Posted By Raymond Rapp Lee For starters, you may wish to consider your top ten risks. Then consider how those risks will affect the continuity of the school. Finally, what measures should be put in place in order to prevent or reduce those risks. Topics might include inclement weather, serious travel problems, service issues such as gas leak, security breaches, fire, flooding and so on. Ray

Posted By Stephen Lee, Your LEA will have guidance on how they expect these things to be done, you should contact their H&S department, it may save you a lot of duplicated effort. Regards Stephen

Posted By Pete48 I second the remarks about contacting the LA if this is a maintained school. Your LA will prescribe systems, forms, reports that must be used. The school will have access to those e-systems so that would be a great starting place for you. Seems to me that they are looking to use your skills to augment their approach rather than design from scratch. e.g how to make a decent job of compiling the documentation required whilst getting the max benefit from the process for the school. If not maintained and you cannot access the LA systems, then is your school part of NASS, they must have something you can follow? Then there is "teachernet" which is good place to see what schools are required to manage and how to do it. There are, of course, some proprietary packs available to purchase as in all other walks of safety life. It is a different world in many ways. Yes you have employees but you also have students--and then if it goes pear shaped you will be second guessed by the whole world and probably in public--good luck!!

Posted By Ken Taylor Presumably you will have a copy of 'Managing Health & Safety in Schools' and the school should already have copies of the various former DfEE and DfES publications on aspects of school health and safety as well as a current health and safety policy. In my experience, schools need many risk assessments ranging from generic type risks common to staff, pupils, visitors, etc through specific areas of activity and risk such as PE, science, CDT, school visits, security, fire etc to individual activities and work practices.

Posted By Tracey Kelly Lee, There's a fair bit of info available on the web - the HSE at http://www.hse.gov.uk/services/education/index.htm and TeacherNet (UK) has a good range of guidance too, at http://www.teachernet.go...eschool/healthandsafety/ Here's a non-exhaustive list of safety topics relevant to schools:- o Adhesives and glue guns o Animals in school (pets) o Bomb alerts o Bullying o Child Guidance - see local guidelines o Chemical hazards o Child Protection - see local guidelines o Cold weather / hypothermia o Contractors’ activities o Cookers and microwaves o Display screen equipment / computer workstations o Doors and door jambs o Electrical equipment, batteries and electrical leads o Emergency plans - see RoSPA guidance on school Disaster Management o Fire prevention and means of escape – see national fire safety risk assessment guidelines for schools o First Aid for schools - see DEE guidance for First Aid for schools o Flu pandemic – see local guidance for schools on flu pandemic o Food hygiene o Games - supervised ball games o Garden and grounds activities o Glass and glazing o Heating and ventilation o Housekeeping o Hot surfaces and handling hot items o Hydration o Hygiene – body fluid discharge o Hygiene – school grounds maintenance o Hygiene – sharps in school grounds o Internet Use – see local Guidance on Internet Use Policy o Ladders and work at height o Lifting and moving (manual handling) o Medicines and medical equipment – see local guidelines o Minibus – see RoSPA guidance on school minibus safety o Noise o Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) o Pedestrian Access o Play equipment o PE o Play – outdoor o Play – indoor o Portable electrical equipment and hand tools o Pond and river activities o Reporting school accidents - see HSE guidance o Relationship & Sexuality – see local guidance on Relationship & Sexuality Policies o School Fair o School science - see local guidance (I can send you a copy of the Irish DES Guide to safety in school science if you are interested) o School site security o School tours - see Teachernet guidance for educational visits, Teachernet guidance for school adventure activities, HSE school trips web site, Scottish Executive H&S on school excursions, RoSPA guidance on school trips o Slips, trips and falls – see HSE guidance on slips & trips in education o Sharp objects o Snow and ice clearance and freezing conditions o Sponsored Walk o Sports Day o Storage of equipment and materials o Substance Abuse – see local Guidelines on Substance Abuse Policy o Sunburn o Supervision of pupils o Sweeping building before locking up o Swimming pool use o Transport to/from school o Vehicles on site o Violent incursion o Visitors & trespassers o Whiteboards (interactive) and Overhead Projectors – see BECTA safety advice on interactive whiteboard use Hope this helps, Tracey

Posted By Elfy Hi Lee. Double check what the school requires as Risk Management i.e. the ability to continue your core activities when incidents occur (flooding, fire, flu pandemic etc) and Health & Safety i.e. slips, trips, falls etc are 2 different entities. Just make sure you are going in the correct direction at the start of your work as it may save time and energy.

Posted By Jack Lee Ray wrote: "The school is a church of england school and as far as i am aware it is not maintained, thats one of the reasons for the board of govenors." It is therefore probably either 'voluntary aided' or 'voluntary controlled'. Both are 'maintained schools'. You need to find out which in order to determine who the employer is and the role of the governing body. If voluntary aided the governing body will be the employer and if voluntary controlled the LA will be the employer. So, if the former the LA role will be sdvisory (which the school may or may not pay for), if the latter it will have Section 2 & 3 duties.

Posted By Jack Yes, the LA is responsible for ensuring RAs are undertaken. But you need to read their H&S Policy on how it achieves this. Almost certainly the Headteacher will be responsible for ensuring local assessments are undertaken. In most local authorities the H&S Policy will require the head to prepare a school policy (strictly , the local organisation and arrangements for implementing the LAs policy. In some LAs generic RAs have been prepared and these will form the basis of the schools RA. So, as has already been said I would suggest you contact the LA h&s department and ask them for an overview of how the policy expects the school to comply.