SchoolSHARENewsletter

Spring Term 2017 Edition

IntroductionWelcome to the SchoolSHARE Newsletter for the Spring Term.

Our lead article this term is, yet again, about asbestos. There has been a lot of media interest over the Winter, so we have taken the opportunity to repeat the things that need to be done to keep staff, visitors and pupils safe.

As snow turns to rain, it’s time to start clearing those gutters. Working at height is dangerous and we’ve included a reminder of the precautions to be taken.

Our third feature provides a brief summary of the findings of the inquiry into a fatal stabbing at a school in Scotland. A tragic event that may have been preventable.

There follows a reminder to use the resources that Schoolshare provides. Sharezone contains guidance on most areas of health & safety, including most of the topics in our Newsletters – please use it. Also, expansion of our E-Learning offering makes this an even more valuable training tool.

Lastly our regular Learning by Example section summarises three very different incidents that remind us what can happen when mistakes are made, corners are cut or procedures are not followed.

In this Issue

Asbestos in Schools 2

Clearing Gutters and Roofing 3

Bailey Gwynne Stabbing 3

Sharezone 4

E-Learning 4

IOSH Managing Safely 4

Learning by Example 5

Forthcoming Training Events 6

SchoolSHARENewsletter

Spring Term 2017 Edition

ASBESTOS IN SCHOOLS

Given recent publicity in the national media surrounding the presence of asbestos in schools, we have decided to issue an update on asbestos.

There is no doubt that asbestos is a dangerous substance that can cause life changing illnesses and even death, but then so can many of the animals in the zoo. To manage the potential risk, zoos lock the animals in cages and do their absolute best to stop them from harming visitors.

Well, despite the scare stories that have been circulating, the situation regarding asbestos is much the same. It’s not great for your health, but if managed correctly it shouldn’t affect it. The same goes for the chemicals in the science store and chicken defrosting in the school kitchen. They are hazards that need to be controlled.

During 2016 we covered this subject a couple of times. Here we will repeat the questions you need to be able to answer yes to:

• Is the school management team aware who has the overall legal responsibility for the management of maintenance and repair of the school buildings?

• Has the duty holder carried out a management survey?

• Does the management survey highlight the location of Asbestos Containing Materials (ACMs)?

• Has the duty holder assessed the potential risk from the ACMs?

• Does the duty holder have a management plan detailing how to manage the risks from any ACMs at your school?

• Are precautions in place to ensure anyone who may disturb ACMs is provided with information about any asbestos present?

• Are any in-house staff who may undertake maintenance work adequately trained?

On the last two points, many of you will answer “No” and “Not Recently”. To help you with this, we are able to provide a short Asbestos Awareness training session at your School or Trust.

If you would like us to do this, please contact your Education Risk Consultant or the Helpline.

Please be assured that there is no requirement to remove asbestos that is not presenting a danger, though it does need to be monitored to ensure that it does not become a danger (in accordance with the Asbestos Management Plan).

There is further guidance on Sharezone, but please get in touch if you have any queries.

SchoolSHARENewsletter

Spring Term 2017 Edition

CLEARING GUTTERS AND ROOFING

BAILEY GWYNNE STABBING

Now that all the snow has melted (tempting fate there maybe?) it should be time to be getting back to more routine maintenance issues. One of these is making sure the school roof does what it’s supposed to – keep rain out of the building.

Flat roofing is particularly vulnerable. The felt has a shelf life and can crack. Ponding caused by sagging can lead to further damage and water ingress.

Where there are trees nearby, there are leaves. These, coupled with the crisp packets discarded by kids trying to bypass any healthy eating regime, can block gutters and downpipes. Roofs are also a great place for balls to accumulate; unfortunately not all kids (or teachers) can bend it like Beckham. Again, these can block downpipes.

So, how often should you get up there, or get a contractor to get up there? Well, to an extent it depends on the dynamics of the roof, but we would recommend a full inspection at least twice a year. Once in the Spring Term to make sure there’s no damage from Winter, and again in the Autumn Term to remove leaves. Depending on how many trees, footballs, crisp packets, etc. you encounter at your school, it may be

necessary to do this more often.

When you do go up there, make sure that:

• A risk assessment has been carried out and documented

• If it’s too dangerous or not possible for you to do the work safely yourselves, get a professional in

• You avoid going up there in bad weather

• Staff are trained to work at height and have the correct clothing and equipment

• Ladders are fit for purpose, not just domestic standard, and are maintained in good condition

Depending on the nature of the premises, further controls may be needed. See Sharezone for further guidance.

In October 2015 a 16 year old boy, Bailey Gwynne, was stabbed to death during a fight at school following an argument over a biscuit. The killer has been imprisoned, but that will be no real consolation to Bailey’s family.

So, was this incident avoidable? Well, the subsequent inquiry certainly identified that more could have been done. It is understood that the killer, whilst apparently being a quiet young man, had been the subject of concerns nine years earlier when he was caught throwing rocks at another child.

Other pupils were aware that the killer had previously brought knives and knuckledusters into school, but nobody had told staff. No opinion was offered on why students didn’t feel able to report that weapons were being brought into school.

A very sad case indeed. The inquiry made a large number of recommendations including:

• Schools should write to parents setting out the school rules and the expectations regarding weapons

• Safe processes should be developed to enable pupils to share their knowledge of weapons with staff (e.g. a whistleblowing policy)

• All incidents should be recorded and notified to senior management

• Where a pupil cannot be searched as consent is not given, the police should be notified if there are grounds to suspect there may be a weapon present

• Risk assessments should be carried out on persons known or suspected to carry weapons

SchoolSHARENewsletter

Spring Term 2017 Edition

SHAREZONE

E-LEARNING

IOSH MANAGING SAFELY

There are quite a lot of registered users who have never accessed Sharezone (yes, we know who you are). It could be that you’ve forgotten about it, lost the link, forgotten your password or simply that you think it’s pants.

Sharezone is stuffed full of risk assessments, guidance documents, templates and advice. These are there for you to use as a resource. If you need help getting access then please let us know, but otherwise it’s your resource, use it.

Of course if you do think it’s pants, let us know and we will do something about it if we can.

For those of you that have access to this valuable resource, more modules have now been added. There are now 15 RoSPA accredited short courses that staff can complete from the comfort of the staff room. The updated list is:

Slips, Trips and Falls

Accident Reporting

Asbestos Management

Fire Safety

Managing First Aid

Health & Safety Management

Manual Handling

Risk Assessment

Height

Confined Spaces

COSHH

Electrical Safety

Health & Safety Law

Workplace Transport

Noise

If you haven’t got access and want it, please get in touch.

AJG regularly hold this management level course as we consider it to be ideal for those managing Health & Safety in low to medium risk environments, such as schools. There is a schedule of courses at the end of this Newsletter, the one on 15th, 22nd and 29th March in Wakefield being solely for SchoolSHARE customers. Suggested attendees would be Business Managers, Site Managers and Health & Safety Representatives.

If you would be interested in this, please let us know.

SchoolSHARENewsletter

Spring Term 2017 Edition

LEARNING BY EXAMPLE

This termly feature provides an opportunity to review a range of recent safety issues, where either the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has investigated an incident, or a claim for compensation as a result of an injury has been made against a school/college. Our examples examine the outcome and any lessons learnt, and offer some practical, common sense solutions.

LOCAL AUTHORITY FINED AFTER SCHOOL CARETAKER FALLS FROM SHED ROOFOldham Metropolitan Borough Council has been fined £7,000 plus £12,260 in prosecution costs for breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. This comes after a Caretaker was injured in a fall from a shed roof and it was found that the council failed to take sufficient measures to prevent the fall.

The Caretaker injured his knees, ankles, neck and right hand in the fall on 27th July 2010 and was unable to return to work full time following the incident. He has since had to retire.

The court heard that the Caretaker had been carrying out maintenance work to the roof of the shed at the school. The roof had been vandalised and the felt had been ripped off, causing it to leak. He was attempting to place plastic sheeting on the roof when he tripped and fell onto the concrete floor three metres below.

The HSE investigation found the injured worker had started working as a Caretaker at the school in 2004 and had not received any training on working at height. Using a stepladder or carrying out other work above the ground was part of his job, and it should, therefore, have been a priority to make sure he could do this safely.

LESSON LEARNT – Work at height is one of the main causes of workplace deaths and injuries in the UK. Risk assessments should be carried out and documented for any activities involving working at height, with appropriate control measures put in place. These should include information and training for staff, the provision of safe access equipment and procedures to ensure that tasks are carried out safely.

AJG can deliver Working at Height training at your school if required.

FLU OUTBREAK CLOSES HIGH SCHOOL FOR FIVE DAYSJust before Christmas, a flu outbreak caused a school to close for five days after over a quarter of the staff and pupils were affected by the virus.

The Headteacher decided to close the school following guidance from Public Health England to enable a deep clean

of the site to be carried out, to allow a period of recuperation for those who were ill and to avoid any danger of re-infection.

The school advised anyone with lung, heart, liver, kidney, or neurological disease, diabetes or an impaired immune system to see their GP and seek the flu vaccine.

LESSON LEARNT – Flu is not uncommon in the Winter, but viruses or infections could occur at any time of year. It appears that the school were prepared to deal with the situation should it arise, which no doubt made the decision making process easier. Having plans, procedures and contact details documented in your Business Continuity Plan should help ensure that your school is prepared when the sniffles start.

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS NEARLY KILLED BY MASSIVE CAFFEINE OVERDOSE DURING EXPERIMENTTwo students were nearly killed after they were given enough caffeine for 300 cups of coffee during a botched science experiment. Northumbria University has been fined £400,000 for the incident in March 2015 which caused two students to be rushed to hospital and put on dialysis. They possibly only survived because they were fit and active young men.

They were taking part in a test to measure the effect of caffeine on exercise, but a basic calculation error meant the second-year students were given 100 times the correct dosage. Thankfully both men have since made a full recovery, but are understood to be pursuing civil claims against the university.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the calculation had been done on a mobile phone, the decimal point being put in the wrong place, and there was no risk assessment for the test.

LESSON LEARNT – The Judge said that the staff were not experienced or competent enough, and that the university took no steps to make sure the staff knew how to do the experiment. No risk assessment was carried out, and as a consequence appropriate training and other control measures were not put in place. Whilst not relating to a school, this case shows that proper planning and risk assessment is essential, especially in high risk areas such as science, and when carrying out new or one-off activities.

SchoolSHARENewsletter

Spring Term 2017 Edition

CONDITIONS AND LIMITATIONS

This information is not intended to constitute any form of opinion and recipients should not infer any opinion from its content. Recipients should not rely exclusively on the information contained in the bulletin and should make decisions based on a full consideration of all available information. We make no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability or correctness of the information provided. We and our officers, employees or agents shall not be responsible for any loss whatsoever arising from the recipient’s reliance upon any information we provide and exclude liability for the statistical content to fullest extent permitted by law.

Arthur J. Gallagher Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered Office: Spectrum Building, 7th Floor, 55, Blythswood Street, Glasgow, G2 7AT. Registered in Scotland. Company Number: SC108909. www.ajginternational.com

FP113-2017, exp. 14.02.2018

Would you like to talk?If you have any questions or would like to explore how you can make risk management work harder for your school, we’re here to help.

Call the SchoolSHARE Helpline on

0800 612 99 49Or drop us an email at schoolshare@ajg.com

FORTHCOMING TRAINING EVENTS -

Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services run a variety of training courses. One of the courses we run regularly is the IOSH accredited Managing Safely course. This 3 day course aims to provide the level of knowledge needed for people charged with overseeing health & safety in a low to medium risk environment, such as a school.We can run a course for your school or trust, and this is usually more cost-effective if there are 5 or more people who would like to attend. Otherwise, we have the following courses scheduled during 2017.

The course at our Wakefield Office starting on 15th March is for schools/academies/trusts only

If you would like more information on these courses, the cost and or to book a place, please contact the SchoolSHARE Helpline on 0800 612 99 49.

Dates Location

14, 15, and 16 March Birmingham

15, 22, and 29 March Wakefield

28, 29, and 30 March Leicester

16, 17, and 18 May Birmingham

5, 6, and 12 June London

13, 14, and 15 June Leicester

Dates Location

4, 5, and 6 July Birmingham

12, 13, and 14 September Birmingham

3, 4, and 5 October Leicester

9, 10, and 16 October London

7, 8, and 9 November Birmingham

28, 29, and 30 November Leicester