Health & Safety in Schools:
Compliance Guide
Welcome to Crysp's Guide to Health and Safety in Schools. This daunting topic can be overwhelming for anyone who works in education, so the aim of this guide is to provide a simple overview of what you need to know, outline the compliance regulations schools need to adhere to, and show that legislative compliance doesn't need to be as complicated or as stressful as it can at first seem.
Whether you are a school facilities or estate manager, a headteacher or one of the leadership team responsible for managing and monitoring health and safety, read on to find out how to take the time, stress, cost and complication out of managing compliance in your school or multi-academy trust.
Contents:
What is health and safety in schools?
Schools have a legal obligation to follow the rules, regulations and procures laid out in law - and there are severe consequences for those who don't adhere to legislation. But there is also a moral responsibility to ensure educational establishments are a safe and healthy environment for all who use them. Children are expected to engage in a broad education made up of a wide range of experiences, so health and safety compliance is crucial to ensure this can be carried out safely.
Health and safety law requires the school to not only assess risks, but to record details of risk assessments, explain the control measures put in place to reduce risks, and record expected outcomes among other things. This leads to a lot of paperwork and stress for those responsible for health and safety in school, so steps to digitise this workload can save schools a huge amount of stress, time and money.
Why is health and safety important in a school setting?
Health and safety is important in schools because there is a very particular duty of care - the Government Health & Safety Advice for Schools makes it clear that 'teachers and other staff in schools have a common law duty when in charge of pupils to take the same care of them as they would as a parent' and this applies in the classroom, at playtime, as well as during school clubs and off-site trips. It goes without saying that large numbers of energetic pupils (including very young children) in one place will inevitably lead to accidents and incidents without stringent health and safety compliance in place. Of course, avoiding harm is the key concern, but lack of health & safety compliance could also lead to injury claims, compensation payouts and damage to reputation, which is devastating for all involved
But health and safety in schools is important because it's more than just mitigating risks from trips, falls and other physical accidents. It encompasses mental health too, which is why polices and charters, such as the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter are created to ensure staff mental wellbeing is looked after. It's no secret that working in education is a high-pressure environment, and it's in the interest of the school to reduce workplace stress and illness and keep teams running smoothly in order to provide the best education for children. Putting the health and safety of those who work in this stressful environment at the forefront reaps many benefits - happier teachers who feel supported leads to higher efficiency, more productivity and ultimately a higher level of child engagement.
What health and safety regulations apply to schools?
Schools are subject to an overwhelming number of different regulations, so it's no wonder those responsible for health and safety in schools can find managing compliance a stressful part of school life. The main legislation all schools must adhere to is the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and others made under that Act, such as the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Other regulations schools may be subject to include:
The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2012
Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002
The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
Equality Act 2010
Children’s Act 2004
The School Premises (England) Regulation 2012
The Construction Design Management Regulations 2015
The Building Safety Act 2022
The main aim of this legislation is to ensure schools assess risks and put in place proportionate control measures - importantly, this means efforts should be targeted at areas that pose most risk, rather than spending unreasonable amounts of time and resource where risks are low. Trying to eliminate risks completely is not what's expected, so it's crucial that school staff don't stress about trying to do this - it can lead to a culture of risk aversion and lack of innovation, which has a big impact on children's learning experiences. In addition to assessing risks, legislation also requires them to record details of risk assessments, what steps are taken to minimise risks and the outcomes expected from these measures. This can make for a lot of paperwork - and where Crysp's online compliance management platform can really make such a difference to risk management in schools.
How is health and safety monitored and maintained in schools?
Monitoring and maintaining health and safety is schools is a daunting task, but it is a necessary one. So it's vital that processes and procedures are put in place to make this element of school management as stress-free as possible. There are many things to consider, including:
Who is responsible for health and safety in school?
What health & safety policies are in place?
How is health and safety compliance managed?
What risk assessments need to be carried out, both in and out of the classroom?
How will fire risk assessments be undertaken?
What are Ofsted inspectors looking for when it comes to health and safety in school?
Who is responsible for health and safety in schools?
The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is the independent regulatory body in charge of health and safety in the workplace, including all state funded and independent schools, further education establishments and higher education establishments in the UK. The HSE offers information and advice, warns schools when they fail to comply with regulations and can prosecute, but they no longer undertake routine checks (however they can implement 'spot checks' when required, such as during the COVID-19 Pandemic). The National Education Union provide further information about the HSE's relationship with schools.
Responsibility for health and safety in schools lies with many different people within the education system, including:
The employer - Who this is depends on the type of school, but could be a local authority, a charity, an Academy Trust, a company or partnership, or a Board of Governors. The employer has overall responsibility for health and safety in school.
The governing body - in local authority run schools, the Board of Governors may have some responsibility for making sure health and safety regulations are followed, staff have the training they need, and the headteacher and senior leadership team are supported. Their overall role is at a strategic level, helping to combat risk aversion and find a good balance when managing risk.
The headteacher - the head and school management team are responsible for the day-to-day running of the school and this includes the health and safety of school staff and pupils. It's the headteachers job to lead effectively, help instil a compliance culture across the school, and ensure staff feel confident, motivated and engaged in health and safety compliance.
Other school leaders - this could be the school business manager or bursar who is responsible for visitors and contractors on site, recording accidents or procurement of health and safety contracts and other activities to support risk management. Heads of department or curriculum leads too, are often tasked with carrying out risk assessments in their particular areas of the school, as they are best placed to do so.
Teachers and other school staff - teachers are responsible for developing learning opportunities, but it's important to focus on minimising real risks, rather than trying to eliminate all risks. Being too risk-adverse will hamper learning experiences, discourage creative learning, and cause a huge amount of stress and anxiety for teachers.
School health and safety policies
In order to monitor and maintain health and safety in schools, it's firstly important to have a rigorous health and safety policy in place. This not only demonstrates that you comply with health and safety legislation, but it provides a set of guidelines to embed within the culture of your school, and shows that you have the safety of children, staff and visitors at the forefront. In state-funded schools, this is typically created by the Local Authority and reviewed and updated on a regular basis by the governing body. It should include the following sections:
A statement of intent - this a statement that describes your overall policy, your aims and your commitment to managing health & safety in school. It should be signed by the most senior person in charge of health and safety and be updated regularly.
Lines of responsibility - this is a list of the names, positions and roles of the people within the school who have responsibility for health and safety.
Arrangements - this includes the codes of practice, rules, procedures and systems in place to help you achieve your policy's aims. It outlines how the policy will be implemented and can include any training that is required.
A school health and safety policy should cover:
Fire safety
Incidents and accidents
Hazards
Electrical safety
Hazardous substances
Equipment
Health & hygiene
Medicines
Building maintenance & cleaning
Security
Outdoor activities and off-site visits
How is health and safety in schools managed?
Record keeping in schools is a huge undertaking, and an enormous responsibility. But this can be a challenge for schools that don't have the people power, or the physical space, to keep things organised. There are strict regulations about what paperwork must be retained and how long for, with harsh penalities for those who don't comply, so it's important to get it right. In addition to health and safety compliance issues, if documents aren't well managed, it can mean they are difficult to find when they are needed, causing a great amount of stress when the HSE or Ofsted inspectors call. A secure way of storing files, and easy way to access and update documents, are key to good schools estate management.
Before the digital age, school offices were overflowing with paperwork - policies, accident forms, risk assessments, fire safety procedures and more. But today there is a much more efficient approach to how health and safety is monitored and maintained in schools - digital record keeping. A one-stop compliance management service like Crysp can help schools store, access and update health and safety documentation all in one place, simplifying and demystifying compliance, and leaving schools more time to concentrate on delivering the best education for their children. This is especially crucial for multi-academy trusts with a number of school estates to manage simultaneously.
School risk assessment
A school risk assessment is a detailed observation of the risks associated within areas of the school, in order to identify potential hazards, and put steps in place to reduce those risks. Risk assessments are a crucial part of ensuring that pupils, staff and anyone else entering the premises are kept safe from harm, and help schools ensure they are complying with health and safety legislation.
What are the most common hazards in schools?
Most hazards in schools are quite common and prevented by simple fixes. Each department has its own hazards, but generally speaking a school risk assessment should cover the following:
Slips, trips, and falls. The majority of accidents that take place in schools and workplaces are slips, trips, and falls. Accidents like these can have consequences for schools such as absences and financial costs.
Fire. Fire is a major hazard in any public space. It is imperative that adequate preventative measures are provided, such as fire blankets and extinguishers.
Furniture and fixtures. Furniture can become a hazard if it is not kept in good condition. When they become worn down, there is a risk of cupboards, bookcases and shelving falling and causing serious injury.
Electrical equipment. If they are not kept up to date, electrical equipment can become dangerous and hazardous. All electrical equipment should be regularly checked to ensure that it is safe for use.
Ventilation and heating. Classrooms should have adequate ventilation and heating to ensure an environment where children can learn comfortably.
Check out our health and safety checklist for more details about completing a risk assessment in school. The Health & Safety Executive provide further information on what should be included on the risk assessment document, and example school risk assessments.
There are certain elements of school life that pose more risks to children and adults than others, so it's important to ensure each of these has its own specific risk assessment, ideally undertaken by a member of staff who works in that area. For example, slip, trips, falls and spillages in the classroom; taking children off the premises on school trips; using sports equipment in PE lessons; specialist subjects such as science and technology that use specialist equipment. There are also specific guidelines relating to risks like asbestos and legionella which must be taken into consideration.
School fire risk assessment
A fire risk assessment is a comprehensive examination of your school estate, and the people that use it, from a fire prevention perspective. Schools have very specific concerns when it comes to evaluating fire risk. Schools are large, with many rooms and exit routes to cover; there are large numbers of people to evacuate within a short space of time; and children, particularly of early years and primary age, have the potential to panic. So it's absolutely crucial that all fire risks are assessed and stringent and well-rehearsed plans are in place to reduce those risks, and deal with any incidents if they ever arise.
Broadly speaking, your school's fire risk assessment should cover:
Identifying hazards - any items that potentially pose a fire risk in school and in outside areas.
Recognising people that may be at risk - children, staff, visitors, contractors etc
Evaluating the risk of fire - finding ways to reduce and remove hazards, and minimising the risks they pose to people (e.g. the use of fire alarms, escape routes, emergency lighting).
Implementing the plan - keep up-to-date records of findings and actions, instruct people on how to implement the plan, and provide training.
Monitoring and reviewing - review and update your fire risk assessment constantly to ensure it is up-to-date and compliant.
A fire risk assessment is the responsibility of the person accountable for overall health and safety in schools, however it's crucial to get professional support to ensure it complies with The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Crysp's Fire Assessment Team can conduct an in-person inspection of your school estates and help you complete your fire risk assessment, using our digital compliance platform for schools.
Read more about Government guidance on fire safety risk assessments for educational premises.
Do Ofsted inspectors look at health and safety in school?
When considering how health and safety is monitored and maintained in schools, it's important to remember that although your primary duty is to keep children and adults safe, you also need these processes in place, so you are ready for an inspection. But who will be inspecting you?
Although HSE are the enforcing authority when it comes to health and safety, they no longer carry out routine inspections in school. Safeguarding is however, a crucial component of Ofsted's rating criteria. Although Ofsted don't specifically carry out health and safety checks and don't have set criteria for evaluating this, they will report schools if they do not comply with statutory regulations. As part of their leadership and management assessments, Ofsted inspectors will consider a range of criteria related to health and safety, including whether :
school management and staff understand their key responsibilities and their duty to comply with regulations
steps have been taken to identify and reduce and remove hazards
pupils feel safe at school - this part of the standard to attain an ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted report
the school has clear communication channels with stakeholders
How do you create a compliance culture within schools?
All the policies, procedures and documents that go into maintaining health & safety in schools mean nothing unless they are embraced by everyone in the school. Instilling a culture of compliance, means that every person in school understands the health and safety rules and their role in ensuring they are followed - and this is one of the first challenges to overcome when simplifying compliance. But how is this achieved?
Ensuring strong leadership
A strong commitment to health & safety from the school leadership team, will filter down through every other member of school staff. Clear guidance and an achievable plan for all will give staff the confidence to implement policies and procedures to mitigate risks, and to handle and record incidents correctly.
Implementing staff training
When time and budgets are tight, keeping health and safety training up to date can be tricky. But it's vital that ongoing training in health & safety compliance in schools becomes part of the culture, with regular policy reviews and staff assessments.
Learning from mistakes
Obviously, if mistakes are made when it comes to health and safety in schools, the results can be devastating. But it's important that when accidents and incidents do happen, it's crucial to find out why and how, and review processes and procedures to ensure it doesn't happen again - and that these learnings are shared. It may be that the policy needs to be re-worked, or there is a gap in staff knowledge or understanding that needs to be addressed through training.
Recognising human factors
The HSE recognises that human factors play a huge role in helping avoid incidents, accidents and ill-health at work. They are defined as 'environmental, organisational and job factors, and human and individual characteristics, which influence behaviour at work in a way which can affect health and safety'. Human factors include three areas:
The job - taking into account aspects like the nature of the task, workload and environment; designing tasks in accordance with human limitations and strengths; physical and mental abilities of the person doing the task.
The individual - including a person's competence, skills, personality, attitude and perception of risk (some of which are fixed, and some can be learned).
The organisation - including the structure and culture of the workplace; leadership; available resources; communications.
These factors can have a big impact on health and safety if they are not managed effectively. For example, if someone is asked to do a job beyond their physical abilities, they are more likely to have an accident; if someone feels out of their depth it can lead to stress and anxiety, and mistakes are more likely to be made; or employees may lack motivation or job satisfaction if they feel the role is beyond their scope. And of course all this can affect productivity and efficiency too. The most successful workforces have well-designed systems and procedures, so it's in your school's interest to ensure roles are appropriate to an employee's abilities and that training is addressed to ensure skills are matched to the needs of the role.
Simplifying the process by using technology
Old-fashioned paperwork and spreadsheets can only go so far in tracking compliance. As legislation changes and school estates grow, health and safety in schools can become an overwhelming task that requires more time, resource and management than a busy school or academy trust can provide alone. The solution is to digitalise health and safety compliance and use software, such as Crysp's one-stop compliance platform for schools, to alleviate the burden and reduce the stress; all the 'paperwork' and a golden thread of information in one place, that is simple to maintain and easy to access whenever it's needed.
How can Crysp help you manage compliance in your school?
Crysp's digital compliance management platform has helped schools and multi-academy trusts across the UK to simplify health and safety and take away some of the pressure that comes with running an educational establishment. It's a way of completely digitalising your paperwork, making it easy to access and update, and ensuring it's all in one place for when you need it. What's more, Crysp provide a professional health and safety consultancy service, with experienced advisers and risk management experts on hand to help you get things right.
By automating your compliance, Crysp can:
Provide you with a health and safety management system that is tailored to your unique school environment.
Support senior leadership teams by providing them with current health & safety legislation and how to mitigate risks.
Help you keep up to date with compliance and deal with new challenges.
Set reminders about risk assessments and inspections.
Save schools money by preventing costly problems due to non-compliance or mismanagement.
Keep your documents safe in a secure environment.
Watch our video about how Crysp can support you with health and safety in school.
Find out how Crysp helped Darren Harvey-Hill, Facilities and Compliance Director at Carlton Academy Trust.
Try Crysp's compliance management platform for free to see for yourself how we can help you with health and safety compliance in schools.
Summary
In summary, dealing with compliance and managing risks in a school environment can be overwhelming - but it doesn't need to be complicated or stressful. In our handy guide, we've covered the basics of health and safety in school in an easily digestible way and shown you that help is at hand when it comes to digitalising records and bringing your school estate management online. It's crucial to ensure your process and procedures are rigorous, that assessments are kept up to date and that staff are regularly trained in order to maintain a compliance culture within your school. But the health and safety landscape is ever-changing, and it's important to manage your compliance, risk and school estate management in the most efficient way possible to reduce time, money and stress.
And don't forget, Crysp are always on hand to help you get compliance and good school estate management, right.