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Section 1
Skills and Technical
Competencies
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1
Managing Risk
Patricia Whittaker and Dittany Matthews
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter you will find material and discussion focussing on:
- The changing emphasis away from safety and accident prevention to proactive risk management.
- Hazard and risk in present-day society and the challenges facing schools.
- Information about putting the system in place:
- policy
- accidents and near-misses
- the risk assessment process
- the use of hazardous substances
- special educational needs and disabilities.
- Fire safety.
- Emergency and contingency planning.
This chapter deals with the principles of risk management. The guidance contained here is considered to be international best practice and specific legislative requirements are not dealt with due to variations from country to country. Local courses are available if you wish to have a detailed knowledge of local laws. Environmental issues are often integrated into the management systems that organisations put in place to deal with other risk issues. A closer examination of these issues can be found in Chapter 7.
A further recent consideration for the UK’s schools is the Freedom of Information Act, which requires all organisations, including schools, to provide information to any person on almost any subject. This will include risk assessments and accident records.
The risks facing schools are wide ranging. An examination of newspaper articles over recent months would reveal the following incidents:
- a large tree falling on a playground injuring a pupil which might have been avoided had the trees been regularly surveyed and maintained;
- loss of money through fraud which could have been avoided by adequate financial controls;
- injury to pupils on school activity visits where no risk assessment was done;
- injury to pupils by employees which could have been avoided by proper recruitment and pre-employment checks;
- loss of a school building through fire caused by an electrical fault which might have been avoided by maintenance;
- loss of data because of computer failure and inadequate back up procedures.
Although these incidents are relatively uncommon, school managers will recognise that the possibility exists of similar incidents happening in their schools. No procedures can make our schools entirely risk free, but the risks should be assessed and managed.
THE CHANGING EMPHASIS: AWAY FROM SAFETY AND ACCIDENT PREVENTION TO PROACTIVE RISK MANAGEMENT
Early health and safety legislation which affected children was aimed mainly at the conditions in the factories that they worked in. Restrictions were imposed on hours of work and minimum standards of heating, lighting and ventilation were specified.
As the twentieth century dawned, legislation widened and started to regulate other types of business premises and to make more detailed provisions relating to health, safety and welfare. In the second half of the century, major legislation such as the Health and Safety at Work Act in the UK and the Occupational Safety and Health Act in the USA was passed. These acts covered all types of commerce and industry and enabled further specific legislation to be put in place, changing the focus from merely accident prevention to a risk-based approach.
By the beginning of the twenty first century, the insurance industry was encouraging policyholders to take a wider view of risk and to be more proactive in its management. Effective risk management is of benefit to both the insurer and the insured because premiums are influenced by the claims/cost ratio. In addition to injury or financial loss, schools that fail to implement good risk-management systems will suffer loss of reputation, which can have long-lasting repercussions. The topic of risk in schools extends much further than health and safety issues and includes financial and business continuity risks, including emergency planning, management and recovery.
HAZARD AND RISK, PRESENT-DAY SOCIETY AND THE CHALLENGES FACING SCHOOLS
A hazard is defined as anything which can cause harm, for example chemicals, electricity, radiation. Risk is the chance (high or low) that someone will be harmed by the hazard.
Traditionally, risk management starts by carrying out an assessment exercise that ranks potential events in terms of the likelihood of them happening and how serious the consequences would be if they did come to pass. This is represented by the equation
Risk = Severity × Likelihood
In more modern times, a third element seems to be required to be factored in. This is the degree of outrage that would occur if an event happened. The equation now reads
Risk = Severity × Likelihood × Outrage Factor
An example of the difference that this factor makes is that the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads every month does not make the news headlines. In itself it is not a newsworthy item, but it would create huge media attention if the same number of people were killed in a jumbo jet crash. A further example can be found in the difference in reaction between a child falling from a school climbing frame and breaking his wrist and the same accident happening at home. This has meant that schools in several countries have banned playground games for fear of being sued by the parents of injured children.
In industry, risk management has a useful last form of defence – that of personal protective equipment. One school in the UK has followed industry’s example by investing in industrial safety goggles for children to wear when playing the ancient game of conkers, where horse chestnuts threaded on string are struck against each other and the winner is the one who ends up with an intact conker. The head of the school says the move is a ‘sensible’ step to protect children’s eyes from pieces of flying horse chestnut. You may or may not agree because the balance between challenge and safety is an important consideration in the development of children.
The best facilities, environments and experiences are those that offer children the maximum developmental value while ensuring that their safety is effectively managed. Playground activities help children learn teamwork, cooperation and organisation, and develop coordination and dexterity while exercising. At the same time, children also get hurt performing these activities, so we have to balance the benefits against risk to the school from (for example) the financial effects of a legal case. If the correct procedures have been followed, there is good evidence for teachers to use to refute accusations of negligence. Other challenges facing schools from this shift of emphasis arise from the management structure and the subsequent chain of responsibility for risk management.
If the proactive approach is to be evidenced, then all staff in schools, including governing bodies, should take their part in managing risk and health and safety. Awareness of this responsibility can be raised in a number of ways:
- by including a reference to health and safety or risk management in all job descriptions/profiles;
- by introducing basic health and safety into the induction process for new staff as early as possible, for example fire evacuation procedures and a risk assessment of their teaching room and work space;
- by inclusion as part of an annual performance review, with targets regarding risk assessment directly relating to a person’s role (for example, planning a visit or journey with pupils, use of the school minibus);
- by training for staff in emergency first aid and risk assessment;
- by identifying responsibilities through policies which are regularly reviewed and consulted upon;
- by a committee of the governing body needing to take responsibility for risk assessment and health and safety – this should be identified in the committee’s terms of reference and made visible to school staff through the committee undertaking regular risk assessments of selected areas of the school grounds and buildings.
SBM Toolkit – RM:1
A simple practical tool to raise awareness in school would be to use your weekly bulletin or notice-board for regular and timely reminders on basic health and safety matters, for example:
- Keep corridors clear of obstructions.
- Make sure waste bins are emptied regularly.
- Make sure vision panels in doors are not covered with notices.
- Make sure all staff report light bulbs which need replacing, particularly in corridors and stair wells.
This need not be punitive in tone, and indeed, will have more effect if put in the same positive format that the construction industry uses. For example; ‘It is now two terms since we’ve had an accident involving obstructions in corridors. Congratulations to everybody.’
PUTTING THE SYSTEM IN PLACE
Health and safety policy
A school’s health and safety policy should consist of three parts.
- The first part is the policy statement itself. This is a general statement of intent which contains the objectives and outlines a school’s overall philosophy in relation to the management of health and safety. It should be drawn up by the school and agreed by the school’s board of governors, who should keep the policy under annual review. If appropriate, schools can take advice on drawing up this policy from their managing authority. Once written and agreed, the policy should be made available to all staff and introduced to them at a suitable staff meeting.
- The second part of a health and safety policy is the organisation of people and duties for the implementation of the policy. It should show clearly the chain of command and who is responsible for what. This section can also contain the details of how the implementation will be monitored, how a safety committee will function within the line management structure and how individual job descriptions and objectives will contain personal accountabilities.
- The third part will deal with the arrangements needed to reduce risks, and will include such items as safety training, inspections, accident prevention and investigation, dealing with contractors and fire safety. The risk assessment process, including putting control measures in place, should be described here.
The responsibility for determining policy, organisation and arrangements lies with the governing body which has the ultimate responsibility for health and safety within the school, although authority for various issues can be delegated.
Accidents and near-misses
An accident is defined as ‘any unplanned event that results in personal injury or damage to property, plant or equipment’. A near-miss is ‘an unplanned event which does not cause injury or damage, but could have done so’. Examples would include: items falling near to personnel, incidents involving vehicles and electrical short-circuits. There are many more near-misses than accidents, and if a robust reporting and investigation process is put in place and lessons are learned from its findings, it is possible to eliminate many minor accidents.
The school should have a policy which outlines the procedures that are to be adopted when any pupil, staff member, visitor or contractor experiences an accident, near-miss or dangerous occurrence on the company’s premises. These will all be investigated to determine their underlying causes and how a recurrence can be prevented. It is therefore important that all accidents and incidents, irrespective of the resulting injury or damage, be recorded according to the procedures laid down.
These accident records should be reviewed regularly by the governors to establish the nature of those incidents which have occurred in school and to ensure that sufficient resources are available to deal with the causes, with proper action subsequently taken to help prevent an incident being repeated.
SBM Toolkit – RM:2
Schools may find it useful to log accidents and near-misses in a simple data base or spreadsheet. The data could include a column showing the action taken to prevent further incidents. Staff and governors will then be able easily to observe trends and ‘accident black spots’ and take appropriate action to reduce the risks. Groups of schools could collaborate in sharing and benchmarking their data. The findings resulting from these exercises can then be used to inform and motivate other staff.
The risk assessment process
Performing a risk assessment is a way of formalising a sound, common-sense approach to managing risk. It is a process that is required by statute in Europe, but even when not strictly required by law it is good practice as it documents the risk minimisation precautions taken, and provides proof of carrying out the duty of care owed to pupils, staff members, visitors and anyone else on school premises.
Although the person performing the assessment does not have to be a health and safety expert, short training courses are readily available. More complex situations may necessitate help from a competent source, but ...
