Health and Safety Coordinators

The Health and Safety Coordinator is concerned with the day-to-day safety organisation within their school or building. This is a voluntary role appointed by the Head of School or Professional Services Director.

Health and Safety Community of Practice MS Team

We have set up a Microsoft Teams to support all staff that have health and safety responsibilities in their local area. The Team is used to share H&S updates, ask questions and share good practice. We have a General channel in the Team which all members can see and contribute to, as well as private channels for each of the College/Support Groups, to allow for area specific discussions. All new Health and Safety Coordinators (HSC) will be added to the group by the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Department. 

Updates and news blog

The Department uses the University blogging system to update the community on health and safety matters, guidance and important information in addition to direct emails if required. All HSC have been added to the Blog and will receive an email when a blog is published, unless they have opted out of this part of the system. All University staff can access the Health and Safety blog.

Responsibilities

Health and Safety Coordinators are appointed under the authority of the University Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy, Framework on Managing Health and Safety, section 6. Responsibilities are detailed in the following document.

Health and Safety Coordinator duties 

University Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy

The full Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy and Framework documents are available online.

University Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy and codes of practice

Various template checklists are also available, such as for local health and safety inspection, in our Checklists section.

Accident and incident investigations

HSCs will receive an email for any accidents or incidents submitted for their area and are expected to act upon any accidents or incidents which are submitted using the online system called AIR (Accident and Incident Reporting). For very minor incidents, a review of the accident may be all that is required. For more serious incidents, a more thorough investigation may be more appropriate.

Please see our Accident/Incident reporting pages for more information on what is expected and support available.

Retention of health and safety documents

The Health, Safety and Wellbeing Department have put together a retention schedule for common health and safety documents. The schedule sets out the minimum amount of time that you need to keep certain common types of health and safety records. This retention schedule does not apply to documents held by the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Department.

Health and Safety records Retention Schedule for Schools

HSCs contacts list

A contacts page listing all HSCs is available below. This is only accessible by University staff and students.

Training

No formal qualifications or standards of training for Health and Safety Coordinators have yet been set down in any of the relevant legislation. Appropriate training, to assist HSCs to understand and perform their role and functions within their own schools, is available on People and Money.   It is expected that all Health and Safety Coordinators complete this online training course.

Course outline

This course covers the following information:

  • Health and safety law and University health and safety policy
  • University management structure and roles and responsibilities
  • Accident and incident reporting, training, and risk assessment
  • Accident and incident management - including how to report an accident etc., and how to use the AIR system to manage your accidents etc. and a template investigation form
  • Further useful documents
  • Further useful links

Accessing the course

An online course is available for all Health and Safety Coordinators.   Please click on the button below to self-enrol.

Guidance for contact with the HSE

The Health, Safety and Wellbeing Department has produced a general guidance note for HSCs regarding contact with the Health and Safety Executive. This will be sent directly to all HSCs as required.

Another, more specific guidance note, on types of interviews the HSE undertake and how these affect staff, has also been produced and disseminated directly.

Health and Safety Conference

List of regular conferences held by the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Department for School Safety Advisers.

Health and Safety Department

Contact details

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