Keeping your school compliant
Compliance may seem like a complicated issue, full of endless paperwork, incessant legal jargon and sometimes, mind-boggling rules and regulations. However, as hard as compliance may be to get your head around, it is a necessity for all educational establishments and helps keep not just your School, but your staff and pupils safe.
What is Maintenance Statutory Compliance?
Statutory compliance refers to laws that are set out by the government and enforced by the government that you must adhere to. These laws tend to be static aren’t don’t often change.
What is Compliance Maintenance?
Compliance maintenance refers to the act of ensuring your facility is adhering to all relevant statutory and regulatory laws and legislation. Opus Facilities offers a comprehensive facilities maintenance mentored by our facilities management team to help you enact a compliance maintenance plan for your school facility, which will ensure you remain compliant at all times.
Health and Safety regulations are par for the course when it comes to managing a facility, and it is vital that your School adheres to all relevant legislation. However, compliance can be a confusing subject, and knowing what aspects of your building and assets need to have up-to-date compliance records is complex. The issue of health and safety in a working environment is a complex one. There are a vast number of pieces of national and international (EU) legislation that all of us must abide by, and failure to do so can result in a hefty fine. What compliance maintenance services you need will depend on a number of things, so in order, to help you out, we’ve created a brief guide to give you an overall understanding of what you need to know about compliance.
Fire
Ensuring that your facility conforms to all fire safety legislation is essential to a safe building. The Regulatory Reform Order 2005 requires that all aspects of fire safety are managed by a ‘responsible person’. This individual needs to ensure that all fire systems are inspected and checked regularly in order to comply with relevant British Standards, fire risk assessments are carried out, staff are trained, and fire emergency evacuation routes are planned. Opus Facilities can oversee all these responsibilities, including fire risk assessments, staff training and fire safety equipment inspection.
Gas
Any gas systems present on your premises must be checked regularly to ensure that they are safe and suitable for use. Gas regulations (The Gas Safety Regulations 1998) states that all gas systems must be checked regularly (at least annually) to ensure they are safe. This includes safe installation, servicing, inspection and certification for all types of gas equipment. These must be carried out by registered gas-safe engineers. Opus Facilities can carry out comprehensive compliance maintenance plans, as well as other gas compliance services, such as energy surveys and efficiency assessments.
Electrical
Every school and business must abide by the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 which requires that all electrical systems are maintained in a manner that will prevent danger. This includes regular inspections and tests to ensure systems are safe.
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 states that all electrical systems must be maintained safely. This includes carrying out portable appliance testing on all portable equipment (any electrical item that can be moved, from computers to kettles). The testing must cover; visual inspection (looking for external damage as well as wiring and fuse problems), earth continuity testing and insulation testing (checking for weakness and faults). The testing should be carried out regularly, and by authorised personnel only. A thorough preventative maintenance plan can cover all electrical compliance necessities, including running Electrical Installation Condition Reports and Portable Appliance Testing (PAT).
Water
Water has the potential to be incredibly harmful to your staff and Pupils, if not checked regularly, it can harbour deadly diseases, such as legionella. All water systems must have a valid Legionella Risk Assessment (these stay valid for 2 years), to ensure that the risk of legionella is reduced. Many schools are also required to carry out monthly testing of water temperatures to check that water is kept at an optimum temperature to avoid any water-borne diseases. The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1988 requires that everyone in your school buildings is protected from hazardous substances, including those borne in water. You are responsible for determining what health hazards there are in the School environment, carrying out risk assessments and providing information, instruction and training where necessary. Relevant compliance services offered by Opus Facilities are; Legionella Risk Assessments and UKAS Approved Microbiological Sampling, as well as tank refurbishment or replacement if needed.
Asbestos
Unfortunately, asbestos in buildings is still an issue, with many buildings in the UK still believed to contain a toxic substance. For that reason, The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 was put in place, requiring all building owners to identify and safely remove any materials that may contain asbestos. Sometimes removal is required, although often it just needs to be managed effectively. Key members working in a building with asbestos also must be trained to deal with it and notified of its presence. The removal of the substance must be carried out by licensed asbestos removal professionals.
Air conditioning
Under the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations 2007, air conditioning systems must undertake energy inspections at intervals of no more than 5 years.
F-Gas regulations require inspection and certification. The regularity of these depends on the weight and number of units, so:
Every 12 months – buildings over 3kg refrigerant, usually 1 – 15 air conditioning units
Every 6 months – buildings over 30kg refrigerant, usually 15 – 75 air conditioning units
Every 3 months – buildings over 300kg refrigerant, usually more than 75 air conditioning units
Opus Facilities is an approved inspector, of all air conditioning equipment, involved in the design, installation and operation of systems.
Benefits of a Compliance Maintenance Plan
Following compliance rules can be costly in terms of infrastructure and personnel, as you will have to spend in order to be compliant. It can also be difficult to understand and implement all regulatory compliance pertaining to your school its buildings and its assets as there are a huge variety of laws and guidelines that you must adhere to.
There are a number of benefits to having a compliance maintenance plan in place. Aside from keeping everyone safe and secure; for one, it helps to keep you organised; there are a number of different inspections and tests you will need to do in order to remain compliant and having a maintenance plan will help you meet these deadlines. Not only will a maintenance plan help you keep up to date with necessary compliance laws, as your compliance maintenance team will be tasked with keeping you up to date but it will also help save you money by ensuring your systems and equipment are regularly inspected.
Compliance maintenance often requires a level of technological expertise, therefore, outsourcing to a compliance maintenance company that employs highly skilled, professional tradespeople, ensures that every inspection or maintenance task is carried out safely and securely.
Opus Facilities can help take the pressure off you by managing a planned maintenance schedule. We will make sure that all your facilities assets are regularly inspected and repaired if necessary, ensuring you are up-to-date with all of your maintenance compliance responsibilities. From fire safety to portable appliance testing, and from asbestos removal to Legionella risk assessments, we cover it all. To discuss our services in more detail, contact Opus Facilities here.
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