Enforcing School Safety In The UK

"A Headteacher's Safety Management Toolkitregulations and HSE will report all the breaches
Article"against the offence.
The Health and Safety Executive(HSE) as theProsecutions
body responsible for enforcing safety laws in ourPrimary Schools - Total 16
schools believes that up to 80% of accidents andSecondary Schools - Total 18
incidents can be attributed to what they are callingBreaches in Primary Schools
now "Human Factors". An indication of howHASAW Act Sect 2 - 3
Human Factors integrate with the HSE'sHASAW Act Sect 3 - 6
Regulatory function can be seen in the whereManagement of H&S Regs 4
they emphasise such as contributory factors. TheElectricity at Work 1
list below shows where HSE have identifiedConstruction Design & Maint Regs 1
Human Factors as problems in priority areas forConstruction H&S Regs 1
their action.This list is extracted from the HSC'sGas Safety Inst &Use Regs
Strategic Plan to 2010 and beyond andappears onWorkplace (H&S) regs
HSE's Human Factors website.Control of Asbestos Regs
* Prevention of musculoskeletal disorders andBreaches in Secondary Schools
manual handling injuriesHASAW Act Sect 2 - 3
* Management of work-related stressHASAW Act Sect 3 - 10
* Preventing falls from heightManagement of H&S Regs 4
* Preventing slips and tripsElectricity at Work
* Preventing workplace transport accidentsConstruction Design & Maint Regs
* Human factors in design (e.g. alarm handling inConstruction H&S Regs 1
control rooms, vehicle cab design etc)Gas Safety Inst &Use Regs 1
* The design and effectiveness of proceduresWorkplace (H&S) regs 1
* Human reliability - human error and systemsControl of Asbestos Regs 6
failures e.g. maintenance errorIf you check the figures above the secondary
* Assessing organisational change and itsfigures do not add up to 18. This is because, as I
implicationsexplained above, often more than one breach is
* Effects of organisational cultureinvolved in an offence or a enforcement notice.
* Communications and their effects on health andAll Enforcement Notices in Schools
safetyPrimary Schools Total 77
* Staffing levels and workloadSecondary Schools Total 137
* Fatigue from working patterns - shiftwork andImprovement Notices
overtimePrimary School Total 63
* Training and competenceSecondary School Total 102
You may wonder why I've started off withProhibition Notices
Human Factors but just look at this list again.Primary Schools Total 14
HSE never rush into enforcement and makingSecondary Schools Total 35
prosecutions without informing and reinforming theMade up of Breaches(Primary Schools)
public.HASAW Act Sect 2 38
Now add up all the functions where managementHASAW Act Sect 3 41
can make improvements on what HSE say isManagement of H&S Regs 42
80% of accidents and where their priority areasElectricity at Work 6
are.Construction Design & Maint 1
Got it?COSHH 4
What this tells us is where HSE will be focusingProv&Use of Work Equipment 4
over the next period of time - managing safety.Manual Handling 3
This is confirmed by work which I have done onWorkplace (H&S) regs 26
Head teacher's Safety Management Toolkit user'sControl of Asbestos Regs 7
behalf by revisiting HSE's Database ofThis may not mean a lot to a non- safety
Enforcement and this and a subsequent articleprofessional but we can look at this another way.
gives information and analyses the information.What breaches occur in small numbers?
You can see information on this Toolkit and getWell it appears to me that emphasis on CDM,
access to the Analysis atCOSHH and Manual Handling must have been dealt
This article looks at the raw data and makeswith fairly well by schools.
some comments and observations on EnforcingAlternatively relatively few accidents may have
School Safety.To be able to do this I have gonehappened to be reported under the RIDDORs
through HSE databases for the last 5 years andRegulations i.e there may have been accidents or
extracted all the Education related Enforcementincidents but not frequent or serious enough to
actions.appear on the HSE radar.
These include :What isn't there at all?
Enforcement OrdersThere are absolutely no Display Screen Equipment
These are orders issued by Inspectors to:Regulations notices let alone any prosecutions. I
Prohibit an unsafe action or activity eitherthink most of us would not be too surprised not
immediately or within a specified timeto see any references to the Personal Protective
frame,(Prohibition Notice)Equipment Regulations or those covering Noise.
Or,However, since there has been so much emphasis
Improve an unsafe activity or condition againon DSE Regs and schools are now crammed with
within a time frame.(Improvement Notice)PCs and ICT it seems that DSE Regs are not high
These orders are the major part of HSE'son HSE's priorities.
enforcement activity;for example there were 214NB this does not mean there will never be
Orders made against schools and employers overenforcement and there is a requirement for a
the time period of the Database,(approx. 5 years)Risk Assessment to be carried out against these
whilst there were only 34 prosecutions.Regulations even if the RA says minimal or no
Enforcement Notices are Orders and need to besignificant risk and Action: No action!
taken very seriously by anyone who gets one asWhat is there a lot of notices issued for?
HSE will prosecute if a Notice is ignored.Health and Safety at Work Act Sections 2 & 3
Ignoring an Enforcement Notice is actually givenare "catch all" breaches and essentially Section 2
as a criterion for prosecution in their Enforcementsays "not ensuring employees safety" and Section
Policy document.3 "not ensuring the safety of others(non
Let us just look at what the situation actually is inemployeesi.e pupils and visitors/contractors)".
schools as regards numbers of prosecutions andThe largest number of notices arise around the
notices.Management of Health and Safety at Work
ProsecutionsRegulations. This is relatively new and the focus is
In 2004/5 there were 712 prosecutions in totalto make sure that dutyholders manage
made by HSE in which they secured about 95%safety.This is where there is likely to be increasing
success of conviction.emphasis for the future.
The total number of prosecutions over the timeThere are also 26 notices around breaches of the
frame for the HSE Database is just over 4000,Workplace(H&S) Regulations. This can be partly
which shows that schools and education with 34explained by a HSE initiative started in Kent to
prosecutions account for less than 1% of allensure regulation of site traffic and that
prosecutions.pedestrians were separated from it.
However, some extremely high profile casesSo, quite a few of these Workplace Regs
from the education sector do not appear onbreaches are about site traffic, school buses
HSE's database.whilst others are about unsafe structures in the
This is always the case for any work relatedschool.
death which would be prosecuted by the CrownComments on Enforcement
Prosecution(England and Wales) or the ProcuratorAs I indicated above we can get inside the mind
Fiscal(Scotland).of HSE by looking at their Plans and Policies.
Thus, a teacher prosecuted for a death occurringThey quite openly tell us that:a) Enforcement will
on a school trip falls outside HSE's database.be used to drive Plans and Policy.b) Enforcement
However,they have reported two prosecutionswill be targeted at the most serious risks.c)
where children have been injured on trips and HSEEnforcement will be targeted to improve
has followed the incident up with a prosecution.standards.d) Their evidence shows and confirms
One of these was a prosecution of both thethat enforcement is an effective motivator and
Employer(Council) and the Head teacher.deterrent.e) They believe that enforcement plays
Looking at the actual figures of breaches involvedan important role in securing compliance.f) That
in prosecutions gives us some indication of whereenforcement in the form of prosecutions comes
actions are occurring now and later we shall lookabout mainly from investigations into reports
at the breaches involved in enforcement ordersreceived on serious incidents.(about 90 -95%)
which may give us a clue to future actions.We'll look at actual examples of all these in
HSE reports Breaches against each prosecution oranother article and see what specific offences are
notice. A Breach indicates the specific law(s) ormost and least common and what other lessons
regulation(s) which is cited in relation to thewe can learned to maintain schools as safe
offence.learning environments and to ensure the health
I have indicated the singular and plural aboveand safety of our children and staff.
because one offence can breach several laws and