Council says safety reps make safer schools

Council says safety reps make safer schools

Union safety reps and active safety committees have made Brent schools a safer place, a council boss has said. Speaking to almost 300 delegates at a healthy schools conference hosted jointly by Brent Council and the school unions ATL, GMB, NASUWT, NUT, UNISON, council leader Ann John said: 'The number of trained school safety representatives and safety committees in Brent has risen to well above the national average and that means Brent schools are becoming safer and healthier.' She said promotion of the Health and Safety Commission 'Safety reps' charter' for education and successful collaboration between Brent Council and the school unions had increased the proportion of Brent schools with union safety representatives from 22 per cent in 2003 to 71 per cent in 2006. The number of schools with safety committees had gone up from 3 per cent to 22 per cent. Local NUT rep Hank Roberts said: 'It is clear that when Brent Council, unions, school management and governors work together enormous strides are made in improving school safety.' Since the safety push started in 2003, the proportion of NUT safety representatives having received relevant training has increased from 7 per cent to 69 per cent - and this is having an impact, says the union. A Brent NUT safety representatives' survey, carried out in June 2005, found that after just one day's training, the trained safety representatives carried out more than three times as many activities as untrained safety representatives.

• Brent NUT news release. HSC Safety Representatives' Charter for the education sector [pdf].