Risk Assessment
Help with Risk Assessment
Your employer’s risk assessment should be consulted before carrying out this activity. E&E activities are covered by model (general) risk assessments widely adopted for use in UK schools such as those provided by CLEAPSS, SSERC, ASE and DCSF. Bear in mind, however, that these may need some modification to suit local conditions.
Health and Safety
In UK law, health and safety is the responsibility of the employer, which, in a school or college is likely to be the Local Education Authority or the Governing Body. Teachers have a duty to co-operate with their employer on health and safety matters. Various regulations, but especially the COSHH Regulations 2002 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations1998, require that before any activity involving a hazardous procedure or harmful micro-organisms is carried out, or hazardous chemicals are used or made, the employer must provide a risk assessment.
A useful summary of the requirements for risk assessment in school or college science can be found in Chapter 4 of Safety in Science Education. For members, the CLEAPSS guide, Managing Risk Assessment in Science offers detailed advice.
Most education employers have adopted a range of nationally available publications as the basis for Model Risk Assessments. Those commonly used include:
- DfEE, Safety in Science Education, London: HMSO, 1996 (ISBN 0 11 270915 X)
- Topics in Safety 3rd edition, Hatfield: Association for Science Education, 2001 (ISBN 0 86357 316 9)
- Safeguards in the School Laboratory, 10th edition, Hatfield: Association for Science Education, 1996 (ISBN 0 86357 250 2)
- Hazcards, 1995 or later, Uxbridge: CLEAPSS School Science Service, 1995 or later
- Recipe Cards, 1999 or later, Uxbridge: CLEAPSS School Science Service, 1999 or later
- CLEAPSS Laboratory Handbook, 2001 or later, Uxbridge CLEAPSS School Science Service, 2001; (paper or CD-ROM versions)
- CLEAPSS Shorter Handbook, Uxbridge: CLEAPSS School Science Service, 2000
- Hazardous Chemicals, an interactive manual for Science Education CD2; Edinburgh: Scottish Schools Equipment Research Centre, 2002
Note that CLEAPSS (Consortium of Local Education Authorities for the Provision of Science Services) publications are only available to members or associates.
Where an employer has adopted these or other publications as the basis of their model risk assessments, an individual school or college then has to review them, to see if there is a need to modify or adapt them in some way to suit the particular conditions of the establishment. Such adaptations might include a reduced scale of working, deciding that the fume cupboard provision was inadequate or the skills or behaviour of the students were insufficient to attempt particular activities safely.
The significant findings of such risk assessment should then be recorded, for example on schemes of work, published teachers' guides, worksheets, etc.
There is no specific legal requirement that detailed risk assessment forms should be completed, although a few employers require this.
When candidates are planning their own investigative work the teacher has a duty to check the plans before the practical work starts and to monitor the activity as it proceeds.