Risk management is all about putting policies and procedures in place to protect people from harm and suffering, should any unfortunate incidents occur. Here we look at what teachers need to do to assess and control any risks in the workplace. To do this, they must comply with health and safety law, as well as ascertain who is responsible for what, whether they are employed or self-employed.
Employees
When you are employed directly by a school, institution, music service or other organization, the main responsibility is the hands of the employer, who must ensure you are working in a safe environment, in a safe way and with the necessary support equipment. Employers with five or more employees must have a written Health and Safety policy and have to carry out a risk assessment. Your employer must make you aware of the results that will affect you – if you don't understand something in a risk assessment, you can ask for it to be made more clear so you know exactly what is expected of you.
A risk assessment will look at the whole work situation and identify any potential hazards with a plan of how to deal with the issues.
As an employee you have a right to raise any issues of health, safety and welfare with your employer and if the situation is not addressed appropriately you can then contact the MU for advice.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) advocates a Five Step approach to Risk Assessment which involves identifying any hazards; thinking about who could be harmed; evaluating the risks; recording any significant findings; and reviewing risk assessments accordingly. Again, if you think this (or an equivalent process) is not being followed, then you have the right to voice your concern.
Self-employed people
If you are working as a self-employed or freelance teacher, the situation is different as the primary responsibility falls on you and you will need to carry out your own risk assessment for the work you are undertaking. If you are working for a number of organisations, it is also worthwhile familiarising yourself with their individual Health and Safety policies to make sure you are being compliant with them and, if needed, know how to raise any issues appropriately.
Increasingly, freelancers are being asked to provide their own risk assessments as a condition of their engagement so the contractor knows which area of work they are responsible for and whose insurance covers what. It is good practice to include a risk assessment for any activity you are involved with as it is worth considering any issues that might occur and to develop appropriate strategies for dealing with them. While most of us will hopefully never deal with a worst-case scenario, being able to demonstrate that you have done a risk assessment can help in the aftermath.
It could be that you are running a workshop or course, are taking part in a school trip or concert away from the school, or maybe teaching in a practice room that you have concerns about. Each of these would warrant doing an individual risk assessment which can be shared appropriately with other interested parties.
Concerns
As a music teacher, issues you might have to consider could be:
- What insurances do the school require you to have?
- What are you covered for?
- What do you need to be covered for?
- Are you renting a room?
- Who is responsible for any equipment in the room?
- Any electrical instruments or equipment that you are using? Has it been tested?
- Who is responsible for the fabric of the building, for example a student tripping up on carpet or something left behind in the room?
- Who do you report any safeguarding issues to?
- Who do you report any Health and Safety concerns toff
An example of this is a teacher who wants to run a holiday course for students and has spent time planning a musically fulfilling experience for those who attend. Of course, this is a priority, but the teacher realises that they are now going to be responsible for looking after the students for six hours a day with no other adult present, and that they have a pastoral duty as well as a musical one. By doing a risk assessment and having to consider some of the issues that might arise – such as a student having an accident or being taken ill; a student not been picked up at the end of the day; a student reporting a safeguarding issue; an issue with some of the electrical equipment – the teacher then has policies and procedures in place that will help them deal with situations as they arise. Having appropriate risk assessments in place can also help counter any arguments of negligence if they do arise.
Risk assessments are a useful tool to help plan activities in a safe way and also show that you have considered what is safe and suitable. It also means taking reasonable steps to prevent harm being caused to anyone you are working with.
There is further information on the HSE website, hse.gov.uk/risk/casestudies, where there is also a template risk assessment document that you can download. There are also resources on the MU's website: tinyurl.com/MT8-MU-RA
