Join us for Episode 14 of The Safer Schools Podcast as we welcome special guest Charlotte Sloan, Legal Director in the Employment Team at Birketts LLP and part of the Birketts education sector team, to discuss everything that schools need to know about identifying and supporting staff with medical conditions or disabilities from both a Health & Safety and HR/Employment law perspective, including:
- Means of identifying staff with medical conditions or disabilities
- Health & Safety and HR/Employment law relevant to supporting staff with medical conditions or disabilities
- The need for personal risk assessments and how to complete them
- Options available to schools when the personal risk assessment confirms that the level of risk is not acceptable, or the employee is no longer fit to perform their role safely
- The need for Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) and how to complete them
- The need for suitable policies, procedures and processes
We also discuss lots of case studies and examples throughout, and signpost to useful guidance documents.
Typically the narrative is an employee has returned to work, possibly they’ve had an accident, they’ve got an injury, or they’ve had an operation, or it’s a new member of staff with a disability – and there’s no formal process to manage these situations. Quite often there’s no formal risk assessment in place.
So, if you’re responsible for overseeing Human Resources, Health & Safety, compliance or medical care in a school, then this is the episode for you!
Let’s start a conversation on how we can make our schools safer!
To listen to Episode 14 just click on the button below, and don’t forget to subscribe in your podcast app (available in Podbean, Spotify, and Amazon Music).
Questions, comments, suggestions for topics? This is your Podcast too…
Drop an email to: info@pearsonwebb.co.uk
We’ve provided links below to the various guidance documents and other resources referred to in this episode:
- Link to further information on The ISBA Annual Conference 2025 (N.B. you will need to be a member of The ISBA and logged in to access): Click Here
- Safety and Health Practitioner (SHP) news article Court upholds WM Morrisons Ltd conviction after adjustments not made for vulnerable worker
- Health & Safety Executive (HSE) Guidance Health and Safety for Disabled People at Work
- Department for Education (DfE) Guidance Equality Act 2010: Advice for Schools
- Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Guidance Getting the most out of the fit note: Guidance for employers and line managers
- DCLG Guidance document Fire Safety Risk Assessment: Educational Premises
- DCLG Guidance document Fire Safety Risk Assessment: Means of Escape for Disabled People
- Contact details for our guest Charlotte Sloan:
- Telephone: 01732 904804
- Email: charlotte-sloan@birketts.co.uk
- Website: www.birketts.co.uk
- Sign up to receive newsletters and webinar and event invitations from Birketts here event (scroll to the bottom of the page)
