From ventilation to violence, unions push for policies to promote safety of school staff

Fórsa's conference heard that 500 SNAs were assaulted at work in the last five years, while the INTO has resolved to create guidelines for dealing with violence against primary teachers. Picture: iStock

The lack of guidance and clear policies on health and safety in the education sector has led to “wholly inadequate” situations for the workforce, according to Fórsa union members.

A motion passed at the trade union’s education division conference heard that whileif it  some schools were hugely proactive in putting such safety measures in place during the pandemic, there were also incidents where boards of management “penny-pinched” and refused to provide PPE or equipment to resolve ventilation issues.

This was despite funding being made available by the Department of Education.

The education sector in general is “lagging” behind others when it comes to health and safety, the conference heard.

Workers can often find themselves “working in premises that are not up to standard, often cold and damp, with inadequate facilities and ventilation”.

They can also find themselves “in roles that have not been risk assessed”, or where PPE is either not provided at all or is inadequate.

Veronica Crowley, Roscrea, Margaret McCabe, Nenagh, and Gareth Heagney, Ennis, at the Irish National Teachers' Organisation annual congress in Killarney. Picture: Moya Nolan

A motion passed at the conference will now see the union seek the introduction of a health and safety charter across the education sector.

• Separately, special needs assistants (SNAs) have been assaulted in their line of work and, in a small number of cases, this has been serious, the Fórsa conference heard.

Some have experienced frozen shoulders, fractured backs, and having their hair pulled out. A Freedom of Information request has put the number of assaults on SNAs over the last five years at 500.

Leave for SNAs assaulted as part of their line of work is currently capped at 92 days. In exceptional cases, they will receive another three months at full pay, subject to a limit within a four-year period.

Any other leave is classed as sick leave. Following the passing of a motion put forward by the North Dublin/North Leinster SNA branch, Fórsa will now seek to ensure SNAs will not lose sick leave entitlements due to serious assaults. 

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• A motion passed earlier this week by the

Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) will see the union’s central executive committee now work to create a set of practical guidelines for schools on what to do when a primary school teacher is subjected to physical aggression.

The INTO will also conduct research among its members to determine the levels of physical assault teachers face in both mainstream and special education settings.

INTO deputy general secretary Deirdre O’Connor said a circular from 2017 currently provides for leave when a primary school teacher suffers an injury from assault.

“The main difficulty we have with the assault leave circular is that it only covers physical injury arising from an assault. We know that the impact of assault is wider than simply a physical injury.”

“Say, for example, a child injures a teacher, hits a teacher. It may not have a lasting physical injury, but that does have a psychological effect."