy. This list is not exhaustive and the content of the policy will be determined by the school:

4. Assessing and managing risks

Risk assessments identify measures to control risks during school activities. Health and safety law requires the school to assess risks and put in place proportionate control measures. The law also requires it to record details of risk assessments, the measures taken to reduce these risks and expected outcomes.

Schools need to record significant findings of the assessment by identifying:

  • the hazards

  • how people might be harmed by them

  • what they have in place to control risk

Records of the assessment should be simple and focused on controls. Outcomes should explain to others what they are required to do and help staff with planning and monitoring.

Risk assessments consider what measures you need to protect the health and safety of all:

  • staff

  • pupils

  • visitors

  • contractors

Schools will need to think about the risks that may arise in the course of the school day. This could include anything related to the school premises or delivery of its curriculum, whether on or off site.

Factors included in risk assessments will vary between schools, although some will appear in most schools. HSE provides guidance on the risk assessment process and Coronavirus: latest information and advice - HSE news.

5. COVID-19

Schools must comply with health and safety law and put in place proportionate control measures. Schools must regularly review and update their COVID-19 risk assessments, treating them as ‘living documents’, as the circumstances in your school and the public health advice changes. This includes having active arrangements in place to monitor whether the controls are effective and working as planned.

Schools must therefore make sure that a risk assessment has been undertaken to identify the measures needed to reduce the risks from COVID-19 so far as is reasonably practicable. General information on how to make a workplace COVID-secure, including how to approach a COVID-19 risk assessment, is provided by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance on working safely.

5.1 Approach to COVID-19 risk estimation and management

Some types of control are more effective at reducing COVID-19 risks than others. Risk reduction measures should be assessed in order of priority as set out below. Schools should not simply adopt the easiest control measure to implement.

Schools should work through the following steps to address their COVID-19 risks, considering for each risk whether there are measures in each step they can adopt before moving onto the next step.

  1. Elimination: stop an activity that is not considered essential if there are risks attached.

  2. Substitution: replace the activity with another that reduces the risk. Care is required to avoid introducing new hazards due to the substitution.

  3. Engineering controls: design measures that help control or mitigate risk.

  4. Administrative controls: identify and implement the procedures to improve safety (for example, markings on the floor, signage).

  5. Having gone through this process, personal protective equipment (PPE) should be used in circumstances where the guidance says it is required.

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