Page 1 of 5

/ Health and Safety in Sixth Form Colleges

Introduction

This briefing summarises the basic framework of health and safety law in the context of sixth form colleges; and in particular the pivotal role played by NUT health and safety representatives in upholding minimum safety standards in the workplace.

Responsibility for health and safety in sixth form colleges

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places overall responsibility for health and safety with the employer. In a sixth form college this will be the college corporation.

All employers have a duty to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable:

  • the health, safety and welfare of teachers and other staff;
  • the health and safety of students both on campus and on off-site visits; and
  • the health and safety of volunteers involved in any college activity.

Managing health and safety in sixth form colleges on a day to day basis involves the delegation of management responsibilities to specific employees within the college. Having a management responsibility for health and safety matters does not mean that the employer’s legal obligations and duties have also been transferred to this member of staff. Ultimate legal responsibility remains with the college corporation, as employer. In Wales, sixth form colleges are part of the Further Education sector but, unlike in England, are not a legally distinct category.

When control of sixth form colleges was ceded from local authorities to individual corporations, colleges were no longer able to benefit from local authority advice on health and safety matters. Moreover, college employers have had to draw up and periodically update their own health and safety policies and risk assessments, no longer being covered by local authority provisions in this regard.

In order to discharge its health and safety responsibilities, a corporation must:

  • have a health and safety policy and arrangements to implement it; and
  • assess the risks of all activities, introduce measures to manage all those risks and tell their employees about the measures (in compliance with the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999).

These duties and responsibilities for health and safety within the college are statutory obligations and cannot be waived or ignored.

The Health and Safety Policy Document

The fundamental document underpinning employers’ health and safety management systems is the employer’s health and safety policy statement, indeed this is a requirement of the 1974 Act.

The statement should begin with an articulation of the employer’s commitment to meeting its health and safety responsibilities, and then should set out details of:

  • the organisational and management structure for health and safety, including the responsibilities of particular managers and other employees for health and safety matters;
  • the consultative structure for health and safety, setting out the ways in which the employer will consult employees and safety reps;
  • the procedures to be followed and the standards to be reached in order to ensure that the employer’s responsibilities for health and safety are met;
  • the arrangements for monitoring and review; and
  • any supplementary statements to be implemented and followed in particular parts of the employer’s organisation.

This policy document should be supplemented by the college’s own procedures covering additional matters such as:

Incident/injury reporting
Asbestos management/Dignity at Work
Bullying/harassment
Construction work/contractors on college site
COSHH assessments
Electrical safety
Emergency procedures
Fire safety
First aid
High/low temperatures
Home visits
ICT equipment use / Hygiene control
Infectious diseases
Lifting/handling
Medicines
Minibuses/transport safety
New and expectant mothers
Risk assessment
Safety on educational visits
Safety in practical subjects
Smoking
Stress – Prevention of work-related stress

This list is not exhaustive and should be reviewed regularly, with policies being updated as and when necessary. The NUT provides comprehensive guidance on all these matters which can be found in the health and safety section of the NUT website,

The role of the health and safety representative

Trade unions have the legal right to appoint health and safety representatives. This right derives from a central plank of health and safety legislation, the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977. These regulations, with accompanying codes of practice and guidance notes, are collectively known as the ‘Brown Book’. The TUC has made the Brown Book available online at

Functions of the safety representative

NUT safety representatives enjoy a range of powers and rights which enable them to help their colleagues deal with any health and safety problems at their place of work. Safety representatives can make a real difference to their colleagues’ lives.

NUT appointed safety representatives have the legal right to undertake various functions, as and when you and your colleagues feel it is necessary, to help raise health and safety standards including:

  • carrying out inspections of the workplace;
  • investigating complaints by any employee you represent;
  • making representations to your employer; and
  • investigating potential hazards and examine the causes of accidents at the workplace.

These rights are enshrined in Regulations 4 and 5 of the ‘Brown Book’.

Safety representatives are legally entitled to paid time off during working time to undertake their functions. They also have a legal entitlement, although not an obligation, to paid time off to attend a training course. The NUT’s five day Health and Safety Representatives’ Training Course is held every term at the NUT training centre at Stoke Rochford Hall in Lincolnshire.

Other rights of safety representatives include:

  • the right to represent employees in consultations at the workplace with HSE inspectors and receive information from them;
  • the right to be informed and consulted by the employer on health and safety matters;
  • the right to carry out safety inspections on a routine basis or where there has been an accident or dangerous occurrence; and
  • the right to call for the convening of a safety committee to oversee health and safety standards in the workplace.

Last but not least, safety representatives do not carry any additional legal responsibilities beyond those of any other employee.

Minimum standards for college premises

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 apply to workplaces of all kinds, including sixth form colleges. They set out detailed requirements for standards at the workplace in terms of heating, lighting, number of staff toilets, welfare facilities etc. See NUT guidance document ‘Standards for School Premises – England’ at

There are specific regulations that apply to academies, sixth form colleges and independent schools, known as the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2012. Advice to help schools and colleges understand their obligations in relation to these regulations is contained in the DfE document ‘Standards for School Premises’, available at These regulations are enforced by the Department for Education.

Key points of the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2012

  • Suitable toilet and washing facilities to be provided for the sole use of students.
  • Separate toilet facilities to be provided for boys and girls (except where the toilet is in a room that can be secured from the inside and that is intended for use by 1 student at a time.
  • Toilet and washing facilities for staff should be separate from those provided for students except where they are designed for use by those who are disabled.
  • Suitable accommodation must be provided to cater for the medical and therapy needs of students. It must include a washing facility and be near to a toilet facility. It can be used for other purposes, apart from teaching, provided it is always available for medical use when needed.
  • Lighting in each room or other internal space must be suitable, having regard to the nature of the activities that take place and external lighting must be provided to ensure that people can safety enter and leave the premises.
  • Suitable drinking water facilities must be provided and they will only be suitable if they are readily accessible at all times when the premises are in use and are in a separate area from the toilet facilities.

Further information

NUT health and safety briefings are available on a wide range of topics, including the following:

The Legal Framework
Role of the Safety Representative
Managing Health & Safety
Health and Safety Legislation in Schools
Academies–Ensuring Effective Health and Safety in Academies
Academies-Using Health and Safety as a Tool to help campaign against Academies
Accidents & Injuries
Safety Reps Inspection Checklist
Safety Inspections-Policies, Procedures and Management
Acoustics-for classrooms
Anaphylaxis in Schools
Animals in Education
Asbestos – Edufacts
Asbestos and Textured Coatings
Asbestos in ‘CLASP’ or system built schools-updated
Asbestos in Gas Masks-JUAC Warning
Asbestos in Schools
Asbestos in Schools-APPG Report 2014
Asbestos in Warm Air Cabinet Heaters-A Warning for Schools from JUAC
Asbestos-Member Key Facts
Health Enquiries and Applicants for Work: Advice for Members
Hepatitis
Heating – NUT Briefing – England
Heating – NUT Briefing – Wales
High Classroom Temperatures
Hygiene Control in Schools
ICT Equipment-Guidance for Health and Safety Advisers and Reps
ICT Equipment in Schools-Guidance for Members
Individual Pupil Risk Assessment
Infectious Diseases
Keeping Happy and Healthy
Legionnaires’ Disease in Schools
Lifting and handling
Medicines
Medical Assessments while in Employment: Advice for Members
Medical Reports FAQs: Guidance for NUT Members
Meningitis in Schools
Minibus Safety
Mobile Phone Photography
Mould in Schools
Noise
Photocopiers in Schools
Photographic Policies
Practical Lessons
Preventing Work-Related Mental Health Conditions by Tackling Stress
Protecting Teachers’ Mental Health
Radon in Schools / Asbestos Poster
Asthma in Schools
Car Parking
Class sizes
Computers at Home
Construction Work in Schools
The Corporate Manslaughter Act
Cuts and Health and Safety
Data Projectors-Save your Sight
Diabetes in Schools
Dust
Dysentery in Schools
Ergonomics: a safety representative’s guide to good practice
Electrical Safety
Emergency Procedures in Schools
Epilepsy in Schools
E-Safety: NUT Guidance for Members
E-Safety: NUT Guidance and Model Policy
Falls from Height
Fire Safety
First Aid
Fit Notes-Guidance for Members
Food Safety Standards
Harassment and bullying
Risk Assessment
School Security Checklist
School Safety Committees
Searching Pupils for Prohibited Items
Security and Violence
Severe winter conditions
Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia
Slips, trips and falls
Smoking Ban-Implications for Schools and Other Premises where teachers work
Safety Inspections
Space Requirements in Classrooms
Sprinklers in schools
Standards for School Premises-ENGLAND
Standards for School Premises-WALES
Stress-Tackling Teacher Stress
Stress Risk Assessment-A step by step guide for school management
Sun safety
Swimming safety
Teachers’ Use of their own Private Vehicles at Work
Tuberculosis in schools
Vermin and Pest Control in Schools
Visits
Voice Care
Women’s Health & Safety
Work Equipment

All current NUT health and safety briefings are available on the health and safety section of the NUT website, Further advice and support on health and safety matters can be obtained from the appropriate NUT regional office, or, in Wales, NUT Cymru.

Aug 2014

S:\H&S\H&S BRIEFINGS\H&S Reps Training Briefings\SIXTH FORM COLLEGES - HEALTH AND SAFETY.doc