Managing Safety, Health & Welfare in the Primary School

DONAL KERINS IPPN LEADERSHIP SUPPORT TEAM

Ask any group of teachers whether they go to school or to work every day and most of them will say ‘I go to school’. We often fail to recognise that our schools are actually workplaces, just like factories, building sites or farmyards.

Every workplace is a potentially dangerous place where people may suffer minor or even serious injury. While there have been a few instances of accidental deaths, serious injury is uncommon. Most schools, however, can recall instances of minor injury among staff or pupils.

Of growing concern is the growth of psychological harm to workers in schools as a result of concerning behaviour by parents or colleagues. This has a detrimental effect on the physical and mental wellbeing of its victims. Insurance companies now recognise it as the fastest growing area of claims against BoMs.

Ceist: Who is responsible for ensuring a safe working environment for pupils, visitors, SNAs, ancillary staff, teachers and school leaders in our schools?

Freagra: The BoM

Ceist: Isn’t it the Principal’s Responsibility?

Freagra: No. The principal is an employee of the BoM which has a Duty of Care to all its employees, pupils and visitors to the school. The BoM is obliged:

• to ensure a reasonably safe place of work

• to ensure reasonably safe plant and equipment

• to ensure reasonably safe systems of work

• to ensure that staff are reasonably safetyconscious.

LAOS 22 also contains Statements of Practice and Statements of Highly Effective Practice in relation to Safety, Health and Welfare (SHW) in the school.

The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 mandates all employers to produce a Safety Statement for their workplace. Circular 18/2018 reminds BoMs to adhere to the Guidelines on Managing Safety, Health and Welfare at work in the Primary School, which were also issued in 2018.

The Guidelines outline the 5 steps to be included in the Safety Statement:Policy Planning Implementation

Measuring Performance Audit and Review.

The Guidelines also include Risk Assessment Templates. There are 55 templates from which a BoM may choose the ones relevant to its activities. While most schools will not require the template on Tractor Maintenance (No 46) or on Waste Compactor / Baler (No. 51), all schools will require the templates on slips, trips and falls in the classroom (Template 1) and on the playground (Template 6).

Of particular interest are the following templates:

No. 8 Playground Aggressive or Violent Behaviour No. 20 Bullying (Adult)

No. 21 Stress

No. 22 Aggressive Behaviour towards staff member.

School leaders will inevitably be asked (or take upon themselves) the task of preparing the Safety Statement. This should really be a last resort. In relation to this, and many other issues, a school leader should always ask: Am I doing something which

Someone else could be doing?

Someone else should be doing?

Someone else is being paid to do?

Consider, as a School Leader:

Are you sure that there is not someone, or a few people, on the BoM or among the parent body with experience who would gladly help out with the Safety Statement?

If every teacher and SNA filled in the template on their own classroom and the Ancillary Staff filled in templates related to their areas, would the BoM then not just have to collate the information? Does the Safety Statement require the attention of a paid consultant – particularly in large schools?

IPPN has produced a Resource Bundle on Managing a Safe Workplace which further outlines the above topics and guides you through leading (not necessarily doing) the process of developing a Safety Statement.

The resource bundle is available to view and download from www.ippn.ie under Resources/ Resource Bundles. You will need to be logged in to access it.

Donal.Kerins@ippn.ie