The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) launches new award for academy schools

Academy schools are being urged to show their commitment to keeping pupils, staff, parents and guardians safe by entering a RoSPA awards scheme.

The new Academies Safety Award has been added to RoSPA’s prestigious Occupational Health and Safety Awards scheme for 2013, which recognises outstanding work towards preventing accidents and ill health.
Governing bodies, headteachers and management teams responsible for the day-to-day running of academies, after moving away from local authority control, have until December 3 to register for the accolade.

Judges will look closely at measures taken to protect pupils and visitors through health and safety management practices, consistent excellence, efforts to continuously improve performance, and an example of a particular initiative or project run by the academy to support its entry.

David Rushton, head of education and leisure at RoSPA, said: “This brand new award is aimed at academy schools, which are a rapidly expanding part of the education sector. There are now 2,300 academies in England and this number is increasing by the day.

“This new award will recognise the academy that stands out for offering a quality service when it comes to pupil and visitor safety along with other important health and safety responsibilities.

“It offers an ideal way for academies to demonstrate commitment to high health and safety standards to stakeholders, and parents in particular.”

The winner of the Academies Safety Award, sponsored by airsweb, will receive a salver along with the right to use the renowned RoSPA award logo on corporate stationery and its website.

RoSPA’s Occupational Health and Safety Awards scheme was launched in 1956 and is now the largest and longest-running programme of its kind in the UK.

This year, entrants will submit their entries online, through the RoSPA website, for the first time using state-of-the-art web technology.

The RoSPA Awards 2013 are sponsored by NEBOSH – the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health. It is the eighth year that NEBOSH has sponsored the Awards.

For more information on the Academies Safety Award, visit www.rospa.com/awards/, call 0121 248 2090 or email awards@rospa.com. The entry deadline is December 3, 2012.