Nowadays, safety at school is a major concern for head teachers, school managers, staff members, parents and students. Cases of staff being injured at work, students being assaulted, angry parents attacking teachers, dissatisfied students attacking teachers are being reported daily. The truth is many of these cases can be prevented by investing in safety apps or safety devices. This is probably the best way to determine the problem and come up with a long term solution.
The main purpose of conducting a safety audit is to come up with ways that will help the school managers and head teachers to prevent injuries, violence, illness, strikes and even deaths in schools. By examining the school environment carefully, auditors can be able to determine the problem and deal with it before it hurt anyone else. Here are the steps involved in conducting a safety audit.
Identify the Risk
The first thing that the school management should do is to identify the risk and how those risks affect the entire school environment. Try to find out things or items that may cause the school to be unsafe.. For example, there are certain equipment in schools that may become unsafe due to poor work practices. Areas such as car parks, school dormitories, washrooms, storage areas, staff rooms, computer rooms, and laboratories may become unsafe, posing a risk to students, teachers, and staff. If you choose to hire the services of professional auditors to conduct a safety audit, chances are that these problems will be handled before they become a serious threat. In this light, it is very important that you consider installing safety devices in your schools. A simple safety app or an alarm system might be what you need to keep your staff and students safe.
Inspect All Important Areas in the School
The most important part of a safety audit requires that you conduct a physical inspection on all important areas in school. This may seem like a tedious work, but it’s necessary if you want to eliminate the threat completely. Inspecting each area carefully may take a while, but if done efficiently, you are guarantee of finding a long lasting solution to the safety problems that you are facing. The easiest way to do this is by using the school map. It’s also advisable that you inspect any area that is within the vicinity of your school, especially if your students or staff members visit these areas often.
Find Out the Exact Problem That Each Department Faces
Now it is time to determine the actual task that each department is supposed to do in school. The main idea here is to find out things that may cause problems to employees, students, and teachers. For example, in the laboratory students may be required to do an experiment that involves toxic substances. In this light, it’s important to make sure that they are protected and they can also get immediate help if anything goes wrong. In addition, it’s important to pay attention to the safety of the teachers. Given the fact that teachers have to stand for long periods, anything can happen especially if the teacher in question has a special condition. With a safety app, it will be easier for him or her to alert the school management and his colleagues about his or her problem. This will make it easier for your employees to get the help that they need whenever they need it.
It’s Time to Replace, Repair, Restore and Invest in New Security Systems
Once you are done conducting a school safety audit, it’s time for solutions now. Bring all your findings to the table, examine them and try to come up with a working solution. Any equipment that is old or worn out should be replaced immediately. Work Areas that pose a threat should be restored to safety. Laboratories equipment and chemicals that pose a risk should also be kept in a safe place. The head teachers and school management should be ready and willing to install safety devices that can help students and teachers to seek help and alert their colleagues whenever they are in trouble. One thing that has contributed to increase injuries and even deaths in school environments is the lack of safety devices. Many schools think that they don’t need to invest in alarms for staff or students, but the truth is they do. A safety app can alert the entire school community of an emergency so that you can take appropriate actions. In this light, it is important for head teachers and school managers to consider investing in safety apps and other safety devices that can notify the whole school of a possible threat.
The Bottom Line
The truth is, it is very important for schools to conduct safety audit regularly. Safety audit is used to determine how safe your school is. It is also important in determine the weak points of your safety, areas that pose a threat to school and most importantly, help you to come up with solutions that will solve your problems. Knowing your security’s strength and weakness is the only way that you will be able to come up with a long term solution.
