Departmental H&S Policy for IT.

[muppet]

Is anyone willing to share their Departmental H&S Policy with me (presuming you have one) so that I can compare it to the one I've just finished drafting?

Basically I was informed today that I will have the pleasure of a full H&S audit in a few days time to ensure that the department has complied with the findings of the last audit........this happened before I started here and was never informed of the requirements, until today that was!!!

So I have to:

1. Create a departmental policy

2. Carry out a training needs analysis for the department

3. Develop a record of regular / weekly safety checks of all IT related equipment, including all leads! (No one can explain where the time to do this will come from, especially as it is classed as administrative so the teaching staff wont do it.)

4. Evidence the H&S elements of departmental agendas and minute the actions required.

5. Plus lots of other lesser stuff.

 

Obviously I will be getting protected time to carry these tasks out so that I don't have to work into the night in my own time........oh that's right, as non teaching staff I don't need protected time, 'cause if I say I'm busy everyone just leaves me alone!!! Sorry didn't mean to have a gripe.

 

If anyone can help I will be extremely grateful......

[FN-GM]

their Departmental H&S Policy

 

Whats one of those

[User3204]

..Departmental H&S Policy...

 

Suggests there is a "School" H&S policy.

 

Have you seen it ? If not then the school is in trouble.

 

You should know who the H&S person in the school is, and it will be their responsibility to ensure that the departments within the school are following the overall policy.

 

"H&S Manager" or whatever the role/job is called, is a very involved one, they need to go on training courses, get certified, blah blah blah... and they usually get paid quite well, as it's their fault if people get hurt.

 

 

I don't do one, as it doesn't falkl within my job remit.

But as I understand it (from what the teachers fill in for trips and stuff), it all comes down to fairly obvious stuff. "If people do A, what might happen", "How likely are they to do A" and then "How can we stop them from doing A".

 

You have a plug socket, you have a fork... What can you do with these things together?...

[covgeek]

The cable testing is covered under the schools PAT testing schedule, so you don't need to do that each week, month or quarter.

 

The policy can be one page or a complete binder, it is up to you. I found some of the issue raised on this site really helpful.

 

ICT Health Checklists: ICT Hub Knowledgebase

[GrumbleDook]

Is anyone willing to share their Departmental H&S Policy with me (presuming you have one) so that I can compare it to the one I've just finished drafting?

Basically I was informed today that I will have the pleasure of a full H&S audit in a few days time to ensure that the department has complied with the findings of the last audit........this happened before I started here and was never informed of the requirements, until today that was!!!

So I have to:

1. Create a departmental policy

 

Which is to follow the school one but identify possible risks associated with your job. These are likely to include electrical shocks, trailing wires, correct seating and working arrangements, hazardous substances from toners / cleaning agents.

 

2. Carry out a training needs analysis for the department

 

Identify where you will put warning signs about use, storage and disposal of equipment, resources and consumables.

Identify the information staff need to continue with their job safely.

 

3. Develop a record of regular / weekly safety checks of all IT related equipment, including all leads! (No one can explain where the time to do this will come from, especially as it is classed as administrative so the teaching staff wont do it.)

 

The best check is to have things right in the first place and procedures for people to inform you when they are not. All electrical equipment should have the relevant PAT testing and labeled accordingly. You should have a copy of the records for the equipment you are responsible for. This equipment then needs a regular visible check to be carried out. This can be done by any member of staff on the basis of "if it doesn't look how it is meant to look then they should give you a call". Trip hazards should be eliminated to start with or where present you should inform staff how to deal with them accordingly, including the use of floor cable protectors, signage and if all else fails a clip round the ear (only joking!).

 

4. Evidence the H&S elements of departmental agendas and minute the actions required.

 

A standing agenda item would be to report on any equipment that has been removed for safety reasons and what has been done to replace or fix it, and to identify if it is likely to occur again.

 

5. Plus lots of other lesser stuff.

 

Obviously I will be getting protected time to carry these tasks out so that I don't have to work into the night in my own time........oh that's right, as non teaching staff I don't need protected time, 'cause if I say I'm busy everyone just leaves me alone!!! Sorry didn't mean to have a gripe.

 

If anyone can help I will be extremely grateful......

 

It is hoop jumping for many people as it is stuff that already gets done in one form or another, but it is handy to have the documentation at times ... especially when little johnny decides to poor water into a computer and you get that lovely bang, followed by finger pointing about why the equipment wasn't in a sealed container where it would not be a risk (apart from overheating and setting the place on fire).

 

HTH

 

When you have you published materials ... please put them onto the wiki.

[elsiegee40]

Our H&S manager recommends googling for university websites H&S poicies. Most of them are freely available over the internet and exteremely detailed.

 

Our Lone Worker policy was adapted from the University of Durham's

[muppet]

Thanks for the responses.......I feel happier now about things, got a bit stressed yesterday when this all 'suddenly' got dumped on my desk!!!

 

To create the departmental policy I basically took all the elements from the risk assessments I've carried out and incorporated them into one document that also states that the whole school H&S policy should be followed and who to report issues / accidents to.

 

The TNA element is easy as I'm the only person in the department with H&S responsibilities (not that H&S isn't everyones responsibility...for the pedants amongst you!!)

 

By the sounds of things the last audit 'recommended' that a check sheet for visually checking equipment be produced and that the checks were to be carried out everyday or at the begining of each lesson!! I think that this may have to become a monthly check.

 

I'll post my policy and check sheets in the wiki when / if I manage to make it through the audit without too much of a beating!!

 

Once again, thanks for the comments, especially Covgeek and GrumbleDook. But please feel free to keep them coming.

[Andrew_C]

The cable testing is covered under the schools PAT testing schedule, so you don't need to do that each week, month or quarter.

Well... The IET CoP recommends that each user, every use, gives every cable a quick look. A PAT is only valid the day it is done, true safety is a 365 day mindset.

 

This obviously has more relevance to truly portable (and higher risk) stuff like drills, or Hoovers, rather than PCs.