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School trips provide a
wonderful and quite often memorable learning experience for
children, it is an opportunity for them to not only discover new
sights and sounds in unfamiliar environments, but also to develop a
flair for investigation, the ability to make decisions or sometimes
just to have that bit of independence they don't necessarily get in
the classroom. There is much to be discovered and gained from school
trips.
However, where this is fun and adventure, there are normally risks
to accompany it. Risk assessment for school trips is a careful
examination of what could do harm to people and what steps, if any,
can be taken to mitigate or minimise such risks. Risks should be
assessed as to whether they are of high, medium or low probability
of occurring and should a risk occur whether it will have a high,
medium or low impact.
There are five steps which need to be followed to assess the risks
of any trip: |
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- Identify the hazards
- Decide who is at risk of harm and how such harm may occur
- Evaluate the risk levels and impact and decide on
precautions
- Record your findings and implement them. Develop an action
plan.
- Review your assessment and update if necessary
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Don't over complicate or over-think the process. You will never be
able to identify every single risk but you must try to identify
major risks posed on any trip. For example: adverse weather, travel
arrangements, site specific hazards such as machinery, geography or
even animals!
When thinking about the risk assessment, remember: |
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- A hazard is anything that may cause harm, such as chemicals,
electricity, an open drawer, traffic, open water, an activity,
etc.
- The risk is the chance, high, medium or low, that somebody
could be harmed by these and other hazards, together with an
indication of how serious that harm could be.
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Any school trip must have a group leader. The leader will have the
overall responsibility for the supervision of the visit. He or she
will have been approved by the Head Teacher and must gain approval
before conducting any off-site visits. The group leader will appoint
a deputy and also group supervisors to carry out various tasks and
will ensure that proper risk assessments have been conducted prior
to the visit. The group leader must also ensure that they have the
correct ratio of adults to children before conducting an out of
school visit.
Pupils will be told to act responsibly whilst not taking any
unnecessary risks and must follow the instructions of any adults in
a supervisory position. If a child is seen to cause any potential
risk to themselves or others they must be withdrawn from the trip.
Anyone involved in the planning of a school trip must be 100%
certain that they have done all they can do to create a safe
environment for their pupils. This means that anyone appointed with
such responsibilities must be competent and experienced or be
overseen by a leader with such capabilities. All teachers and
supervisors on the visit should be supplied with a copy of the risk
assessment, as should the Headmaster.
Points that should be considered are: |
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- What are the hazards and what are the risks that these
hazards pose?
- Who would these risks affect?
- What safety measures can be put in place or contingency
plans implemented to mitigate the risk?
- Is the Group Leader capable of implementing and conducting
these safety measures?
- What steps will be taken in the event of an emergency?
- What is the type of visit or activity and what physical
demands will it put on the pupil and supervisors?
- Where you are going, the route of how to get there and the
modes of transport to be used.
- The abilities and qualifications of supervisory staff.
- Supervisor to pupil ratio.
- Age range of pupils, their physical limitations (if any),
temperament and general suitability to complete the task at hand
- including the ability to listen and follow instructions.
- Any special needs or medical requirements.
- The suitability and quality of any equipment to be used
(this can be anything from climbing ropes through to roller
blades).
- Seasonal variations.
- What to do in an emergency.
- How to help pupils who lose the will to see an exercise
through to its conclusion.
- Constantly being aware of risks and adapting to changing
environments and situations.
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Transport should be fully compliant with current safety regulations.
The Group Leader should conduct exploratory visits before the trip
to prepare the necessary risk assessment documentation. If a
substantial threat to anyone's health or safety is present or
perceived then the trip should not take place unless the threat can
be lifted.
The first risk assessment will not be perfect, but it must be
suitable and sufficient. It needs to be able to show that: |
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- a proper exploratory visit was conducted,
- the right questions were asked of the right people,
- all significant hazards and risks were dealt with,
- precautions are reasonable and that the remaining risk has
been reduced as far as possible.
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Following the visit a review of the risk assessment should be
conducted to see how initial assessments reflected findings. New
risks might be identified or a different view might be taken on an
existing risk for that trip. This should be incorporated into future
planning. It also means that should the same or similar trip be
conducted in the future others will have a better understanding of
the risks involved. |