This Health and Safety Notice should be read and understood by all employees of Oxford Brookes University who are responsible for preparing School/Directorate health and safety policy documents.
This OBUHSN is intended to support Deans of Schools/Directors of Directorates in the task of preparing School/Directorate Health and Safety Policies. It is not intended to be a directive.
In aiming to achieve standardisation of good health and safety practices across the University, the Safety Officer will ensure that certain minimum topics are included in all safety policies.
When writing the School/Directorate safety policy and associated documentation there will be a need to assess the activities undertaken within the School/Directorate and the associated hazards. There is also a need to assess the areas visited by staff and students (of the School/Directorate) that is not their normal place of work, within the School/Directorate, University and field trips. To assist in the assessment a check-list has been devised (List of Hazardous Areas).
The check list is only a guide to what should be considered in the School/Directorate health and safety policy. There may be other hazardous areas and (List of Hazardous Areas) details some of these. Similarly there are potential hazards that are listed in (Potential Hazards), but this list is not comprehensive.
Name of Faculty/Directorate and the name of its Dean or Director. The Dean of Faculty/Director of Directorate must sign and date the policy document.
A list of all OBUHSNs referred to in the policy document.
A list of all spaces covered by the Faculty/Directorate policy document and arranged by types, drafted from the List of Hazardous Areas (List of Hazardous Areas).
Health and safety arrangements in each type of space/area are to be described under each applicable health and safety topic. Headings omitted will be read as not applicable to the particular space. Spaces of unique types must be listed separately. In describing health and safety arrangements it will be sufficient to refer to a relevant OBUHSN if the provisions of that Health and Safety Notice are in force in the particular area.
All staff should know, and all students should be instructed in:
Technical staff should know how to layout, prepare and clear laboratories, preparation rooms, lecture and seminar rooms, machinery, laboratory equipment, chemicals, other preparations and subjects. This knowledge will ensure safe demonstrations and experiments.
Teaching and research staff and any other staff who may be responsible for students should know the number of people who can be accommodated safely in any room or space used by staff or students. The staff must also know and observe any other precautions necessary for student safety, especially the procedures which students should follow in evacuation of the space and the needs of students for training and supervision (OBUHSN-09).
Procedures for raising maintenance defect requests for all repairs, especially those relating to health and safety and for dealing with information on safety matters passing between Faculty/Directorate staff and students and the Safety Officer and Health and Safety Committee.