different between safety education and hazard management in column
Answers
While safety planning is familiar to schools, disaster planning is relatively new to the education sector. Such contingency planning may be seen as an extension of the risk assessment procedure. It is the key to reducing the management of a disaster to a system for making decisions at a time when decision making is difficult. As with all RoSPA guidance, this should be used in conjunction with LEA advice, and any other specialised guidance from professional bodies.
High profile accidents and disasters in the education sector have demonstrated the common sense of disaster planning and, conversely, the often tragic cost of failing to identify hazards and their potential for sudden, dramatic escalation if the arrangements to control and contain them prove to be inadequate.
Effective plans to mitigate the consequences of a disaster will derive from an "all hazards" approach (the "what ifs" and worst-case scenarios - on-site and off-site) and joint consultation with all those likely to be involved.
By planning in advance and anticipating as many health and safety variables as possible, schools can ensure that the decisions made on the day of a crisis are not only made quickly and effectively but that they will be correct and automatic responses arising out of the time spent on pre-planning for disaster.
When an incident does occur, the school should be better able to contain and control events.