The working environment

Health and safety in schools

As a student on placement or new member of staff, you should have access to and knowledge of current safety policy and health and safety procedures in your workplace.

Systems should be in place in every school to implement policy, and procedures need to be in place for staff to report any potential hazards.

In particular, procedures should be in place to deal with any emergency that may arise. Emergencies in need of planning procedures include fires, gas leaks, electrical incidents, burst pipes, boiler breakdowns, roof leaks or collapses, and bomb threats.

Procedures should be clearly designed to ensure that all precautions are taken to reduce risks to people, and they must be communicated to staff and pupils as appropriate. The needs of disabled people should be taken into account and included in every emergency procedure.

This section features details of health and safety measures that should be taken to reduce health and safety risks that arise from various aspects of the working environment.

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procedures should be in place to deal with any emergency that may arise
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If there isn’t a policy or procedure in your new school talk to your mentor or ATL representative.

Help and support

For further advice on this issue, ATL members can speak to their school rep, their branch secretary or their regional official. They can also call the London (020 7930 6441), Cardiff (029 2046 5000), Belfast (028 9078 2020) or Edinburgh (0131 272 2748) offices or email info@atl.org.uk

For out of hours enquiries, call the out of office hours helpline on 020 7782 1612 (Monday-Friday, 5-8pm during term time).

If you are not a member, join now.