Health and safety

At the Devon Health and Safety Service, our Health and Safety Advisers are qualified to CertIOSH or Chartered level with the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). The service is an IOSH approved training provider. We provide services at your establishment and aim to provide solutions in accordance with the principles of sensible and proportional risk management.

We support schools, academies and colleges to fulfil their legal duties in relation to health and safety (H&S) matters. The service provides specialist advice and practical support on a wide range of H&S issues relating to all establishment users, premises, activities, security, equipment, off-site activities, emergencies and curriculum safety.

We offer two levels of service to maintained schools in addition to the core activities that Devon County Council provides.

Basic service

• Acting as the Competent Person under Section 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations for foundation, trust and voluntary aided schools (community schools are provided this by their employer)
• Provision of health and safety information, arrangements and policies that are reviewed regularly in line with new legislation, good practice and case law
• On-going support for your H&S Co-ordinator
• Helpline service: Duty H&S Adviser available office hours for systems assistance as well as all safety matters, including educational visits
• Emergency out-of-hours advice for fatalities / serious injuries
• Membership of CLEAPSS and associated CLEAPSS materials
• Radiological Protection Advisory Service through CLEAPSS via our Radiation Protection Officer and monitoring visit every two years
• Primary and nursery establishments - 3 yearly onsite assistance visits which include a health and safety management system review
• Secondary school and through schools - Annual onsite assistance visit which includes a health and safety management system review every three years
• Special school establishments – 1 to 3 yearly onsite assistance visits (determined by mutual agreement), which includes a health and safety management system review
• Management review visits include a post-visit report, action plan and on-going support
• A follow-up to any H&S review where the initial visit falls below certain standards
• Induction for new Principals/H&S Co-ordinators
• Access to the OSHENS web-based H&S management system for accident reporting, Arrangements, model risk assessments and forms, and display screen equipment risk assessment
• Access to the Evolve Educational and Offsite visits system and Independent endorsement of higher risk activities (via the Evolve system)
• Reporting all RIDDOR reportable accidents to the HSE (via the OSHENS system)
• Advice during serious accident investigations
• Liaison with all enforcement bodies (HSE, Fire Brigade, Environmental Health) and Ofsted
• Termly newsletter and hazard alerts

Full service
As per all activities in the basic level, plus the following:

• Direct assistance (4 hours at primary level, 7 hours at secondary/special level) per academic year which may include:
• A premises inspection with a written report and action plan
• Review of significant areas / issues of concern for the school
• Provision of in-house training (from published Health & Safety training programme
• Review of establishment risk assessments for suitability and sufficiency
• Assistance with safety documentation during civil litigation

Additional ‘pay-to-use’ services

• Training courses via the published Health & Safety training programme
• Additional hours can be purchased to cover additional work required – please speak to your Health and Safety Adviser about your needs

Evolve+ (for maintained schools)
Optional upgrade to Evolve+, an add-on to the standard Evolve system giving more functionality, flexibility and efficiency in planning offsite trips. Evolve+ features include:

• Ability to link Evolve directly to your MIS for populating student and staff names
• Outline approval, which can involve any other key members of staff (e.g. Finance etc.) in the visit form process
• Calendar feeds, feeding trip information into Outlook/ iCal calendars of relevant staff
• Online parental consent forms rather than a paper system
• Ability to send texts and emails to the parents of visit attendees directly from the Evolve system (additional cost per text applies)

Cost: £200 + VAT, in addition to your standard SLA cost. For further information please follow the ‘Evolve+’ link on the front page of OSHENS.

We offer two levels of service (basic and full) to academies, independent schools and colleges with additional ‘Pay-to- Use’ services.

Basic service

• Acting as the Competent Person under Regulation 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations for Academies and Independent Schools and Colleges
• Provision of health and safety information, arrangements and policies that are reviewed regularly in line with new legislation, good practice and case law
• On-going support for your H&S Co-ordinator
• Helpline service: Duty H&S Adviser available office hours for systems assistance as well as all safety matters, including educational visits
• Emergency out-of-hours advice for fatalities / serious injuries
• Membership of CLEAPSS and access to website and associated materials
• Radiological Protection Advisory Service through CLEAPSS via our Radiation Protection Officer and monitoring visit every two years.
• Primary and nursery establishments - 3 yearly onsite assistance visits which include a health and safety management system review
• Secondary school and through schools - Annual onsite assistance visit which includes a health and safety management system review every three years
• Management review visits include a post-visit report, action plan and on-going support
• Induction for new Principals/H&S Co-ordinators
• Access to the OSHENS web-based H&S management system for accident reporting, Arrangements, model risk assessments and forms, and display screen equipment risk assessment
• Access to the Evolve Educational and Offsite visits system (Note. For independent endorsement of visits, the academy will require a separate SLA with Devon Education Services)
• Reporting all RIDDOR reportable accidents to the HSE (via the OSHENS system)
• Advice during serious accident investigations
• Liaison with all enforcement bodies (HSE, Fire Brigade, Environmental Health) and Ofsted
• Termly newsletter and hazard alerts

Full service
As per all activities in the basic level, plus direct assistance (4 hours at primary level, 7 hours at secondary/special level). Examples of how this time could be used include:

• A premises inspection with a written report and action plan
• Review of significant areas / issues of concern for the school
• Provision of in-house training (from published Health & Safety training programme
• Review of establishment risk assessments for suitability and sufficiency
• Assistance with safety documentation during civil litigation

Additional ‘pay-to-use’ services (subject to availability)

• Training courses via the published Health & Safety training programme
• Additional hours can be purchased to cover additional work required – please speak to your Health and Safety Adviser about your needs

Evolve+ (for academies, independent schools and colleges)
Optional upgrade to Evolve+, an add-on to the standard Evolve system giving more functionality, flexibility and efficiency in planning offsite trips. Evolve+ features include:

• Ability to link Evolve directly to your MIS for populating student and staff names
• Outline approval, which can involve any other key members of staff (e.g. Finance etc.) in the visit form process
• Calendar feeds, feeding trip information into Outlook/ iCal calendars of relevant staff
• Online parental consent forms rather than a paper system
• Ability to send texts and emails to the parents of visit attendees directly from the Evolve system (additional cost per text applies)

Cost: £200 + VAT, in addition to your standard SLA cost. For further information please follow the ‘Evolve+’ link on the front page of OSHENS.

Evolve out of area licences
For academies that need to use the Evolve system but sit outside the Devon or Torbay LA areas, an additional out of area licence will be needed at a cost of £199 + VAT per school, per year.

*Travel expenses are charged in addition at the prevailing HMRC rate

Following its introduction last year, schools continue to have the opportunity to upgrade to Evolve+, an optional add-on to the standard Evolve system that gives a greater amount of functionality, allowing more flexibility and efficiency in planning offsite trips.

Features in Evolve+ include:

• The ability to link Evolve directly to your MIS for populating student and staff names
• Outline approval, which can involve any other key members of staff (e.g. Finance etc.) in the visit form process
• Calendar feeds, which can feed trip information into Outlook/iCal calendars of relevant staff
• Gain parental consent online rather than having to use a separate paper system
• The ability to send texts and emails to the parents of visit attendees directly from the Evolve system (additional cost per text applies)

Cost: £200 + VAT, in addition to your standard SLA cost.
If you want further information about Evolve+, please follow the ‘Evolve+’ link on the front page of OSHENS.

* Whilst the H&S Review visits are to assist the academy with their management of H&S systems, they also provide the Devon H&S Services with the professional reassurance that they require and may assist in determining advice regarding additional support. Where any academy fails to reasonably engage in this review process, the Devon H&S Services may consider termination of the SLA or not offering a renewal at the end of the term of the SLA.