This is a reminder to regularly review the risk assessment templates on the EEC Safety Suite. Some question sets have been updated and may now include additional questions. A new question set for Allergy Safety in Schools has also been added recently.
What schools should do
Ensure that any risk assessment templates held locally or copied from previous assessments are checked against the latest question sets on EEC before they are used or reviewed. This will help make sure assessments remain suitable, relevant and reflect current expectations.
Examples of question sets to review
This list is not exhaustive, but schools may wish to prioritise the following areas:
- Allergy Safety in Schools
- Baking
- Bouncy Castles/Inflatables
- Controlling traffic at the school entrance
- Food allergies (non-staff)
- Food allergies (staff)
- Manual handling (general)
- Pest control
- Safe use of knives
- Sports day
- Staff only car park
- Swimming/diving
- Visits to the beach
- Wraparound care
Good practice reminder
Good practice is to check all relevant question sets on EEC as part of the school’s regular risk assessment review process. This is particularly important where an activity is seasonal, infrequent, higher risk, or has been copied forward from a previous year.
Using the Programme for Risk Assessment in the Burgundy Pack is another way to check you have the right risk assessments in place for your setting.
Schools should also make sure that completed assessments are site specific and activity specific, and that control measures remain appropriate for the pupils, staff, premises and circumstances involved.
