Schools officers play an important role in contributing to the everyday activities and safety of school grounds. Schools officers perform a wide range of duties that require knowledge and understanding of health and safety practices.
Schools Officers folder
The Health and Safety for Schools Officers folder is a valuable resource for schools sfficers and staff involved in the supervision of schools officers.
The folder provides schools officers with information that will assist them in managing health and safety issues related to their specific roles. The information may also be relevant to other operational roles (e.g. agricultural assistants, environmental and marine officers).
Each part of the Health and Safety for Schools Officers folder can be downloaded below. The folder is divided into 6 sections of content. You can download each fact sheet or poster to collate your own Health and Safety for Schools Officers folder. It is recommended that the contents of your folder are checked and updated at least annually.
The information below contains safe operating procedure (SOP) resources that individual schools officers may find relevant to their work activities. Find SOPs for specific equipment and machinery on the
equipment and machinery resources page. Departmental staff can find information about chemicals on the health and safety initiatives page on OnePortal.
The contents of the Schools Officers folder is available by section below:
Induction
Section 2 – Course information
Use the following information and risk-specific assessment templates to identify and manage hazards:
Section 3 – Equipment and machinery
Personal protective equipment (PPE)
Section 4 – Chemicals
Schools officers may be required to undertake work using hazardous chemicals and dangerous goods, including: pesticides, fuels, gas and pool chemicals. All employees are to familiarise themselves with processes for the safe selection, use and management of chemicals. Note that all chemical purchases require an approved
pre-purchase chemical risk assessment.
Section 5 – Working at heights
Schools officers may be required to undertake work where there is a risk of falling from height. All employees are to familiarise themselves with the information for undertaking safe work at heights found on the Hazards and risks –
Working at heights section of this website.
Schools are advised that there is a
prohibition on departmental staff, students and volunteers being on (or working on) roofs at Education Queensland facilities.
Section 6 – Other safety information
Resources
Safe operating procedures
SOPs provide detailed information on how to address issues related to the safe use of equipment. A range of
generic SOPs for use with plant and equipment and
hazardous manual tasks are provided. Simply modify the wording to reflect any local circumstances at your school before you implement them.
Fact sheets
Health and safety fact sheets provide information about topics that are common in school settings.
Checklists
Checklists have been developed to assist in the identification of specific hazards in school environments. After completing the checklist, consult with your workplace health and safety advisor (HSA) and/or school health and safety committee about actions to fix identified hazards.
Safety and hazard alerts
Safety and hazard alerts highlight incidents that have arisen in departmental workplaces. They provide workplaces with concise information on a range of specific safety issues and hazardous incidences. Copies can be printed from the link and displayed in appropriate areas of your workplace.
Posters
Safety animations
The safety animations provide quick reminders on how to work safely in the departmental environment. You can find them in the respective hazard sections.
Legislation and other links