Overzealous H&S In Schools Has Negative Impact On Pupils

According to a new poll released 19th June by Teacher’s TV, nearly half of the education workforce (44.3%) think that health and safety regulations negatively affect students’ education.. Held to coincide with Child Safety Week on the channel, the poll also reveals that nearly a half of the education workforce feel that health and  safety regulations negatively affect students’ personal growth (46.5%) and the education workforce generally (46.9%).

Teachers’ TV cite the following responses from the poll  as the “worst examples of health and safety”:

• Wearing goggles to use blu-tac;
• Five page briefing on the dangers of Pritt Stick; 
• No running in the playground;
• No snowball fights allowed; and
• Not being able to go outside without sunscreen and sunhat.

Andrew Bethell, Chief Executive of Teachers TV, commented on the poll: 

“Almost half the education workforce feel that health and safety regulations negatively affect students’ education and their personal development, along with the education workforce. The more extreme examples are thankfully not the norm, but schools still need to take into consideration the workforce’s concerns when trying to protect pupils. Indeed, it is telling that Teachers TV’s most popular programmes on this subject focus on training schools to find the common sense approach to regulation.”

However, in response to the poll, Judith Hackitt, the HSE Chair, has called for a “common sense” approach to health and safety in Great Britain’s schools:

"Hardly a week goes by without another health and safety myth appearing. Health and safety is blamed for a lot of things not going ahead, but they’re often about something else – high costs, an event that requires a lot of organising or fear of getting sued.

"Children cannot be wrapped in cotton wool – risk is part of growing up and our children need to learn how to manage risks in the real world.

"The examples cited in the Teachers TV article are quite frankly ridiculous. Stop worrying about the ‘conkers stories’ and help children learn how to handle risk by doing things and going on visits. Concentrate on the real risks – not the trivia – by putting measures in place to manage them as far as is reasonable, but don’t try to eliminate all risk and don’t stop the activity."

Source: Workplace Law Network

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