Local authorities, as employers, are responsible for the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees. They must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of anyone else on their premises or anyone affected by their activities. This includes participants in off-site visits.
For independent schools the owner, governors or trustees hold these responsibilities.
For these reasons, where local authority or other professional guidance is given, you must follow the guidance.
Local authorities have the following main roles:
- Provide written guidelines for heads of establishments and excursion leaders.
- Give advice on risk assessment.
- Provide access to technical advice (through a named individual) where necessary.
- Assess proposals for certain categories of excursion.
- Have emergency procedures in place for dealing with major incidents/emergencies.
- Ensure training needs have been addressed.
- Have appropriate insurance cover in place.
- Have in place procedures to monitor and review safety during off-site excursions and activities.
Our health and safety guidance
The guidance available in this website cannot replace local or other professional guidance or regulations. Schools/centres should follow local authority guidance as a first recourse.
Our guidance has been developed with input from a range of national organisations, including the Health and Safety Executive, and represents a shared view of good practice in managing safety and risk for educational excursions of all types.
It takes a realistic and enabling approach to risk management, which recognises that risk must be balanced against benefits, and can never be eliminated entirely. It recognises that properly managed risk can be beneficial for learners and enables them to become effective risk assessors in their own right.
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