Covid Risk Assessments for Education and Training Providers
The Department for Education updated its guidance for Covid risk assessments last week. Education and training providers are required by law to consider the risks the staff and students face and do everything reasonably practicable to minimise them, recognising you cannot completely eliminate the risk of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Education and training providers can develop risk assessments in many different ways. However, using a system such as Stedfast, which has an integrated risk assessment module, will make this easier.
Education and training providers must carry out a covid risk assessment, identify the measures needed to reduce the risks from covid (COVID-19) so far as is reasonably practicable and document these.
Every risk assessment should include a summary of the risks arising from covid and the measures put in place to reduce risk.
A covid risk assessment can be created in many different ways. How you develop an assessment is up to you, but using a covid risk assessment module such as Stedfast will make it easier. To create a covid risk assessment, you need to consider the risks and the measures put in place to reduce those risks from covid (COVID-19).
What is a Covid Risk Assessment?
A covid risk assessment should include a summary of covid risks and the steps taken to reduce them.
A covid risk assessment needs to be created and updated regularly. If you need additional guidance, you can see this on the HSE website.
5 Steps to Creating a Covid Risk Assessment
There are five steps to creating a risk assessment.
Step One: Assess the likelihood of Covid causing an illness or injury to you and your organisation by gathering information about covid risk, covid incidents in the past, covid contacts in the past.
Step Two: Decide what level of Covid risk would be acceptable for your organisation by considering covid risks and covid control measures that are currently being implemented to reduce them.
Pick which controls will work best for you and make a plan for implementing them.
The Covid risk assessment should include a summary of covid risks and the steps taken to reduce them.
Step Three: Implement covid control measures before covid becomes an illness or injury in your organisation by setting target dates for when they will be implemented and monitoring results of covid risk assessment activities such as measuring how well covid risk reduction has been done.
Communicate the covid risk assessment to staff members, covid control officers and students so they can work together on reducing covid risks.
Step Four: Implement Covid Risk Reduction Controls before covid becomes an illness or injury in your organisation by setting target dates for implementing them, and monitoring covid risk assessment activities such as measuring how well covid risks have been reduced.
Step Five: Communicate the Covid Risk Assessment to staff members, covid control officers and students so they can work together on reducing covid risks.
It is important for everyone in an organisation that has contact with people who could be at covid risk to consider the covid risks and controls that are currently being implemented.