Who is responsible for health and safety in a school?

The employer, which depending on the setting means the trust, the proprietor or the local authority, with duties running through the head and staff. The complication in education is that several bodies take an interest at once. HSE enforces health and safety law, while Ofsted and the DfE examine safeguarding and estate management against their own frameworks. We build one honest set of arrangements that serves all of them rather than parallel paperwork.

Do schools need an asbestos management plan?

Yes, where asbestos is or may be present. The duty to manage asbestos applies to schools as non-domestic premises, so the duty holder must find out whether asbestos is present, assess its condition, record it and put a written plan in place, and share the information with anyone who might disturb it.

Who enforces health and safety in schools?

HSE enforces health and safety law in schools. Ofsted inspects safeguarding and the quality of education, and the Department for Education sets expectations for the management of the school estate. Good arrangements serve all three.

Health & Safety Consultant for Schools & Colleges

Q: Can you help with trips and overnight stays?

Yes. Off-site visits and residentials are where staff feel most exposed, because student safety, staff duties and safeguarding all meet in one place. We build the assessments and planning that make the trip defensible before anyone gets on the coach.

We have worked with large multisite nurseries and major independent schools spanning nursery, primary, secondary and further education on the same complex estate: working machinery, swimming pools, extensive grounds. The duties run in every direction at once. Staff safety, including mental health and DSE. Student safety on site visits and overnight stays, where health and safety bolts directly into safeguarding. SEND provision with its own specific needs. And more than one body takes an interest: HSE enforces health and safety law, while Ofsted and the Department for Education look at safeguarding and the estate against their own frameworks.

Does the Health and Safety at Work Act apply to schools?

Yes. Schools, colleges and nurseries are workplaces, and the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 applies in full. The employer has duties to staff and to everyone affected by the school's activities, including pupils, visitors and contractors. HSE enforces that law, while Ofsted and the Department for Education look at safeguarding and the estate through their own frameworks, so a school's arrangements have to satisfy more than one audience.

Who is responsible for health and safety in schools?

The employer carries the legal duty. In a maintained community school that is usually the local authority; in academies and free schools it is the academy trust; in independent schools it is the proprietor or governing body. Day to day, duties run through the head teacher, the business manager or bursar, heads of department and every member of staff.

Clear lines of responsibility and reporting, written into the policy and understood by the people named in it, are the first thing an inspector looks for.

A health and safety in schools checklist

Most of the essentials are the same in every setting: a written policy with clear responsibilities, risk assessments for the estate and activities, fire risk assessment and drills, first aid arrangements, an asbestos management plan, legionella control, contractor management, accident reporting including RIDDOR, inspections of premises and equipment, training records, and consultation with staff. We review schools against that baseline and then the risks specific to the site.

The estate: premises, asbestos and contractors

Many school buildings were built when asbestos was still in use, so the duty to manage asbestos applies to a large part of the school estate. An asbestos register and management plan, shared with every contractor before work starts, is essential. Legionella risk from hot and cold water systems needs assessment and control under the approved code of practice, and contractors working on site need to be managed for both safety and safeguarding.

Workshops, science and design and technology

Workshops and laboratories bring machinery, hazardous substances and practical work with pupils. PUWER, COSHH and the guidance published by CLEAPSS, the advisory service for practical science and technology in schools, set the standard for equipment, chemical storage and practical activities.

Swimming pools, grounds and machinery

Schools with pools need a pool safety operating procedure covering supervision, water quality, plant room chemicals and emergency action, in line with HSE guidance on managing health and safety in swimming pools. Grounds maintenance brings its own machinery and vehicle risks on a site full of children.

Do school trips need a risk assessment?

Trips and visits must be properly planned, but HSE is clear that the paperwork should be proportionate: routine local outings are covered by the school's standing arrangements, while residentials, adventurous activities and overseas visits need specific planning. Commercial providers of certain adventure activities to under 18s must be licensed under the Adventure Activities Licensing Regulations 2004.

Off site visits are where staff feel most exposed, because student safety, staff duties and safeguarding all meet in one place. We build planning that makes a trip defensible before anyone gets on the coach.

SEND, moving and handling, and medical needs

Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities may need individual risk assessments, moving and handling plans, hoists that require thorough examination under LOLER, and support for medical conditions. These plans protect the pupil and the staff who carry them out.

Staff welfare: stress, DSE and violence

Teaching and support staff face high workload, stress and sometimes aggression from pupils or parents. Work related stress must be assessed like any other risk, and the DfE's education staff wellbeing charter sets out commitments many schools have signed. DSE assessments, lone working for site and premises staff, and violence reporting all belong in the arrangements.

Health and safety in education.