It is estimated that over 1 million people attend emergency departments across England and Wales with head injuries annually. Between 33% and 50% of hospital attendees are under the age of 15, highlighting how prevalent head injuries are in young people.  Many of these recover well without the need for medical intervention, however, it can be life-changing for some sufferers.

One cause of head injuries is road accidents. Unfortunately, road safety is not an innate sense that we are born with, so it needs to be taught. Here is why road safety education is so important.

Why road safety education matters

You may think that teaching road safety is about memorising rules, but it goes much further than that. Nurturing a sense of responsibility and awareness goes a long way in life, not just around our roads.

By teaching road safety, you are encouraging your children valuable skills such as risk assessment, following instructions and keeping focused in hectic environments. These are transferrable to other areas of their lives and well into the future.

Children often travel to school and go out with friends as they get older, so equipping them with the skills to keep safe is essential. Encouraging independence for travel helps to build confidence around their whole being.

Road safety’s main aim is to reduce accidents and injuries. Teaching kids to respect the road as well as how to cross safely, for example, reduces incidents and keeps kids safe.

The parent’s role in teaching road safety

As parents, the responsibility to teach your little ones everything can feel a bit overwhelming at times. Road safety can be integrated into everyday life, so it feels less like a lesson and more natural.

Starting early is key to grasping the basics. Even when your kids are babies, narrating what you are doing when you cross the road or identifying road signs can help them understand the idea of safety and road signs. Making these actions as normal as possible helps kids to learn and copy.

There are plenty of interactive songs and games which you can introduce to your children about road safety. Sometimes a catchy tune really helps to drive the point home!

The potential impact of road accidents

Even the most conscientious and aware child can be involved in an accident. Accidents can be devastating as the resulting injuries can be serious.

If your child is involved in a road traffic accident which results in a brain injury, it is imperative that you seek legal advice. Specialist brain injury claims solicitors will be able to help you navigate the legal complexities of making sure your child receives the care and compensation they deserve.

One of the simplest yet most effective tools at your disposal is a tool tether. It looks like a little bungee lanyard but it can wind up having a hugely positive impact on your jobsite going forward.

What is Tool Tethering?

Tool tethers are a means of preventing tools from falling when working in elevated or confined spaces. Even from just a few feet in the air, a falling tool can have devastating consequences. Using a tool tether on the job can be a simple but effective way of keeping your tools protected and those around you safe.

Tool tethers have three general components. There is the lanyard itself, a tether point where it holds the tool(s) in question, and an anchor point. Each plays a crucial role in keeping your tools safe yet accessible even when in a compromising position.

Why to Tether Your Tools

“Why tether my tools” is a simple question but an important one to ask. After all, you might feel like you have sure hands or enough space in your tool belt to hold everything. Why add another piece of equipment to the mix when you don’t have to? As it turns out, there are several major reasons to make the move to a tool tether.

Safety

On any given jobsite, there are going to be people moving around below. Whether passing through or doing work of their own, they are in a vulnerable position being beneath someone on an elevated surface.

A falling tool, even a smaller one, can wind up having devastating consequences. Tools that are properly tethered will simply rebound back to the owner and remain safely in tow. Preventing falling tools is critical for personal safety.

Business Liability

From a business perspective, there is the matter of liability to consider. Accidents that happen on the job can lead to potentially costly fines and claims, all of which can negatively impact the bottom line. Businesses looking to cut down on liability concerns would naturally insist on tethered tools. Doing so would limit the potential for an accident created by falling tools.

Protecting Your Investment

Tools can be quite costly, especially if you have accumulated a nice cache over time. There will be no worse feeling than seeing that valuable investment fall to its doom. If only there were a simple but effective means of keeping them protected.

Using a tool tether is simple, cheap, and will do the most to protect your valuable tools. Most importantly, it will save you the feeling of “I should have used one” when something ultimately does fall.

Ensure Safety Standards are Followed

The single most important part of choosing a tool tether is to ensure that it follows proper safety standards. Each piece of safety equipment undergoes stringent testing to ensure that they adhere to necessary safety standards.

Some of these procedures involve third party testing, which determines tensile strength, durability, and more. It is also important to consider the length of the tool tether that you are considering. There are some shorter, fabric options while others go for longer, bungee-like tethers.

Though they might not seem like much, tool tethers are invaluable where elevated work is required. Take the time to invest in a tool tether to keep your tools, coworkers, and your business protected from an unnecessary accident.

From cybercriminals posing as suppliers, to other cyber-threats such as phishing links, designed to obtain data through defrauding someone into disclosure; and ransomware, which aims to extort money via a ransom following the acquisition and encryption of data or files – cyber attacks can have far-reaching consequences for pupils’ education, teachers’ resources, and learning systems.

Weak passwords, poorly designed software, authorising too many people to access files and accidental human error are all contenders for a data breach/cyber attack.

Schools are more likely to identify cyber security breaches than the average business

In their latest report, the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology stated that all types of education institutions are more likely to identify cyber security breaches or attacks than the average business.* In the last 12 months, 63% of secondary schools and 41% of primary schools identified cyber breaches or attacks.

Phishing attacks are by far the most common type of breach or attack identified, followed by online impersonation, then viruses, spyware, or malware.

Many of these issues can be avoided through staff training and investing in robust data management processes.

What to do if a data breach occurs

If a serious data breach occurs which is likely to harm the rights and freedoms of individuals, it must be reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) within 72 hours. The ICO will then provide advice and guidance on how to manage the breach, and lessons to be learned so it doesn’t happen again. This may cover what improvements to policy documents, security measures, and training the school needs to put in place.

How can cyber insurance protect schools?

What options are available to schools if they do suffer a serious security breach, even if all policies have been closely followed? One option which can provide a viable safety net against emerging cybercrime and security threats is cyber insurance.

Not only does a cyber insurance typically cover loss of income related to a cyber attack, but it can also cover the cost of third-party experts should they be required, such as a forensic investigator or ransom negotiator, and the cost of full data re-creation.

Should a cyber attack happen, having insurance in place could be the difference between a breach being well-managed, and resolved, or a difficult process ensuing. Cyber security insurance can also be supported by an online reputational risk management policy which can include the use of ‘social listening’ technology to monitor your school’s digital footprint and alert stakeholders to any imminent online reputational risks.

Is your school fully protected?

Whether you’re covered by a commercial insurance policy or the Risk Protection Arrangement, it’s worth checking to see if your current cyber cover is as extensive as it could be. Here are a few questions to ask:

• Does your policy cover your school for extortion as standard?
• What are the current limits of indemnity?
• Does your policy only cover the restoration of data/ systems if there’s a back-up available, or are you covered for full recreation of data and systems?
• Is your insurer pro-actively trying to reduce cyber events via risk management/ internet scanning and by being aware of ongoing threats to the market, or do they only offer reactive cover?

Complimentary cyber insurance review

Endsleigh, part of Howden the global insurance group, has almost 60 years’ experience providing insurance solutions to the education community. We’d like to offer you a no obligation, complimentary review of your current cyber cover. Call us on 0333 234 1553, email us at schools@endsleigh.co.uk or book your review here.

Find out more about Endsleigh’s cyber insurance cover for schools.

* Cyber security breaches survey 2023: education institutions annex – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

As many schools across the country prepare to close their doors for the summer holidays, specialist insurer Ecclesiastical says schools will be an attractive target for criminals over the coming months.

Ecclesiastical reports schools have been targeted over the summer months including vandalism, arson, break-ins, smashed windows, theft of lead from roofs and stolen laptops.

Amid high inflation, soaring prices and more facing economic hardship, there are worries there will be a large spike in criminal activity.

Faith Kitchen, customer segment director at Ecclesiastical Insurance, said: “Schools are far more vulnerable during the summer holidays when school buildings are closed and largely unoccupied, tempting opportunists. With high inflation and the cost of living crisis, it is more important than ever that schools take steps to protect their premises from offenders. There are a number of measures schools can take to better secure school property and assets, which would ideally be a combination of both physical and electronic protection. Fencing around the perimeter can often offer a good first line of defence against unwanted visitors, while CCTV can act as a visual deterrent for those not wanting to be caught on camera. We urge schools across the country take steps to protect themselves from criminals and follow our guidance.”

How to protect your school this summer:

• Ensure CCTV systems have remote 24/7 monitoring services. Monitoring and alerting the police is far more effective than tracing criminals after a crime has taken place.
• Install remotely monitored intruder alarms and change alarm security codes and passwords on a regular basis.
• Install security lighting systems that have motion sensors to detect body movements.
• Restrict access to school premises. Well-designed perimeter security such as walls, fences and electric security gates, and anti-climb paint help to prevent people from getting onto school sites.
• Restrict vehicular access to the school site. Locate any designated parking as far from the school building as possible. The further thieves have to travel on foot the greater the risk of detection.
• Use security marking systems such as SmartWater which can help with successful prosecution of thieves.
• Ask the local community near your school to be vigilant and report any unusual or suspicious activity they notice on school grounds.
• Inform neighbourhood watch schemes / police liaison officers of planned work over the holidays as thieves might pose as contractors.
• Seek advice. Specialist insurers can offer advice and expertise to help schools manage security risks. Insurers can offer a combination of onsite and remote risk management services including security assessments and advice, alongside broader property protection and building valuation services.

The survey, carried out by Judicium with parent company Supporting Education Group, asked more than 620 designated safeguarding leads (DSLs) and SLT members in schools across England to rate the effectiveness of a range of key safeguarding activities.

Schools found that filtering and monitoring ICT usage, along with safeguarding training and updating safeguarding records to be areas of low effectiveness and high personal challenge.

Just 18% of all respondents said filtering and monitoring was as effective as it can be in their schools, with 59% claiming it is one of their biggest current challenges. These results were driven by DSLs – 65% rated it a big challenge, compared to 46% of SLTs.

Just a quarter (25%) of all respondents thought that their current safeguarding and child protection training works well and 43% said the activity is one of their biggest challenges. DSLs once again led these concerns – just 16% find this training works as well as it could, compared to 49% of SLT members.

Updating and reviewing safeguarding records to identify patterns of events or behaviour was another key pain point for effective safeguarding, with 30% finding this activity challenging.

Drafting and reviewing policies, and communicating with stakeholders, such as other professionals, parents, students and agencies, were rated as high effectiveness, low challenge activities.

The survey was carried out in June 2022 to better understand how schools think about and meet some of the challenges associated with safeguarding and to explore if any additional resources and support can be provided to help schools with this important area.

The findings follow analysis by Judicium which has revealed the important part safeguarding failures play in Ofsted category 4 inspection reports. Of the 130 inadequate judgements between 2019 and 2021, 59 (45%) cited safeguarding as ineffective. Record keeping, leadership, and governance, following-up concerns, staff training and pupil safety were most frequently cited in inspector feedback in these cases.

Helen King, a former DSL in a London secondary school and now head of safeguarding at Judicium, says: “We know from our safeguarding work with schools that the risks of getting safeguarding wrong are significant and can have a devastating impact on pupils. These findings will help to highlight key areas of concern for schools, service providers and policy makers.

“We also need to bear in mind that the DSL role is a high accountability job which has grown hugely in recent years – KCSIE has more than trebled in size over the past seven years, from 57 pages in 2015 to almost 180 today. That needs to be reflected in the understanding of the DSL remit and the support that is available to them if the role is to remain effective.”

The new toolkit comprises a collection of key documents that schools can use to improve their cybersecurity and also use as a foundation for attaining Cyber Essentials Certification – a foundation level certification designed to provide a statement of the basic controls they should have in place to mitigate the risk from common cyber threats.

The following key documents can be downloaded for free:

A CyberSecurity Policy Template  – designed to complement the schools existing social media and acceptable use policies – which outlines the school’s guidelines and security provisions that are there to protect its systems, services, and data in the event of a cyberattack.

An Incident Response Plan which can be used as a starting point for planning recovery from a ransomware attack, or any other kind of unforeseen outage.

An Example Risk Register that can be used to assess, evaluate, prioritise and manage cybersecurity risks. This can also be used by the school’s senior leadership team to report to governors on how they are proactively managing risks and improving cybersecurity.

An Example Asset Register that can be used as a starting point to inventory the equipment used in the school. It sounds obvious, but it’s impossible to be secure if you don’t know what you have.

An Example Software Register used to record which software/systems schools have and whether they hold confidential information. This can be used to complement the Incident Response Plan for prioritising the recovery of services.

Commenting on the new resource, Dinesh Seegobin, Head of ICT at STEP Academy Trust, said, “We all know that being aware of cybersecurity is critical but how many of us can claim to be experts? In addition, there is so much information out there to digest, where do you begin? This is where, yet again, LGfL has come to our rescue. The Elevate Cybersecurity Toolkit is an absolute game changer. A one-stop shop to help get you on track backed up with all the weight of industry experts.”

To download your free copy please visit http://www.elevate.lgfl.net

Door Group, a unit of ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions UK & Ireland, is stressing

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires schools to undertake risk assessments to identify the general fire precautions needed to safeguard the safety of occupants in case of fire, including their safe means of escape.

Despite this, recent research[1] showed that schools have been hit by 2,300 fires in the last five years, destroying 47 primary and secondary school buildings alone.

Fire doors are one of the most important safety features in a building, and regular product specifications or dedicated fire door inspections are essential to fully ensure health and safety measures are met.

Education buildings can present highly specific requirements for fire doorsets, with particularly varied legislation and building regulations surrounding fire doors in schools.

These doors are subject to extremely high levels of traffic, and subsequently a higher level of misuse and abuse, which can then lead to functional problems resulting in non-compliance.

Brian Sofley, Managing Director of ASSA ABLOY Door Group, explains: “Whilst statutory inspections are being completed for the entire building, the necessary attention to fire door compliance is being overlooked.

“Our team of BRE qualified engineers have found a large percentage of fire doors to be non-compliant when completing a dedicated fire door inspection in schools over the past 3-4 years. For example, in one school, 163 of the 164 fire doors we inspected were not fire compliant.”

The economic and social impact of school fires on staff, pupils, and the local community can be significant, causing financial hardship, emotional trauma, and a delay in learning.

A study[2] found that 17 per cent of schools who had experienced a fire said that it had led to a drop in staff morale, six per cent to a drop in morale amongst pupils and seven per cent said that their fire had led to negative publicity about their school.

Door Group is committed to raising the standard of fire door safety in schools, providing a fully comprehensive inspection which can be carried out every three, four, six or 12 months to suit specific requirements.

Following inspections, Door Group then offer detailed reports containing advice and recommendations on necessary improvements, with the knowledge that identifying any potential issues that could impact safety and product performance can be lifesaving.

If any issues do occur, a tailored repair proposal is issued to include anything from replacement doors to a regular maintenance program. Door Group inspectors are BRE-certified and will ensure that all fire doors inspected meet all necessary standards and regulations.

Brian adds: “An education building should be a safe and secure place for students and staff, to work and learn. Door Group is committed to making schools, colleges and universities across the UK fire protected.

“With regular and thorough inspections, we can ensure the compliance and performance of fire doorsets in an effort to improve overall fire safety in the educational environment, while minimising the risk that learning could be negatively impacted by a fire.”

For more information on ASSA ABLOY Door Group, please visit https://bit.ly/3hVybbC.

[1] https://www.zurich.co.uk/media-centre/more-than-1100-classrooms-gutted-by-school-blazes

[2] National Foundation for Educational Research – The impact of school fires: A study of the wider economic and social impacts on schools and the local community

Ensure the teacher is present 

Teacher supervision is vital when managing the children in your care. Leaving your class unattended is dangerous as there is no one to manage a difficult situation. Not only this, but lack of teacher supervision makes children more likely to act up – increasing the risk of harm. If you need to leave the room, you must ensure another teacher or teaching assistant is present to take over responsibility.

Provide appropriate safety equipment and clothing 

Before experimenting in a science classroom, you must provide your children with the appropriate safety equipment and clothing. For example, all children should be provided with a lab coat, goggles and gloves when working with a live flame or chemicals.

Enforce lab safety 

Prohibition signs should be placed visibly throughout the science classroom. Signs such as no eating, drinking or running, will help children understand the boundaries in the space. However, reinforce the rules by reminding your class of them each lesson. This will help to keep order in the room and reduce the risk of harm.

Provide demonstrations before experiments 

If there is an experiment included in your lesson plan, make sure you demonstrate it. Showing your class exactly how an experiment should get done will help them to complete it safely. Not only this, but it will reduce the chance of anyone guessing what to do and doing it wrong. Therefore, making it a safe and sensible option.

Prepare for emergencies 

Naked flames and harmful chemicals all carry risks. The chance of something going wrong in a controlled environment is minimal. However, you must be prepared to get your class to safety in the event of an emergency. Making your group aware of the fire exits and escape routes in your classroom is vital. Discuss your fire safety strategy with your class and practice with them if needs be. Then, in the event of an emergency, you and your class can escape calmly and reduce the risk of harm.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched a suite of lesson plans and worksheets aimed at teaching primary and secondary school pupils how to protect their privacy online and how they can control what online companies and platforms know about them.

Emily Keaney, ICO’s Director of Regulatory Strategy said: “With children learning how to use an iPad before they can ride a bike, it’s crucial that they’re taught how to keep their personal data safe. These plans will ensure that the UK’s children are learning about the value of their name, where they live, what they like and where they go from the very start of their data journey.”

The resources explain what counts as personal data, how to protect it and how to keep it private on social media. They cover the curriculum in all parts of the UK and can be downloaded for free from the ICO website.

The resources form part of the ICO’s work on building awareness of the Children’s Code, a set of standards that online services must follow if they are likely to be accessed by children. That includes putting in place extra layers of protection for children’s data.

Ms Keaney said: “With the introduction of the Children’s Code last September, it’s more important than ever that teachers feel empowered to educate their pupils about the positives and negatives of sharing personal data with websites, apps and online services.

“We hope that these lesson resources will enable teachers to introduce these topics in the classroom, and begin the conversation around keeping safe online.”

The ICO will be producing more resources around the principles of the Children’s Code to ensure that young people know what to expect when they open an app, visit a website or play an online game.

For more information on the Children’s Code, please visit the dedicated website hub or email our Children’s Code team on childrenscode@ico.org.uk.

For workplaces and schools, a safe reopening during the ongoing pandemic can only be achieved with a robust risk-reduction strategy that covers all transmission routes. Since one of the primary ways that COVID-19 is spread is through the air by aerosols – airborne liquid particles that may carry infection – keeping these particles out of the nearby air by regularly introducing clean and fresh air into communal spaces (i.e. ventilating) is vital for preventing the spread of disease.

So how do you ventilate spaces effectively? And how do you know if ventilation practices are even working?

The UK Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), along with The Chartered Institute of Building Service Engineers (CIBSE) (UK) and the Federation of European Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Associations (REHVA) (Europe), have issued guidelines on how to improve ventilation in rooms. Their advice includes opening windows, ensuring regular breaks for occupants and increasing mechanical ventilation.

All three reports also highlight CO2 monitoring as a key tool for any effective ventilation strategy, both to help improve ventilation and to help assess its efficacy.

Why is CO2 monitoring important?

Feeling that a room has become ‘stuffy’ or feeling drowsy after hours sat in a meeting room are sensations that are familiar to many-and they’re caused by a build-up of CO2.

Just like CO2, aerosols carrying infectious diseases that are exhaled by occupants will linger in the air without sufficient ventilation. The longer that a room is occupied, the greater the volume of infectious aerosols that will build up, and the greater the risk of infection.

It is possible to evaluate the level of ventilation available in a room just by assessing how occupants are feeling. For example, if a person perceives that a room feels ‘stuffy’, they may proceed to open a window to increase air flow rates. However, this method is ultimately reliant on guesswork, and occupants may not be able to detect simply by feeling alone when extra ventilation is needed until it is too late.

Monitoring CO2 levels eliminates guesswork from ventilation assessment and enables a systematic approach to increasing ventilation. By accurately measuring the volume of CO2 in the air, CO2 monitors provide hard evidence of when extra ventilation is needed – which might be a long time before occupants feel that the room could do with some fresh air.

The report from SAGE identifies that CO2 monitoring is particularly important in workplaces and schools, where it is most likely to be an effective indicator of ventilation rates.

In spaces that are used for extended durations by groups, i.e. offices and classrooms, CO2 measurements reflect the air quality with a greater accuracy and give a good indication of ventilation conditions.

By contrast, CO2 monitoring is not as effective at indicating ventilation rates in large volume or low occupancy spaces, where airflow and dispersion of occupants may vary. In these areas, however, SAGE still recommends aiming to keep CO2 levels low (below 800ppm) as a good rule of thumb.

How to improve ventilation with CO2 monitoring

After establishing what ventilation is available in a room, CO2 monitors should be used for two purposes:

• to alert when extra ventilation is needed
• to evaluate the efficacy of ventilation

CO2 monitors should be placed on an inside wall, with sensors facing away from windows or grilles so that the readings are as accurate to the inside conditions as possible. It is also recommended that they are placed in visible positions c. 1.5m off of the ground so that responsible persons can easily act upon their alerts.

Alarms show when extra ventilation is needed

Alarms on CO2 monitors can alert occupants of the immediate need to increase ventilation in a room by signalling that the CO2 concentration has exceeded acceptable levels.

As a visual indicator, CO2 alarms also help to boost awareness of the importance of ventilation. The CIBSE report suggests that involving school pupils in responding to CO2 alerts can help to increase ventilation efficacy by improving awareness.

The reports suggest that alarms should be set to alert when the CO2 concentration measures at or above 1000ppm. If or when an alarm is triggered, action should be taken to immediately increase air flow into the occupied space. Opening high windows is an effective strategy, especially in colder months, as it will sufficiently increase ventilation rates while not significantly lowering room temperature or causing a draught.

For schools with mechanical ventilation systems, the reports recommended maximising fresh air flow at all times.

Take informed action with long-term recorded data

With data loggers, CO2 levels can be recorded over time so that data can be viewed and analysed, and further action taken based on this evidence.

Data from CO2 monitoring should be used to assess whether ventilation measures are taking effect.

Time-stamped data from one room might show that instances of increasing natural ventilation-for example, by opening windows or doors-is effective at lowering CO2 levels. For a different room, with different dimensions and different available ventilation routes, analysis of data may reveal that there is a need to implement more significant measures to fully protect the health of occupants. Rooms which are shown to regularly record above 1500ppm should be identified and prioritised for improvements to ventilation.

A further advantage of monitoring with a CO2 data logger is that long-term recorded data can provide evidence of the need for significant or structural changes to be made, helping to support funding applications.

The Tinytag CO2 data logger

Robust, easy-to-use and quick to deploy, the Tinytag CO2 data logger is a simple and effective solution for indoor air quality monitoring.

Using a self-calibrating non-dispersive infrared sensor (NDIR), the data logger accurately measures and records carbon dioxide concentrations with outstanding long-term stability. The TGE-0010 model measures from 0 to 2000ppm and is ideal for measuring indoor air quality in busy classrooms or offices. A model measuring up to 5000ppm is also available for more specialised applications.

The data logger has an LED on its front which will flash red when an alarm has been triggered, enabling responsive action to high CO2 levels. The data logger can be wall-mounted or placed on surfaces to continuously monitor CO2 concentrations wherever is required. Compact and light-weight, the logger can be situated anywhere where there is a mains supply, and can easily be transferred between different locations for versatile monitoring throughout a building.

Data is offloaded and viewed in user-friendly Tinytag Explorer software, where it can then be exported to third-party programmes in a variety of popular file formats (.xls, .xml, .csv, .txt) for further analysis and presentation.

Gemini Data Loggers also offers a certificated calibration service that is traceable to National Standards. CO2 data loggers can be calibrated prior to shipment, or returned to Gemini at any time for calibration.

While low levels of CO2 are a good indication of effective ventilation, they are not confirmation of low aerosol transmission by themselves. Other transmission factors, including occupant density, occupant duration and the type of activity being performed in a room should also be taken into account when assessing transmission rates. A good COVID-19 risk management strategy should also comprise mitigation efforts for other transmission routes, for example, mask-wearing, social distancing and reducing occupancy time in rooms.