ABSTRACT
No headteacher would say that health and safety is low priority. However, this does not mean that health and safety is given appropriate attention or risks are properly managed. Because accidents are rare and are fortunately usually not serious, other priorities take precedence and complacency all too easily creeps in. A school does not seem like a particularly unsafe environment, not (say) compared with a factory or a building site. But it is particularly risky to see health and safety as an exclusively premises issue. It is a moral, legal and economic issue. Taking care of health and safety is clearly ‘the right thing’ to do and as a moral issue needs no discussion. But the legal and economic aspects of health and safety deserve close attention.
