Responsibilities

4.1    Chief Executive Officer, Chair of Governors

The Chief Executive Officer, Chair of Governors/Trust  has overall responsibility for  ensuring that the organisation / School  discharges its health and safety responsibilities  as outlined within the Corporate Health and Safety Policy  and Schools Health and Safety Policy.

4.2    Executive Directors within Business Units and Headteachers

Executive Directors and Headteachers are responsible for ensuring that:

• In service planning, high risk manual handling and people handling activities carried out by employees is avoided as far as is reasonably practicable;
• Where there is the risk of injury from unavoidable manual handling and people handling operations it is assessed;
• With the risk of injury being  reduced so far as is reasonably practicable;
• Risk assessments to be  reviewed at appropriate intervals, when changes occur;
• Appropriate training, information and supervision is provided to employees;
• Staffing levels/ratios to be adequate to ensure safe handling
• Suitable equipment is provided and maintained for manual handling and people handling.

4.3    Responsibilities of Managers/ Senior Leadership Teams

All Managers and Senior Leadership Teams have the responsibility, for ensuring that arrangements are made and that policies are implemented. This includes:

• being aware of the moving and handling tasks that occur within their areas of responsibility and eliminating the risk of manual handling tasks where possible;
• ensuring that all staff involved in the moving and handling of people are appropriately trained with annual updates;
• schools that have pupils with physical disabilities must appoint a Load Risk Assessor who will be able to identify and assess potentially hazardous moving and handling operations; this person may be the SENCO (Special Education Needs Coordinator) or another appropriate person;
• Managers and disciplines involved in the procurement and introduction of equipment into the workplace (e.g. an Occupational Therapist prescribing particular seating for a service user/ pupil) shall take account of any handling risks that may be associated with the equipment;
• supervising staff to ensure that safe working practices are being followed and that equipment is being used where applicable;
• ensuring that adequate staffing levels are maintained to meet moving and handling requirements;
• Making sure that employees wear appropriate clothing and footwear for moving and handling. In some situations this may include personal protective equipment e.g. gloves, aprons and appropriate footwear;
• all new staff who carry out the safe moving of people must attend a moving and handling course, as part of their formal induction programme, before commencement of moving and handling duties and tasks in the workplace; with records being retained;
• It the responsibility of agencies who procure staff to carry out people handling activities on behalf of Buckinghamshire Council. to ensure that these staff are fully trained in the moving and handling of people and that this training is current.
• attending training and acting as a role model for staff;
• ensuring compliance with all relevant Health & Safety Legislation i.e. Health & Safety at Work Act etc. 1974, Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulation 1999 , etc. and any other relevant legislation i.e. Mental Capacity Act 2007, Human Rights 1998, etc.

4.4    Responsibilities of Employees

Employees have a legal duty to take reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by their acts or omissions. Staff must therefore:

• adhere to this policy and any associated risk assessments;
• co-operate with their Line Manager in performing risk assessments for moving and handling (if deemed competent);
• not interfere with or misuse any equipment or aids that have been provided;
• ensure that equipment is only to be used if they have been trained in its use;
• attend moving and handling training including updates for their area of work and to follow training and instructions provided e.g. moving and handling protocols, person handling plans and guidance from training courses;
• attend moving and handling training including updates for their area of work;
• look out for hazards and report any unsafe situation to their Manager/ Headteacher this includes things such as:
• Faulty equipment – which should be labelled and taken out of use. This must be reported to Mangers/ Headteachers immediately who will take appropriate action;
• Unsafe working practices:
• High risk handling procedures:;
• Changes in clients/pupils needs: Environmental problems (which can include accessibility to equipment; report pregnancy or any medical conditions, which may affect their ability to perform moving and handling to their Manager/Headteacher; a new and expectant mothers risk assessment is required at this stage refer to health and safety policy 2.2
• ensure their clothing and footwear is appropriate for their work;
• ensure that equipment is kept suitably clean to prevent any spread of infection;
• accident, incident, near misses are to be reported to your Line Manager / Headteacher for input to the Buckinghamshire Council accident recording system AssessNet;
• follow local safe working practice;

4.5    Responsibilities of Manual Handling/Moving and Handling Co-ordinator/ Advisor or Equivalent are to:

• support and promote the Moving and Handling Policy for assisting service uses / pupils with impaired mobility;
• design, co-ordinate and, where necessary, provide relevant manual handling/people handling/moving and handling training programmes for specific groups of staff;
• Occupational Therapists (OT) By virtue of their training and competency may be competent to undertake the duty of the MHMA (Manual Handling Management Advisor) after extra training themselves, and may be able to conduct the necessary risk assessments for all aspects of moving and handling of clients/ pupils.
• within educational settings it’s the responsibility of the school to engage professionals to conduct the moving and handling risk assessment;
• provide additional on-site training as required, to ensure that skills taught in training are translated into the workplace/work practices;
• maintain training records;
• provide support and advice to managers when requested, e.g. assist in assessments for patients with complex handling needs;
• arrange update training for all manual handling/moving and handling instructors in accordance with the findings of risk assessment and in line with best practice;
• assist with the assessment of handling equipment prior to purchase, as required;
• maintain personal professional development and ensure skills are updated.

4.6.     Responsibilities of the SEN Manager Service Delivery & SEN Team are to:

• ensure that adequate funds are available for: staff, equipment and maintenance, training and environmental alterations for moving and handling operations so far as is reasonably practicable;
• be responsible for providing specialist equipment on a priority basis on receipt of Therapists and/or the Specialist Manual Handling Consultant’s report/risk assessment;
• provide funding for servicing of equipment for those maintained schools

4.7.    Responsibilities of the Schools Commissioning Project Officer, School Commissioning, Children’s Services:

• arrange for necessary adaptations to the premises on receipt of instruction from SEN Manager or Specialist Teacher/ Occupational Therapists;
• arrange with a surveyor to visit the School to assess the requested works and to establish if the proposed adaptations can be implemented. If reasonable adaptation is required then School Commissioning and Property Services will progress the works