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Back to School Safety and Insurance Tips for Schools
In Singapore, the end of the summer holiday marks the beginning of the school term, and early September is when schools need to be ready to welcome back their students. Preparation can start well in advance before the start of the new term, during which, the school’s risk management and safety procedures should be reviewed.
To help schools begin the new term with confidence, school insurance specialist Pacific Prime Singapore provides a few back to school safety and insurance tips that will help to ensure that teachers, staff members, visitors, and students are safe at all times.
Back to school safety tips
Returning to school, especially after a long break, can be an exciting time for students wanting to share their summer experiences with friends and teachers. However, with all things in life, there’s always a chance of something misfortunate occurring during school time that puts the safety of teachers, students, parents and others on-site at risk.
Here are a few safety tips for private and international schools to incorporate in their preparation for a new school term, so that teachers, parents, and students can be reassured of your school’s safety:
- Utilizing various communication channels to make important announcements: Technology is playing a pivotal role in getting messages across quickly and directly. Tools normally range from voice notifications to school online portals, and the various social media platforms available on mobile devices. To increase safety, schools can make announcements throughout the year of upcoming projects, events, renovation work or improvements to facilities. If students are informed of these predetermined events, they will be more wary of the risks or dangers, such as scaffolding from renovation works on the school grounds.
- Having teachers and senior members at the school gates: It is a nice experience to see your teachers first thing in the morning welcoming you and seeing you out of the school gates at the end of the day. Not only is this a reassuring sight, but teachers are likely to pick out any anomalies, as they are the ones that spend most of their time with students. There are known incidences of strangers or unwanted visitors wittingly entering the school grounds, which poses a risk not only to students but teachers and other members of the school staff.
- Installing a lightning warning alert system: Singapore can experience freak weather storms which means the risk of a lighting strike is considerable. Therefore schools need to have a reliable system to forecast dangers, such as lightning and be able to provide warnings. Lightning warning systems can be installed on-site to increase the safety of all individuals. They can provide continuous monitoring of the surrounding electric field and trigger a warning signal when there is a potential for lighting.
- Risk assessment workshop for teachers: Schools are required to carry out risk assessments to comply with the requirements of the management of health and safety at work regulations. Schools should also have teachers trained in this area so that they can contribute to reducing the number of avoidable accidents, incidents, and losses. This further increases the safety of students, but also reassure parents that schools are being accountable for the actions and operations that occur at schools.
- School fire drills and evacuation plans: Schools should frequently review the fire safety system and liaise with the local fire department or fire regulators to make sure that their system is working. Fire drills should be rehearsed so that teachers and students know the exact steps to take in the event of a real fire. In the event of a real fire, there will be more control, awareness, and composure in the students and teachers to evacuate, without increasing the risk of injury.
School insurance solutions tips
- International and private schools, in particular, should be wary about the risk of certain activities such as sports day and field trips abroad. To protect against unexpected medical emergencies from accidents and travel-related mishaps such as lost property, schools should secure group travel insurance.
- As schools utilize more and more technological tools and software programs to achieve greater efficiencies in running its curriculum and empowering teachers, it’s important to also protect against the rise of cybercrime. Online criminals take every opportunity to steal personal information and this may include personal information of students in schools. By securing cyber insurance earlier on, any losses or damages caused by cybercriminals can be covered, which is a relief for schools responsible for hundreds of students.
- Teachers are reliable and trustworthy individuals capable of sharing knowledge and helping students to develop their skills and hone their abilities. However, there may be times when teachers fall out of line and fail to fulfill their duties. This is when professional indemnity insurance comes into play and helps to cover compensation payments, legal fees, and lawsuit expenses. Additionally, directors and officers liability insurance provide coverage when lawsuits and allegations are made against your board of school directors and officers.
- For teachers, an essential employee benefit is group health insurance that helps to protect individuals against the cost of falling ill. Burnout from teaching is common and falling ill is likely when exposed to students that may be ill with a cold and virus.
Download Pacific Prime’s School Insurance Guide 2018-2019
Download Pacific Prime’s School Insurance Guide 2018-2019 and get access to relevant information and recommended insurance plans for international and private schools in Singapore.
School insurance covers many aspects in schools as illustrated in our infographic.
Talk with our advisors today for answers to any insurance questions you may have, and receive a non-obligatory quote, and plan comparison.
His expert view and wealth of knowledge on insurance can also be found in his blogs for China, Dubai, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
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