Health and Safety
Introduction
Boards of trustees are responsible for health and safety in schools, for
students, staff, visitors and other users of the premises. This
responsibility has a variety of legal sources, which are summarised at the end of this chapter.
Legal
requirements
The most comprehensive statement of responsibility is the Health and
Safety in Employment Act 1992 (HSEA) and amendments. This sets out boards'
responsibilities to staff and to some but not all of the other people who
enter a school. However, using the approach prescribed by the HSEA in
relation to all hazards that might arise for anyone in the school grounds is
the best way to ensure the board is meeting all its legal obligations.
The HSEA requires that all hazards are systematically identified.
Significant hazards must be eliminated if practicable. If elimination is not
practicable then they must be "isolated". To the extent that
isolation is not practicable, exposure to the hazard must be minimised. All
practicable steps must be taken to ensure that the school is healthy and
safe. This is a continuous process. All identified hazards, and all control
measures should be monitored and reviewed.
Schools should have comprehensive health and safety policies, and include
health and safety within its annual review and planning cycle.
To assist with this, the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with
NZEI, PPTA and NZ School Trustees Association, has produced a resource called
"Worksafe @ School". This resource is
designed to assist schools to meet their obligations under the HSEA. It has
sections covering staff involvement, hazard identification and management,
emergency management, responding to accident and incidents, management of
students, visitors and contractors, and staff training. Each section has
guidelines and practical tools to carry out each part of the process. It also
includes sample policies and guidelines to annual health and safety planning.
The resource can be found on the MOE website: http://www.minedu.govt.nz/.
The NZEI field staff can help you use this resource.
It is important that staff are fully involved in
the management of health and safety in the school. Involvement is the key to
building commitment and encouraging a strong health and safety culture.
Workplaces with 30+ employees
Amendments to the HSEA require workplaces with 30+ employees to have an
agreement between the employer and employees (and unions) for a system that
facilitates effective employee participation in health and safety decisions. This often results in the formalisation of health and safety committees with
employee participation.
Workplaces with less than 30 employees
Workplaces with less than 30 employees still have the same right to full
participation in health and safety decisions, although there is no
requirement to automatically agree on a system for employee
participation. However, any employee
can request that such a system is formalised and
the employer must comply.
A key part of any system is elected
Health and Safety representatives. An
elected Health and Safety representative is entitled to two days per year for
Department of Labour-approved training (currently provided through the
NZCTU).
Key Sources of Legal
Obligations
Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 and amendment 2002 - employer to take
all practicable steps to maintain a healthy and safe working environment,
including specific duties to provide appropriate facilities and equipment,
ensure equipment is safe to use, identify hazards, eliminate/isolate/minimise
significant hazards, inform and train employees, record and investigate
incidents, report incidents involving serious harm to employees, employee
participation system.
Employment Relations Act 2000 - duty of
"good faith" to employees. It is also now well established that the
employment relationship implies an obligation to provide a healthy and safe
workplace.
State Sector Act 1988 - duty to act as a good
employer.
Education Act 1989 - National Administrative
Guidelines include requirements to provide a safe physical and emotional
environment for students, and various property related requirements such as
playground safety, glazing and warrants of fitness for buildings. The NAGs are issued by the Minister and have legal force as
delegated legislation.
Common law - duty not to cause harm through
negligence. This is significantly overriden by the
ACC legislation which prevents legal action for most forms of injury.
Other Sources of Legal Obligations
Other legislation imposing health and safety related obligations includes the
Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act, the Smokefree Environments Act, the Health Act, the Food Hygiene Act, the Civil Defence Act, the Fire Safety Act, the Building Act and
the Human Rights Act.
The Ministry of Education has published a Health and Safety Code of
Practice which includes a list of all the relevant legislation.
