Governors will ensure that the school complies with statutory legislative requirements and Local Authority policies. Although academy and private schools do not have to follow the national curriculum and funding provided to them is different; governors in these schools still navigate the system so as to provide a safe school environment for staff and pupils. 

Governors ensure clarity of vision and strategic direction for the school. They hold the headteacher and staff to account for the educational performance of the school(s) and play a responsible role in influencing the health and safety policy of the school. A governor will be aware of the names, positions and roles of the persons who have specific responsibility for health and safety.  A governor will know who is responsible for administrative matters as regards health and safety, i.e. who keeps records and investigates accidents, who carries out health and safety training and who carries out inspections. 

All governors will follow the law and local regulations. Where applicable, there may be school governance procedures and regulations that need to be adhered to, as well as advisory bodies to liaise with. Local health and safety inspectors enforce health and safety laws in schools. Governors will need to know about reports of any health and safety audits carried out, including any enforcement action. Governors should make their findings known to parents, staff, to the local authority, if applicable, and to any other relevant members. 

Although there is no requirement for governors to carry out inspections themselves, they may wish to visit particular departments and complete tours of the school. The important thing is that governors know that inspections are being carried out. Governors will wish to satisfy themselves that monitoring arrangements are in place and the results of these are reported to the governing body. A governor will be aware of the current control measures in place to reduce / eliminate the risks. 

A governor asks challenging questions of school leaders, acts in the best interests of the pupils and the school, acts in strict confidence and in a professional manner and contributes to the strategic discussions at governing body meetings. The message they must lead is, that, all children, including those with special education needs have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. 

iProtectU health and safety software provides an eLearning course on Health and Safety Awareness for Governors. 

iProtectU provides school inspection forms and allows a user to create, edit and document a risk assessment regarding the management of health and safety in the workplace. 

iProtectU brings together the key resources and knowledge of three companies specialising in EHS software development, health and safety, business intelligence and data analytics. 

Our vision is to provide fully integrated, cost effective and simple to use health and safety software tools that enable our clients to engage their entire team.