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GENERIC RISK ASSESSMENTS IN CROYDON’S SCHOOLS
Introduction
The generic risk assessments on this site have been developed by the Council’s Corporate Safety Section and the LA’s Safety Adviser using a variety of sources of information, for example, job descriptions, accident data, feedback from a pilot study, and inspections of premises.
The site is under development and further assessments will be included as they are produced, for instance, for school kitchen environments, swimming pools, sporting activities. If you already have a risk assessment and are willing to share it, please forward it to the Department’s Education Safety Adviser, Jim Walkinshaw, 9th Floor, Taberner House, Park Lane, Croydon.
The generic assessments do not cover specific topics which require more detailed assessments. Your school will have to undertake specific assessments where required. Examples include:
- Fire risk assessment
- Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) assessments
- Display screen equipment assessments
- Manual handling assessments
- First aid assessments
- Confined spaces assessments
- Work equipment assessments
- Radiation assessments
The risks arising from activities undertaken by catering staff have not been included as it is understood that they work for contractors, and so it would be the contractors’ responsibility to undertake the assessments.
Risk assessments for school visits and trips will continue to be organised separately.
Adapting the Assessments
Legally, risk assessments must be “suitable and sufficient” i.e. appropriate to the nature of the work. In practice, this involves identifying all the main hazards that arise from the work activities or the workplace; controlling those hazards to acceptable standards; and making judgements about the residual risks.
If the generic assessments are accepted at “face value” without adapting them, they may not be suitable and sufficient and your school could be open to legal challenge. For example, if a serious accident occurred arising from a main hazard that had not been identified and controlled, and which did not appear on the relevant risk assessment, your school may face prosecution on grounds that you had not completed a “suitable and sufficient” risk assessment. In addition, if you fail to adapt the assessments, they may not be accepted for internal audits.
Therefore, you will need to take the following steps to adapt the assessments:
- Consult with staff and trades union safety representatives to ensure that all job categories have
been identified
- Undertake a thorough building inspection
- Identify the main tasks, equipment, substances, people, procedures, environments, power
sources
- Identify all the main hazards by:
- Looking at job descriptions and accident / sickness data
- Talking to staff, particularly about the types and levels of unreported accidents
- Observe how tasks are actually carried out (rather than how you think they are carried out)
- Reading technical documents like CLEAPSS laboratory handbook; the Education Department’s Health & Safety Handbook; the Council’s Health & Safety Toolkit for managers; equipment manufacturers’ handbooks.
- Identify any serious or imminent dangers e.g. fire, bomb
- Identify any further control measures required based on legal requirements or best practice
- Make judgements about the residual risks i.e. the risks that are left after you have controlled
the main hazards
- Develop the action plan at the back of the assessments and ensure actions are carried out to a
time-scale
It is important that you ensure that you actually have the control measures listed on the assessments in place. If you do not, then you must remove them from the assessments, and make judgements about the residual risks based on your current practices.
In some cases it might be beneficial to add the additional control measures to the action plans at the back of the assessments. Once the action plans are completed, and the additional control measures are in place and working, you should update the assessments with the additional control measures and re-judge the residual risks.
Adopting the assessments
The assessments must be signed and dated to show “ownership” by the school, and their contents should be communicated to employees and their representatives. Where assessments have identified particular training needs, the training should be provided. The assessments should be included in the school’s induction arrangements for new and transferring staff, and those returning from long term leave.
Monitoring / reviewing the assessments
You should actively monitor the assessments by carrying out spot checks and inspections, and by studying accident and sickness trends. Assessments must be reviewed following significant changes to the work activities, environments or following serious accidents.
In any event, risk assessments should be reviewed preferably once per year as part of good risk management practice.
Further guidance
Further guidance can be obtained from:
- The Education Department’s Health and Safety Manual
- The Council’s Risk Assessment Policy (link)
- The Managers’ Health and safety Toolkit
Help and support
Help and support can be obtained from health and safety consultants, Blaithnaid Farrell or Peter Byrne, telephone 020 8726 6000 ext 65458/61845.
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