A bit of background: The Common sense: Common safety review by
Lord Young in 2010 recommended ways for removing unnecessary
bureaucracy in health and safety, and tackling the compensation
culture. In his report, Lord Young identified that schools have
been prevented from taking pupils on educational visits, citing
health and safety as a ‘reason for non-participation’. He goes
on to say the process ‘involves a huge amount of form-filling –
ranging from consent forms to risk assessments – and the
valuable time of education officials including the school
governors, the head teacher, group leaders and the educational
visits coordinator.’ In order to tackle these issues, Lord Young
made recommendations to: - Simplify the process that schools and
similar organisations undertake before taking children on trips.
- Introduce a single consent form that covers all activities a
child may undertake during his or her time at a school. -
Introduce a simplified risk assessment for classrooms. - Shift
from a system of risk as