Safety Lessons From The School Safety Summit

On the 17th May, the second edition of the School Safety Summit themed Emergency Response Preparedness in Schools held. We had safety professionals answering questions on the importance of policies and procedures, basic first aid, training children on safety, preventing abduction in schools and related areas. We had the public presentation and review of the second book in The Adventures of Muna child safety story book series. The Keynote speaker, Taiwo Akinlami shared on the importance of preparedness in child protection. And then we had the panel with representatives of State agencies: Lagos State Safety Commission, Federal Road Safety Corp, Fire Service and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps. They answered questions from regulatory requirements to preventing accidents with students in school buses, choosing security for schools and important tips to ensure fire safety in school buildings.

Here are some of the things we learned:
Importance of a safety plan
Wherever you see people gathered, you should expect that anything can happen to compromise safety. Safety is for everybody and therefore emergency response plans should be in place. It is imperative for all schools to have a safety plan for the students otherwise there will be penalties. School owners should take safety as seriously as collecting school fees or employing teachers. It shouldn’t be left as a ‘God forbid’ factor.

First Aid knowledge is key
Each school must first decide and know the kind of students they can handle as an institution (special needs or not). Then you must train staff as first aiders to meet the first aid needs of your school population. Children should also be taught as they can save lives too.

Be proactive about fire prevention
Every school must conduct a proper risk assessment to note the possible causes of fire in that particular school environment (quality of material for AC, TV, electrical connection). Depending on the findings of the risk assessment, schools can have a fire alarm system right from the onset, the right fire extinguishers and constantly carry out workplace inspections and audits.

Play your role to prevent child abduction
Teach children to avoid collecting things from strangers. Teach them to scream and flail their arms if someone is trying to take them aware. Ensure that when you drop off your children at school, church or home, they have gone into the building before you drive off as sometimes abductors lurk around gates. Report immediately you notice a child is missing.

School bus safety is possible
For starters, you need to ensure proper regular maintenance of your school bus. Any school with a minimum of 3 vehicles is a fleet operator and so should be registered as that and comply with safety principles laid down by the Federal Road Safety Commission. Each school bus must have 2 exits and there should always be an assistant in the school bus. Ensure your school bus tyres, brakes and essential parts are in good condition.

School bus drivers play an important role
The safety of children can be compromised by drivers. Therefore it is essential to train and re-train drivers. Schools could sign up with the Federal Road Safety Commission to ensure their drivers are properly trained and can be monitored. Teach drivers that when students alight from school buses, they need to hear the doors get shut first then visually check before they drive off to avoid children getting trapped by the vehicle

There are penalties for failure to comply with set safety standards
Irrespective of the reasons school owners get into the business of running a school, it is important to find out the necessary safety standards and comply. Schools must ensure that there is an existing safety policy, child protection policy, standard operating procedures that ensure the school is a safe place, periodic evaluation and review. The Lagos State Safety Commission sends consultants to audit schools and it is advised that schools take note and implement recommendations. Failure to comply could result to fine and school shut down but there will be dialogue first to help the school meet up to set standards.

Security of schools should be done by trained professionals
Some times, schools get untrained personnel to man their gates because it is cheap. This could backfire on the schools because usually such persons are not properly trained and you might not have their records to trace them in the case of a problem. Therefore it is important to get security personnel from professional outfits as it reduces the risk associated with random staff at such a sensitive position.