When planning a visit to Daws Hall or Pelham, you may want to request a CD containing a number of files and documents that form part of our H and S documentation. I suspect that this is more than you require but you should be able to read and extract the relevant information for your particular visit. If you need further guidance or have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us at the Centres on

01787 269766 or via email on simon.perry@essexcc.gov.uk

Please ignore the numbers on each of the files and documents on the CD as these simply refer to sections with in our safety documentation (there is more!).

The CD includes the following:

POLICIES: this includes the County Council's Health and Safety Policy, which will already be familiar to Essex Schools, and our own policy which explains our approach to H and S.

YOUTH SERVICE CODE OF PRACTICE: As part of the County Youth Service this is our guidance for H and S, although the Centres are rather specialised and so only some of the document is relevant. This code is about to be revised.

CODE OF PRACTICE 28 FOR EDUCATIONAL VISITS: Again this will be familiar to Essex Schools; your Educational Visits Co-ordinator is likely to have a copy.

SOME OTHER IMPORTANT COUNTY CODES: There are many of these, so we have been selective, only including those of likely relevance to your visit. For example the Rural Studies Code includes information on bees which is very relevant at Daws Hall where we have bee hives and an observation hive.

DAWS HALL AND PELHAM CODES OF PRACTICE: We have produced our own Code of Practice which explains how we work in safety. This is perhaps the most important document and a starting point for any risk assessments you need to do of your own. Also here is the document that we send to all schools with the booking information; this mentions other key information when planning your visit.

EMERGENCY INFORMATION: Information about procedures in the event of an emergency or accident during your visit.

COSHH ASSESSMENTS: During a primary school visit there is little use of chemicals which are subject to a COSHH assessment, but some secondary school fieldwork will involve the use of chemicals in the field. In addition these regulations cover the hazards caused by micro-organisms. The key hazard for any fieldwork in this area is the potential for Weil's disease; this information explains the risks and how we operate to minimise these during fieldwork.

INTRODUCTION TO RISK ASSESSMENT: One document here lists the risk assessments which have been written and are followed. Remember that additional risk assessments are carried out for new activities.

RISK ASSESSMENTS FOR DAWS HALL: These are risk assessments for specific hazards identified at Daws Hall.

RISK ASSESSMENTS FOR PELHAM: These are risk assessments for specific hazards identified at Pelham.

RISK ASSESSMENTS FOR ACTIVITIES: These are generic assessments for activities which your group might be involved with at either Centre/ reserve. These have been selected because we do not feel that they are adequately covered in the more general Codes of Practice.

It is important to stress that the Centres are managed by Essex County Council through the County Youth Service's Outdoor Education team, and so we follow all the Council's policies and procedures with regard to Health and Safety. Much of this is covered by the detailed Codes of Practice, but where a Code is not specific enough for the work which we undertake at the Centres, we produce our own Risk Assessment. In addition, should a particular visit require a new or revised risk assessment this is completed before the visit.

The process of hazard awareness and risk assessment is on going, so that staff are fully aware of changes to the site on a daily basis (e.g. visiting contractors/ tree damage/ river level changes) and act accordingly; we may alter a programme during the visit to take into account these changes and our teachers will have a 'plan B', should circumstances prevent safely following the agreed programme.

The teacher leading your visit is experienced in planning and leading groups in outdoor education, is a first aider and carries a first aid kit, mobile phone and other safety equipment.