Hi I have been informed by the MD that we will be hosting a visit from a local college of about 10-12 young people for about 2 hours on site. The site has 3 different businesses which belong to the same group, 1 waste transfer station, 1 main manufacturing factory, 1 transport garage (service & repair of HGV’s), 1 wood processing site –area.
The plan is to walk the main areas of the site and then do a Q&A at the end with refreshments included can any one assist in the kind of risk assessment I should produce? As far as close supervision is concerned we will have the MD, myself as the health and safety lead, along with two of the teachers.
Main hazards as far as I see are transport movement of vehicles around the site, slips trips & falls, FLT’s in and around the factory area would appreciate some help and the type of questions I should be asking the college and do I need to obtain parental or legal guardian consent?
Thank you Sir G

All down to age of youn persons, are they above MSLA? if so then no consent is required. (young persons risk assessment)You have pretty much completed the risk assessment in your head, note this down, when they arrive on site, take them to a safe area and complete and induction highlighting the potential risks/hazzards and areas of concern, put in place control measures, explain how visit will run and off you go.

Having conducted similar visits in a mill environment one thing it would be worth raising with the college is footwear.

OK very unlikely they have safety boots but good stout flat shoes should be recommended - the number of times we had to find something suitable for students wearing sandals & high heels (and that was just the boys!) ;-)

As a small point, having spent years dealing with kids and young people on visits like this, when you're actually walking around the site, make sure YOU are at the rear of the entourage, so as to round up stragglers, those with curious hands and mischief makers.

Trust me, you will need a sheep dog to control them!

Just a quickie sg. I used to work in a recyling plant so know just what a nightmare it can be with some of the workers.

When we did something similar (& you've probably thought of this) the workers were briefed about the visit. The workers kept an eye on what they were doing & visiting drivers were informed at the weighbridge & told to follow directions given by the banksman (the weighbridge & banksman had constant contact via two way radios - the people supervising the tour also had these radios).
As has been stated with the 'sheepdog' they'll try to wonder off, try to touch things they shouldnt, go where they shouldnt.
One useful hint is run through where you will be taking them (actually do the route), and where possible choose 'safe areas' for them to assemble to point out certain items & cordon these areas off so no plant, vehicles, etc are allowed nearby.

Sir G

There’s little to add to the advice provided by earlier responders except to suggest that supervising 5 pupils aged about 15 shouldn’t be difficult. Also, as it seems that most teenagers have little or no awareness of the world of work bar except through what they see on TV and the internet, it’s good that the visit is to take place, irrespective of whether the school or your organisation first proposed it. With a modicum of appropriate preparation the visit should surely go well and be of benefit to the pupils, their teachers and your organisation’s people. Also, the information and experience regarding the forthcoming visit would of course be of use for any similar visits if planned in future.

If you are willing perhaps you could briefly let us know afterwards how the visit went and add any practical tips/advice gleaned from it. This could be of help to other forum users with workplaces which receive or could receive visits by outside groups whether they comprise pupils/students or even members of groups from within the IOSH Network.

p.s. I’m probably being old-fashioned in wishing that educational establishments for pupils up to minimum school leaving age (MSLA) would call themselves schools, academies or similar and desist from using the term ‘college’ which is surely more appropriate for establishments which provide higher/further education. Also, it seems a tad pretentious for schools, especially primary schools, to refer as some do in my experience to their pupils as ‘students’. :-(

p.p.s. It's interesting to observe from your forum name that IOSH has at least one knight of the realm amongst its membership!!!! :-)