FOX HOLLIES SCHOOL HEALTH and SAFETY POLICY

Review Sept 2017

Introduction As a school within Birmingham LEA we are subject to the City Council’s Departmental Health and Safety policy. This along with LEA guidance circulars relating to Health and Safety is kept in a yellow Health and Safety ring-binder in the head teacher’s office.

The Key Processes of ensuring high standards of Health and Safety are  Effective guidance and procedures including risk assessment  Accurate recording and reporting systems  Regular Inspection  INSET We are committed to maintaining safe practices and a safe environment for our whole school community and it is vital that the information that comes out of these key processes is used to review and improve our practice.

Classes maintain and display the following Health and Safety posters (in bold yellow) and staff are responsible on acting upon this guidance.  Fire Drill – including evacuation routes that apply to the room.  Accidents guidance  Hygiene guidance  Health and Safety, Routes to Guidance, Recording and Reporting The latter gives pointers to relevant contacts, policies, recording formats and reporting routes for a range of Health and Safety related issues. Pupil information folders are used to share Individual Pupil Risk Assessments, Epilepsy protocols and Individual Behaviour plans for pupils across the whole school.

Inspections of the school building are carried out on a termly basis by the School Business Manager, The Site Manager and either staff union representatives or governors. A written record of their inspection is passed to the head teacher who responds with written action points that are reviewed at the following inspection. The Senior Admin Manager maintains an alert system to trigger regular checks on fire extinguishers, portable electrical appliances, support buttons, PE equipment and hoists. These are checked by external contractors and matters arising are followed up.

INSET implications of Health and Safety issues are addressed through a rolling focus and are made accessible to as many staff as possible. Examples include Minibus Driver training and assessment, First Aid, Hygiene, Epilepsy protocols, Tracheostemy training, Communicable diseases training and Fire safety.

Administration of medicines and other medical procedures are restricted to trained staff working to guidelines issued by the Birmingham Community NHS Trust. First Aid is carried out by our School Nurse or when he is not in school by staff who hold a current First Aid in Schools qualification. Medical emergencies are recorded and reported to the head teacher, parents and the Birmingham Community NHS Trust.

Working off-site and Educational Visits with Pupils are guided by our Educational Visits policy that includes guidelines on staffing, checking on pupil numbers and responding to emergencies.

School Security is covered in our Child Protection Policy that covers arrangements for signing in visitors and the need for staff to wear photographic identification at all times.

Staff Health issues are guided by our Managing Staff Sickness Absence Policy and are based on a positive approach to maintaining and improving the health of all staff. These include sickess monitoring procedures access to free counselling for any staff who are experiencing stress in their lives and risk assessment of blood borne diseases.

Reporting of Accidents We record and monitor levels of staff accidents and injuries as well as assaults that result from pupils who have challenging behaviours to learn with the aim of eliminating them as far as possible. Our procedures are compliant with RIDDOR.

Hazardous Substances Any such substances are clearly labelled and are kept in locked cupboards. Our building is for the most part less than 10 years old and all other areas were substantially refurbished. There is no asbestos on our school site.