Safety in schools: Indoor tips
Safety in schools: Indoor tips
Safety in schools is a high priority for SBMs to ensure that students and staff are safe and secure. There can be many potential hazards that can occur inside school buildings that have to be carefully considered. It is vital to create detailed solutions to prevent risks from happening and quickly deal with risks if they occur.
To help you protect your school, we have created some safety in school indoor tips for you to implement.
Upgrade facilities
A start to making your school safer is upgrading vital safety facilities. Upgrade alarm systems if needed and think about keyless door entries for important areas of the school. To help increase the safety of students consider regular safety checks of the building, such as checking flooring for trip hazards. You can even have safety screens for students to ensure no one brings any unsafe items.
Create regular safety checks in all classrooms as students spend the majority of their time in them. Have a checklist that staff can use to check their classrooms. This checklist could have safety checks, such as looking at the stability of tables and chairs.
Revisit policies
School safety policies must be revisited and updated with any potential risks to ensure that protocols can be carried out effectively if needed. To ensure school safety is a priority, it is vital to research and think about new risks that can occur. Risks to students and staff can change constantly as time goes on. Having a well thought out plan to tackle these risks if they occur is essential. Update staff on any changes in the safety plan so they know what to do in certain situations.
Strengthen school & student relations
Increase support for your students to strengthen the relationship between the school and students. Offer regular training to staff in areas such as mental health for them to be able to support students with various issues they may have. The more staff trained in vital areas the more support can be provided for students.
When children feel listened to, they can feel safe and secure in the learning environment. They can also feel more inclined to share their emotions and problems to get the help they need. This includes any potential risks they may be dealing with that the school can prevent. Children can learn the importance of minimising risks and keeping the school safe from confiding in staff. Ensure that staff know how to deal with problems that may arise and risks to stop any potential threats.
Create safe indoor spaces
Think about different activities that occur in certain parts of your school and how to minimise risks for each activity. Ensure that active learning and sports occur in separate spaces for quieter learning and reading time. Doing this minimises the risk of accidents happening and creates traffic patterns to avoid collisions. For example, keep the hall clear for use with active learning and sports and create a school library for reading and quiet learning.
Consider the corridor traffic between classes by making a one-way system. You could also work with staff to monitor the corridors to stop accidents from occurring. It may even be possible to plan certain classes to finish at different times or leave for lunch earlier. Doing this can reduce the number of students travelling through the corridors; therefore, minimising any dangers.
To maintain indoor safety in your school, consider having a safety notice board with the latest changes and updates to inform students and staff. This keeps everyone updated and allows them to understand their part in making the school a safer place. Ensure to purchase safe notice boards for secure displays around the school.
Indoor safety hazards
There are many potential hazards that can occur inside the school building that you need to think about and create solutions for. A few of these hazards can be:
- Spillage of liquids & chemicals
- Corridor doors swing & hit students
- Injuries from sports or activities
- Electricals get wet or malfunction
- Breakage of furniture
- Objects swallowed or causes injury in classrooms
Tackling indoor hazards
Tackling these indoor hazards can be challenging, and it can be difficult to foresee all potential indoor hazards. You could have solutions such as providing protective wear for handling chemicals and a student understanding to clear any spillages or alert staff immediately. You could also tighten door hinges to prevent harsh swinging and have regular technology checks and tests to stop malfunctioning.
Work with staff to discuss hazards that have occurred before and then brainstorm potential risks together. In this brainstorm, work together to create solutions for all risks.
Use these school safety indoor tips to ensure that you minimise as many potential risks as possible and keep students and staff safe. It is vital to have daily safety checks of the building to help you foresee potential hazards and solve current hazards that may have been overlooked. Keeping students safe is the utmost priority, and implementing these tips can strive toward a safe and secure learning environment.
Look out for our school safety outdoor tips blog to further secure your school and protect students and staff from risks. To further support your school, read our create a support system for teachers and students blog.
