Key points - Local Education Authorities (also relevant to youth organisations)

The DfES good practice guide “Health and Safety of Pupils on Educational Visits” (HASPEV) and supplements provide helpful guidance on the role of LEAs in connection with adventure activities and educational visits.

• Department for Education and Skills

For those in Scotland, the Scottish Executive Education Department guidance "Health and Safety on Educational Excursions" should be accessed at:

• http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/hsee-00.asp

Note: these key points are primarily those relating to the strategic management of educational visits by LEAs.

Senior managers in LEAs will need to have appropriate measures in place to ensure that head teachers, governors, leaders and others are equipped to carry out their H&S functions and that they are doing so. Such readers will need to visit the other “Key points” pages, particularly those for head teachers and governors and the pages on risk assessment, competencies and monitoring.

We advise LEAs to make all their schools and other units, establishments and services aware of this website.

It is important that you also look at the 10 vital questions which we believe are the essential things anybody should ask about a visit.

Any references in brackets refer to the paragraph numbers in the Investigation Report.

Roles and responsibilities

As the employer, the LEA has responsibility for health and safety in community schools, community special schools, voluntary controlled schools, maintained nursery schools, pupil referral units and the statutory youth service.

LEA Fair Funding Schemes should require schools to have regard to Health and Safety arrangements (Para G 6).

Where Health and Safety tasks/functions are delegated under Fair Funding, the LEA should make clear who does what, and monitor to confirm that the tasks are being carried out (Para G 5).

It is good practice for LEAs to provide guidance on their general expectations of schools in respect of Health and Safety management and training in the context of Fair Funding (Para G 23).

It should be clear who in a school has specific health and safety responsibilities. The extent and limits of their functions should be clearly set out. They should receive relevant training (Para G 21).

Every school should have a person acting as a focal point for Health and Safety who has clearly defined responsibilities and is provided with effective training and resources (Para F 3).

Educational Visit Co-ordinators (EVCs) have a specific role within the school in respect of school visits. They should have sufficient training and resources to do the job effectively. (Para F 3).

It should be clear who is to provide generic Health and Safety training and who is to provide subject-specific Health and Safety training (Para G 24).

All School Advisers should be aware of and consider health and safety matters both in their general role and their area of specialist expertise (Para G 13).

LEAs and schools need to be clear about where the day-to-day responsibility for checking qualifications and competence lies (Para B 2). See Key points - competencies.

Policies

DfES advise that it is good practice for community, community special and voluntary controlled schools to draw up their own policies based upon their LEA’s general policy.

LEA and school procedures and policies should draw attention to any supporting documentation and indicate how and why it is relevant (Para C 7).

It is good practice for documents relating to Health and Safety policies and procedures to be subject to an appropriate level of Document Control (Para C 9).

LEAs and schools are strongly advised to have a policy on leaders and helpers bringing additional children on educational visits (Para D6).

LEAs should have policies to cover the eventuality of schools wishing to do activities outside the scope of National Governing Body (NGB) or other defined standards (Paras A 5, G 16).

If an LEA becomes aware of schools doing combined water/rock activities, it should:

• as an immediate precaution, assume that they are “high risk”
• advise the school not to proceed until the LEA is satisfied that all reasonable precautions have been taken to control the risks (Para G 16).

LEA policies should make clear that:

• nobody should lead water/rock (or other adventurous activities unless they have been assessed as competent, understand the full range of hazards and risks and can implement rescue and emergency procedures (Para A 3). (See also Key points - competencies)
• There should be proper risk assessments for proposed new activities (Para B 4).
• Risk assessments should be fit for the purpose (Para A 7). (See also Key points - risk assessment)
• Supervision on educational visits needs to be 24 hours per day 7 days per week. The precise arrangements should be based on risk assessment (Para B 7).
• Visits should have clear educational objectives. (Many of the serious accidents to children have occurred on visits not associated with the curriculum) (Para D 4).
• Whatever the objectives of the visit, the leader must organise it to the best of their professional ability. There can be no lower standard for “fun trips” (Para D 4).
• Staffing should never be decided just by a simple numerical calculation of the ratio of children to adults, but should be based on risk assessment (Para D 5).
• If it is proposed to bring additional children on an educational visit, the leaders/helpers will have a conflict of interest and each case should be subject to a risk assessment and take account of the LEA policy (Para D 6).
• There should be prior parental consent for swimming (Para D 9).
• There should always be a viable “Plan B” to provide alternative activities in case the primary activity is undeliverable. A similar standard of risk assessment should be applied as to the main activities (Para D 10).
• Opportunities should always be taken to make children “risk aware” by involving them in practical decision-making (Para D 10).

Guidance

LEAs should ensure that Governors and head teachers receive appropriate information and training and support to play an effective role in the safe provision of educational visits. See Key points - head teachers and Key points - Governors.

LEAs may need to consider what advice and support they give to schools on checking qualifications and competence (Para B 2).

LEA guidance on outdoor activities should set out clearly the LEA’s expectations for risk assessment and provide any useful aids to help teachers carry out assessments to a level proportionate to the risk (Para C 2).

LEA outdoor activities guidance should set out the extent and limits of what is covered and the activities for which specialist advice and/or high-level approval is required. This would include a clear statement of its position on activities not covered by National Governing Body (NGB) standards or guidance. (Para C 4).

Control

Schools and LEAs need clear procedures for dealing with any concerns about unsafe practice (Para B 10).

LEAs, schools and teachers need to be clear about the scope and limits of the first aid and other qualifications (e.g. lifesaving) held and ensure that they are relevant to any activities being done (Para D 7).

LEAs and head teachers should have clear communication arrangements. LEAs could use document house styles to require authors to identify clearly the intended readers, distribution and action required (Para G 22).

There should be clear arrangements for maintaining training records (Para G 25).

It is good practice for documents relating to H&S policies and procedures to be subject to an appropriate level of document control. (Para C 9)

Monitoring

As the employer, the LEA may delegate specific tasks to schools but retains ultimate responsibility no matter who carries out the tasks. The employer should maintain an audit track, making clear who is doing what and undertaking monitoring to confirm that tasks are being carried out. DfES advise that the LEA cannot fulfil its statutory responsibility unless it monitors how its schools are complying with the LEA policy and takes action where they are not.

Monitoring and audit provide mechanisms for identifying when Health and Safety systems are degraded or abused (Para G 28).

Organisations (including LEAs) with otherwise robust Health and Safety management systems are often weak on monitoring (Para G 28).

LEAs should have monitoring systems in place and provide feedback to schools.

It is important that LEAs have arrangements for ensuring that schools have appropriate mechanisms for health and safety monitoring (G26).
LEA monitoring and audit arrangements should include Health and Safety management systems, not just premises issues (G26).

Where Health and Safety tasks/functions are delegated under Fair Funding, the LEA should make clear who does what, and monitor to confirm that the tasks are being carried out (Para G 5). LEAs need to make clear to head teachers, governors and advisers:

• what effective monitoring “looks like”
• who is responsible for monitoring what
• how the findings should be recorded and reported
• how reports should be evaluated and actioned
  (Para G6, G14, G35).

There should be “field” monitoring of educational visits (Para F 6).

Key points - monitoring

Review

LEAs and schools should review their policies and procedures for educational visits whenever significant new or revised guidance is published by authoritative bodies or lessons are learned from serious incidents (Paras C 2, C 8, F 2, G 19)

Records of staff/governor Health and Safety training should be updated and reviewed annually (Para G 32).

Schools and LEAs are encouraged to share as widely as possible the lessons from any incidents (Para G 19).

Leader competencies

DfES advise that if the school is leading an adventure activity the LEA (or governing body) must ensure that the group leader and other supervisors are suitably competent to lead or instruct pupils in the activity. Competencies should be demonstrated by holding the relevant NGB award, or through the LEA’s own procedures.

LEAs need clear policies and guidance on qualifications and competencies, together with clear arrangements for checking them (Para G 8). See Key points – competencies.

The level of qualification required needs to be matched to the levels of hazard and risk (Para A 4)

The fact that someone has led an activity before does not, in itself, mean that they are competent (Para A 5)

For outdoor activities, ensuring the competence of proposed leaders may be a wider task than a simple check of qualifications. (Para G 10).