Risk assessment advice for educational visits
Risk assessment plays a vitally important part in the planning and organisation on any school tour and is one area we are asked about frequently by our group leaders, especially those organising an educational visit for the first time. A risk assessment is your evidence that the process of planning your trip has taken place, it doesn't need to be complicated but it does need to record significant findings, identify realistic and foreseeable hazards, the control measures you are going to implement and the benefits of the activity. Think of this process along the same lines as a lesson plan whereby you set out your learning outcomes; in other words, ‘why we are doing this?’.
NST's Risk Assessments guide
Our risk assessment guide was written in response to the large number of group leaders that seek help with completing their own risk assessments for their NST school tour. The guide aims to help you understand more about your obligations and how you can more effectively manage group safety on your next educational visit and provide you with risk assessments for your trip.
Within our guide you'll find:
- How to risk assess
- Example code of conduct
- Generic risk assessments
- Accommodation safety advice
- Accommodation risk assessment
- Transport risk assessment
- Visit risk assessment
- Geography-specific risk assessments
Further advice, permissions & training
Our guide illustrates some common basic principles and how they can be effectively used to benefit your own study tour Group Management Plans, we advise that you should always recognise the importance of referring to your employer’s guidelines.
The Outdoor Education Advisors Panel (OEAP) provide useful information and guidance regarding best practice and health and safety on educational trips - http://oeapng.info/