andreamatt
7th March 2007, 08:48 PM
Sorry, bit of a rant coming on...
I clerk for the governors at a small village school in Devon. A meeting last night was dominated by the subject of legionella.
Bullied by the Health and Safety Executive (and with the real risk of liability through negligence if they don't) schools across the county are having to sign up to expensive contracts with this one environmental firm that monitors risk of legionella.
For our school it's an expensive contract which entails the school staff having to take water samples etc, etc (these are daily and weekly jobs which a caretaker could do but the school, being the size it is, does not have the money for a caretaker). I should say that the school is on mains water, has no holding tank, no air conditioning system.
To meet the requirements of the contract, hot water within the school has been made hotter, to around 55 degrees centigrade (apparently legionella bacteria breed and flourish between 20 and 45 degrees). So now there is a very real danger that a child at the school will scald him/herself... aaaagh.
This is just another very silly, but potentially big and costly, government/HSE driven initiative which the head teacher has to deal with (and for which no extra money is given to the school). The school governors are going to be taking (free) legal advice on this - something else for the head to deal with.
Honestly, who would want to be a head teacher in the UK? A deputy head maybe but not a head.
Do Kiwi head teachers have to put up with the same level of constant petty and costly demands on their time and resources?
Sorry, but I came home from the meeting so angry. Would love to stay and chat with you but have to go and type up minutes...
Andrea
I clerk for the governors at a small village school in Devon. A meeting last night was dominated by the subject of legionella.
Bullied by the Health and Safety Executive (and with the real risk of liability through negligence if they don't) schools across the county are having to sign up to expensive contracts with this one environmental firm that monitors risk of legionella.
For our school it's an expensive contract which entails the school staff having to take water samples etc, etc (these are daily and weekly jobs which a caretaker could do but the school, being the size it is, does not have the money for a caretaker). I should say that the school is on mains water, has no holding tank, no air conditioning system.
To meet the requirements of the contract, hot water within the school has been made hotter, to around 55 degrees centigrade (apparently legionella bacteria breed and flourish between 20 and 45 degrees). So now there is a very real danger that a child at the school will scald him/herself... aaaagh.
This is just another very silly, but potentially big and costly, government/HSE driven initiative which the head teacher has to deal with (and for which no extra money is given to the school). The school governors are going to be taking (free) legal advice on this - something else for the head to deal with.
Honestly, who would want to be a head teacher in the UK? A deputy head maybe but not a head.
Do Kiwi head teachers have to put up with the same level of constant petty and costly demands on their time and resources?
Sorry, but I came home from the meeting so angry. Would love to stay and chat with you but have to go and type up minutes...
Andrea