The start of a new school year brings a flurry of activity - new faces, new routines and a renewed focus on creating a safer school environment. But without a clear and effective health and safety induction, new employees can be left vulnerable to common risks
In fact, according to employer reports, there were 4,845 non-fatal injuries in the Education sector in 2022/23. Many of these incidents could have been prevented with the right training and awareness from day one.
Whether you’re welcoming teachers, support staff or site teams, delivering a consistent and compliant health and safety induction for new employees is more than just a compliance exercise - it’s a legal obligation and a vital part of safeguarding your school community.
Throughout this blog, we’ll guide you through:
- What an effective induction should include
- Common pitfalls to avoid
- Legislation surrounding health and safety training for schools
- How iAM Compliant’s new 45-minute online course can help you save time while meeting your statutory duties
Let’s dive in!
Health and Safety Training for Schools: Essential for All New Staff
It’s crucial that new school staff members, whether teachers, administrators, caretakers, or catering assistants, understand the risks in their environment and how to stay safe. Delivering consistent health and safety training for schools isn’t just good practice - it’s a legal requirement, and one of the most important ways to protect the wider school community.
New staff may be unfamiliar with your specific premises, protocols and procedures. Without clear training, they’re likely to make mistakes or miss hazards that could lead to serious incidents.
Here’s why schools and MATs must prioritise health and safety induction for new employees:
- Duty of care: As an employer, you have a legal and moral responsibility to ensure the safety of all staff, students, and visitors.
- Legal compliance: Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, all employers must provide relevant and role-specific training.
- Risk awareness: School sites encompass a variety of environments, including science labs, playgrounds, and kitchens, each with unique hazards. Staff need to be equipped to recognise and manage them.
- Supports safeguarding: When combined with training on safeguarding and first aid, health and safety awareness helps create a safe, supportive environment for children.
- Improves audit readiness: Evidence of staff completing compliant training is essential during Ofsted visits or HSE inspections.
- Reduces incidents: Effective induction reduces the likelihood of accidents, absences and costly investigations.
- Promotes consistency: Standardised training ensures all staff receive the same information - no gaps, no confusion.
Every person working in your school contributes to a safe environment, and they all need training that reflects their specific role. Health and safety induction training must be conducted for all educational staff, including:
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With iAM Compliant, delivering and tracking health and safety training for schools is easier than ever. Our extensive training library includes over 400+ CPD-accredited and IOSH-approved courses, including:
Just Launched: The Ultimate Health & Safety Course for Schools
Get your new staff up to speed in just 45 minutes with our CPD-accredited, school-specific Health & Safety Induction course, available now!
Our new course is designed to save you time while ensuring your school stays compliant with all statutory health and safety duties. This engaging and animated course is role-relevant, offering a perfect way to onboard staff quickly and effectively during the busy start to the term.
In just 45 minutes, staff will be equipped with essential knowledge to stay safe, recognise risks, and follow best practices. Whether you're onboarding teachers, admin or support staff, this course delivers the core health and safety induction training every employee needs.
Why you’ll love this course:
- Quick & Efficient: At just 45 minutes, it’s designed to fit into tight schedules.
- Engaging Content: Animated, interactive and story-driven to keep staff focused and make learning stick.
- Customisable: Add relevant modules based on your specific needs or risk profiles.
- Compliant & Accredited: IOSH-approved and CPD-accredited, ensuring your training meets the highest standards.
Save time and boost compliance from day one with this dynamic, role-specific course.
Health and Safety Induction Checklist for New School Staff
Whether you're onboarding teaching staff, support staff or site managers, your induction should be tailored, thorough and fully compliant with educational legislation. To help you cover the essentials, here’s what a school health and safety induction should include:
Health and Safety in Education: Common Training Challenges
Ensuring high standards of health and safety in education is essential - but delivering consistent, compliant training isn’t always straightforward. From time pressures to a lack of standardisation, many schools face similar hurdles when trying to onboard new staff safely.
If these challenges sound familiar, you’re not alone. Common health and safety training challenges in schools include:
- Lack of time during term starts - September is one of the busiest times of year, and staff are already stretched. Creating, delivering and tracking bespoke health and safety induction training can easily fall through the cracks.
- Inconsistent training across roles or sites - Without a centralised system, staff may receive different information - or none at all - especially across complex Multi-Academy Trusts.
- Poor visibility and tracking - It’s difficult to monitor who has completed training, what’s overdue, or what’s needed for compliance, making audit preparation stressful and time-consuming.
- Training that’s too generic or hard to engage with - Long, one-size-fits-all courses aren’t always suitable for education settings, and many staff don’t retain what they’ve learned without engaging content.
- Risk of non-compliance - Without proper induction, schools risk breaching legal compliance duties - something no school wants to face during an Ofsted inspection or HSE audit.
iAM Compliant is built specifically to help schools and MATs overcome these exact issues - streamlining health and safety training for schools and saving valuable time. Here’s how:
- Time-saving, ready-to-go courses - Over 400+ CPD-accredited and IOSH-approved courses, including a new 45-minute Health & Safety Induction, available now.
- Bite-sized learning - Courses are typically just 2–15 minutes long, making them ideal for time-stretched staff.
- Role-relevant training - Tailored modules for teachers, admin staff, caretakers and more, so everyone gets what they need.
- Expert Learning Management System (LMS) - Easily assign, track and evidence staff training across your school or trust.
- Engaging, accessible content - Animated storytelling, interactivity, subtitles and transcripts to improve engagement and retention for all learners.
- Audit-ready reporting - Instantly access training records to demonstrate compliance to Ofsted, HSE and MAT leadership.
Start Delivering Smarter Health and Safety Inductions with iAM Compliant
With iAM Compliant, schools and Multi-Academy Trusts can take the stress out of health and safety inductions. Instead of struggling with inconsistent, time-consuming processes, you can deliver engaging, compliant training that’s tailored to every role - and track it all with ease.
Whether you’re preparing for Ofsted, managing multiple sites or simply want to save valuable admin time, iAM Compliant gives you the confidence that every staff member is trained, engaged and compliant from day one.
Ready to simplify your training and safeguard your school? Book a demo today and see how iAM Compliant can transform your health and safety inductions.
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