In an effort to promote risk awareness among the students of UK schools and colleges, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, or RoSPA, has launched a free hotline and a crucial guide, Managing Safety in Schools and Colleges, which will aid students in becoming more safe.
The goal of RoSPA, in launching the hotline and guide, is to make schools aware of the risks that are inherent within today’s society, and within educational institutions in particular. It offers advice about how to audit health and safety procedures, how to conduct risk assessments, how to manage safety around water and leisure activities, teaching about safety and risk, and the legal and ethical responsibilities which all schools are accountable to.
The guide includes all the legal aspects involved in the management of health and safety in educational establishments. It advocates a strategically planned out approach that could be successfully implemented by any educational institution. It promotes an idea for a whole school approach of teaching safety to children, and explains that keeping the school activities and the facility itself safe would make the pupils more capable of understanding and managing risk during their adult life.
David Rushton, the head of RoSPA’s education and leisure, stated that the educational system is currently undergoing a rapid makeover, with the large number of local schools gaining Academy status. RoSPA believes that their approach will help these non local authority schools to keep their establishments safe and healthy for the pupils, regardless of the lack of traditional, statutory backing. Along with that, the training will also help the school to prevent horrific and even fatal accidents which could negatively impact the school’s reputation, as well as potentially devastate lives.
The guide and helpline aim to assist schools by showing them ways to not only avoid dangerous situations occurring, but to also offer effective ways to handle any circumstances which might arise.
The helpline was launched at the Academies Show which took place in Birmingham, and can be contacted on 0121 248 2235, with the aim of enabling schools to be “as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible”. Clearly, protecting children's safety must always be a priority, alongside the safety and protection of those who work tirelessly within schools, such as teachers and support staff.
The free helpline and the free Managing Health and Safety in Schools guide can provide vital information and knowledge that might previously have come from local authority expertise but which schools with academy status may not have experience in managing. Both schools and children can benefit from increased knowledge about risk awareness and safety, and this could be a great place to start.
For more details, visit the ROSPA webpage at www.rospa.com/schoolandcollegesafety/. For the free guidance about schools safety, call RoSPA’s hotline at 0121 248 2235, send them an email to educationhelp@rospa.com or download their free Managing Health and Safety in Schools guide.
(Image Credit: Compliance and Safety)