ABSTRACT
We start with some comments on the LEA’s input. Generally, the health and safety of employees is the responsibility of employers. In schools, it is staff not children who are employees and the LEA is the employer. So commentators, as well as individuals in the education field, have to consider how the law works as regards children. Croner (Primary Education Directory, 1993, p. 3) notes that ‘who is responsible is a thorny question’ but that the head, as the person in charge of the workplace, and the governors, with their increasing responsibilities, must be held responsible; they cannot assume that they can ‘take refuge’ behind the 1988 Education Reform Act’s assertion that the LEA is finally responsiblealthough many LEAs do retain responsibility for some aspects of premises. According to the Health and Safety Commission (1995, pp. 1-5), in the case of maintained schools, the responsibility for staff and children lies with the education authority; it may require the school to work up a health and safety policy, and the governors will be expected to monitor and review its operations. The head will be responsible for the management of the policy on a day-to-day basis.
