What do educational employers need to do?

Summary checklist

Adopt a risk management approach that focuses attention on the real risks
Educational employers should ask for information on students in advance; Wherever possible identify the needs of individual students, before they attend the educational establishment
Involve the employees, students and carers in identifying the ‘individuals need’ and precautions
Do not introduce a blanket policy – for example a ‘no lifting policy’ eliminates some handling risks, but totally ignores the needs and rights of the student.

There should be a balance between the health and safety considerations of employees and individual students’ rights
Enable rather than prohibit – look for solutions to enable educational opportunities
Health and safety of employees should be sustained, but it is not an excuse for denying disabled students and/or students with SEN/ASN access to educational opportunities
Effective management of health and safety considerations for disabled students and/or students with SEN/ASN should help to provide them with the same opportunities as other students in mainstream education
The sensible pragmatic risk management approach should start as early as possible
Many of the reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act are readily available – in practice many should already be in place
Include systems for ongoing review – a student’s needs will often change over time.