Defence mechanisms
Violence in the classrooms and playgrounds of schools is all too common. Noel Walsh reports on how schools can fully protect their reputation, staff and pupils through implementing effective risk management
Teachers are complaining of a lack of care from their employers and law enforcement agencies in protecting them from violence in school. A survey undertaken by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers reveals that 87 per cent of staff have dealt with disruptive pupils over the past year; more than 200 have made claims on their personal insurance policies for injuries sustained. Two out of three of all assaults in schools were against adults. It is against this background that schools must consider how they tackle this important workplace issue, not just for the wellbeing of staff, but to protect their reputation.
To start
There are common law and statutory requirements for employers to protect their employees from harm. Likewise, there is a legal duty on schools to protect pupils. All employees are required to undertake a risk assessment under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 and implement all reasonable measures to reduce the risk of injury. Failure to take appropriate steps could expose the school to a civil claim for damages and, in extreme cases, prosecution.
A planned assessment should be undertaken and reviewed at set intervals by a designated individual. It is important that employers clearly set out responsibilities in terms of who undertakes what level of assessment, how and when. Incident-recording systems should support and inform the risk assessment process; schools should develop a system to record incidents of threats and violence.
The risk assessments should lead to a number of control measures. These should include primary controls that address the root causes of frustration and conflict at an organisational level. This includes establishing clear policies of what will and will not be tolerated, outlining the lines of communication and escalation, identifying hotspots where conflicts may occur, for example, in inadequacy of cover staff at certain times, or with particular cohorts of pupils.
Secondary controls should prevent conflict escalating into violence by using communication and conflict management skills, including how to defuse and calm situations. The effectiveness of the secondary control will depend on adequate training.
Teaching staff should be taught physical intervention skills to help them take action when violence occurs or after it has occurred, to prevent or reduce potential physical and psychological harm to themselves, other members of staff and pupils. Typically, this will involve disengagement and other physical intervention tactics, although the use of emergency procedures and the recommendation of exit and containment strategies may also be relevant.
The gentle touch
Physical intervention may be necessary in certain circumstances. For example, where there is expectation that a member of staff or another pupil may come under physical attack but may not be able to withdraw safely from that situation. The decision to teach physical intervention and the scope of training must be underpinned by an objective assessment of the risks. Any training should form part of an integrated strategy that emphasises prevention rather than intervention. However, where required, staff are entitled to use proportionate and reasonable force to prevent injury to others or to themselves.
As part of their overall assessment of policies, schools should consider their strategy for returning a teacher into the workplace who has been the victim of an assault or a threatened assault. In some cases, teachers will have suffered significant psychological injury and this can easily be inflamed by returning the member of staff into close proximity to the original assailant.
Get the balance right
The balance between protecting staff and providing pupils with an environment where they can both express themselves and learn is a difficult one. If schools can demonstrate that they have implemented appropriate policies, shared information as required and trained their staff to a level appropriate to the risk, then they will satisfy their duties of care both to their employees and pupils.
Noel Walsh is head of commercial insurance at Weightmans LLP. Noel can be contacted on noel.walsh@weightmans.com.
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