It seems that in recent weeks and months the Health and Safety Authority Inspectors have been visiting a lot of schools. This is along the lines of the normal HSA Modus Operandi in that they will typically concentrate on a particulr sector for a series of visits.
Most of the schools I have been hearing from performed well but its important to note the typical items the inspectors were looking for:
1) Chemicals were high on the list. Schools need to ensure that all lab substances are properly labelled, correctly stored and in date.
2) As fire could be a disastrous event in a school, the fire safety precautions came under very close scrutiny.
3) One of the other hot topics was the issue of maintenance and housekeeping staff and how they are supported and trained.
There were of course various other issues that arose on a school by school basis but these 3 were among the most common.
