Monitor Health and Safety Performance

Governors will need to monitor health and safety performance to ensure that the system developed is being successful and that any objectives/targets set are being met.

Active monitoring, (before things go wrong), involves regular inspection and checking to ensure that objectives/targets are being implemented and that risks are being controlled.

An inspection is a comprehensive formal examination of all or part of a workplace to identify deficiencies that create unacceptable risks to health and safety. This will include the identification of unsafe physical conditions and working practices.

Health and safety inspections should be undertaken by persons who are competent to identify the relevant hazards and risks and who can assess the conditions found.

However, proactive monitoring also involves checking on the implementation of the health and safety system by making sure the organisations arrangements are being implemented, that hazards are being identified, that risk assessments are being completed and control measures are being put into practice.

Reactive monitoring involves learning from mistakes, whether they have resulted in injuries and illness, property damage or near misses. This will involve reviewing incident report forms and any investigations that have been undertaken along with recommendations for improvement.

The following is a suggested list of matters that the Governing Body may wish to consider as part of the overall monitoring of health and safety, based upon the implementation process:

• That hazards have been identified in relation to the premises, work activities, curriculum activities and relating to specific roles/persons.
• That risk assessments have been completed for the premises, activities, and specific roles/persons.
• That a risk register has been developed and that any actions required as a result of risk assessments have been undertaken.
• That emergency procedures are developed and the outcomes of testing such procedures are reviewed.
• That the outcomes of incident investigations have been reviewed and any remedial action recommended implemented.
• That any statistics are reviewed to identify any trends.
• That the outcomes of any inspections undertaken are reviewed and the necessary remedial action has been taken.

It is suggested that the committee used to discuss health and safety matters undertakes this monitoring with the full Governing Body being provided with a summary report.