Health and Safety in School Workshops

Schools are the building blocks where we send our kids for a better tomorrow, however are we sure that their today is safe, within the confines of these future building blocks. The safety of staff and students is increasingly becoming an issue for school communities, an issue most schools are addressing now. Health and safety law requires employers to appoint a competent and well trained person to help them meet their health and safety duties in accordance with the law. A competent person is someone with the required skills, knowledge and ample experience to give sensible advice about managing the health and safety risks at the school. Following sources maybe pooled in to meet the required result:

·         Person appointed directly by the school or local authority or Academy Trust.

·         One or more staff at the school e.g. principal; head of department, staff members with specialist curriculum knowledge by arranging specialist support from outside.

School authorities should always take a commonsensical and proportionate approach, remembering that in schools risk assessment and management are tools to enable children to undertake activities safely.

Training

Employers must ensure that staff is given updated and suitable health and safety training required for their job and the holistic safety of the school premises. It should provide school staff with basic instructions or information about health and safety in the school. Staff involved with work which involves a greater element of risk, will need more training while rest can be provided with basic safety training. The issues that school employers decide to include in the health and safety policy will depend on the size of the school, the nature of the risks associated with the school’s activities and the competency of staff.

All injuries are preventable. The key to prevention is a positive safety focus in all spheres of our lives. While the laid down guidelines are designed to improve health and safety for school staff, the principles of effective safety and hazard management are applicable in all areas of school activity. It includes students, contractors, visitors and educational activities outside the classroom, which may involve volunteers who also need to follow the school's risk management plans.

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FIRE SAFETY AWARENESS AND FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT

Fire is one of the earliest and most important discoveries done by mankind which led the wheel of progress spinning. However the same, when uncontrolled, has taken toll in terms of material, physical and psychological loss of severest kind since the dawn of civilization. No doubt tremendous importance is paid over fire safety measures all across the globe. Fire Safety training for staff is a legal requirement in the UK under the regulatory reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

Fire safety is the set of practices which are intended to reduce the destruction caused by fire and to limit the development and effects of a fire after it starts.

Fire Triangle

It’s a tetrahedron where four elements must be present for a fire to exist which are oxygen to sustain combustion, heat to raise the material to its ignition temperature, fuel to support the combustion and a chemical reaction between the other three elements. Removal of any one of the four elements can extinguish the fire.

So what are the possible triggering points or types of fire?

Types of Fire

Class A: Caused by ordinary combustibles such as wood, paper, cloth, trash, and plastics.

Class B: Caused by flammable liquids such as gasoline, petroleum oil, paint, flammable gases like propane and butane

Class C: Caused by energized electrical equipments

Class D: Caused by combustible metals such as potassium, sodium, aluminium, and magnesium

Class K: Caused by cooking oils and greases

Fire Risk Assessments

A regular review a fire risk assessment of the premises helps to identify what is needed to do for fire prevention and ensure safety of people. You must keep a written record of your fire risk assessment if your business has 5 or more people.

Carrying out the Assessment

1.    Identify the fire hazards. There can be any triggering point as listed in the types of fire. List out the sources of items which can trigger fire and which can burn in the premises.

2.    Identify people at risk. You have to identify who could be at risk or who are more vulnerable.

3.    Evaluate, remove or reduce the risks. Evaluate about what you have found in steps 1 and 2 i.e. what are the risks of a fire starting and the risks to the lives of people in the building and vicinity? Remove and reduce risk after thorough evaluation.

4.    Record your findings, keep a log of any fire hazards and what the measures taken to reduce or mitigate them. You must have a well laid out plan of fire prevention and safety of people. If you share a building with others, you need to coordinate your plan with the rest of dwellers. And most importantly the staff needs to know what to do in case of fire, and if necessary suitably trained.

5.    Review and update the fire risk assessment regularly. A regular review is must as the risks or fire safety measures may change. In case of any changes others need to be timely informed and well trained.

You’ll need to consider salient points as a part of fire safety measurement:

·                     emergency routes and exits

·                     fire detection and warning systems

·                     fire fighting equipment

·                     the removal or safe storage of dangerous substances

·                     an emergency fire evacuation plan

·                     providing information to employees and other people on the premises

·                     fire safety training

A risk assessment is identifying sensible and workable measures to control the risks in your workplace and any good organization would ensure that the fire safety measure is in order and regularly updated.

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