Premises Training
Confidently managing school buildings, safe, compliant, and ready for learning.
Handsam’s premises training equips school staff with the knowledge and confidence to manage buildings safely and efficiently. Covering compliance, maintenance, and risk management, our expert-led courses support a proactive approach to creating secure, well-run environments for students, staff, and visitors.
Asbestos Awareness
Course delivery: eTraining
Course duration: 15 - 20 minutes
Number of delegates: 1+
About this course: Over 70% of UK school buildings still contain asbestos and it is vital this dangerous substance is managed safely in order to avoid a major incident. When managed well asbestos is perfectly safe as it will be safe and secure from being disturbed. By providing key information, this module details everything that all of your staff need to know about carefully managing and preventing contact with this killer substance.
Key topics covered:
- What is asbestos?
- The danger from asbestos and how it affects us
- Identifying asbestos
- Asbestos facts and myths busted
- Where might asbestos be found?
- Managing asbestos
- Asbestos registers, surveys and plans
- Practical advice on dealing with asbestos
- Reacting to an asbestos incident
Classroom Risk Assessment
Course delivery: eTraining
Course duration: 15 - 20 minutes
Number of delegates: 1+
About this course: This module is for all staff as everyone needs to be able to do swift risk assessments armed with the right questions to ask themselves and the right things to take into consideration.
Key topics covered:
- Why are risk assessments needed?
- What is a risk assessment?
- Department for Education advice on risk assessing
- Five steps to risk assessing
- Risks and hazards in everyday school life
- Evaluating the dangers
- Recording risk assessments
COSHH Awareness
Course delivery: eTraining
Course duration: 15 - 20 minutes
Number of delegates: 1+
About this course: This course is for all staff as everyone will come into contact with basic chemicals such as board cleaners, paints, glues and cleaning products. All staff also need to know how to deal with more serious hazardous substances such as science chemicals, maintenance products and what to do in an emergency.
Key topics covered:
- Identifying hazardous substances
- What substances may be in school and where
- COSHH law
- Storing hazardous substances
- How to minimise damage by hazardous substances
- Thinking of vulnerable people
- Example cases
Curriculum Contractors
Course delivery: eTraining
Course duration: 15 - 20 minutes
Number of delegates: 1+
About this course: This course outlines everything you need to know about curriculum contractors for staff who manage or book non- employee staff to deliver activities that are non-construction based. It is most likely that your school already contracts multiple external experts who are not actually staff members, for example music tutors, minibus drivers and school nurses. The course provides information about the employment, management and ongoing evaluation of contracted staff like this.
Key topics covered:
- Who contractors are
- How to select suitable contractors for your school
- The importance of DBS and other checks
- What information you should and should not provide to contractors
- What information contractors should supply to you before delivering their sessions
- The ongoing management of contractors
ICT Safety
Course delivery: eTraining
Course duration: 15 - 20 minutes
Number of delegates: 1+
About this course: This course is relevant to all members of staff as every staff member will need to know how about the safe use of electricity or electrical items, such sockets, power cables, extension cables, projectors and machinery.
Key topics covered: -
- Why ICT safety is important
- Using IT correctly
- Display screens, projectors, ICT suites etc
- Fixed wiring testing ad PAT testing regimes
- What to look for in an ageing piece of IT equipment that spells danger
- Associated dangers such as overfilling extension cables and working at height temptations
Legionella Duty Holder Training
Course delivery: Instructor Led
Course duration: 1/2 day - can be combined with the Asbestos Duty Holder training to make a full day of training
Number of delegates: Up to 20
About this course: This course is suitable for senior staff who have a responsibility for legionella on site or across a trust/group of schools. These may include site leads, business managers, headteachers or Trust estates leads.
Key topics covered: -
- Understand the history and microbiology of Legionella
- Be able to Identify high risk areas where Legionella could grow and spread on your premises
- Recognise those individuals that are suspectable to legionellosis and the dangers to health
- Understand how to carry out a legionella risk assessment
- Implement control measures to prevent the development of Legionella within your premises
- Understand your legal duties are as managers
Risk Assessment Training
Course delivery: Instructor Led
Course duration: 1/2 day
Number of delegates: Up to 20
About this course: This course is suitable for all staff who have to produce risk assessments or manage teams or departments in which risks display themselves, so risk measures need to be put in place. The course content can be tailored to suit the School /Trust.
Key topics covered:
- Law and Guidance
- HSE ACOPS
- What is a risk?
- What is a hazard?
- Risk Management Principles
- What is a risk assessment?
- Control measures and their hierarchy
- The format of risk assessments
- Dynamic Risk Assessments
- Competency and Training
- Curriculum Safety
- Premises Safety
- School Trips
- Cases - You are the judge!
- Practical examples for your school/Trust
- Q&A
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Asbestos Duty Holder
Course delivery: Instructor Led
Course duration: 1/2 day - can be combined with the Legionalla Duty Holder training to make a full day of training
Number of delegates: Up to 20
About this course: This course is suitable for senior staff who manage asbestos on site or across a trust/group of schools. These may include site leads, business managers, headteachers and Trust estate leads.
Key topics covered:
- Law and Guidance
- HSE Control of Asbestos Regulations
- What is asbestos and where is it found?​
- Asbestos Management Principles
- Asbestos Control Measures
- Asbestos Documentation
- Managing Contractors
- Duty Holder duties
- Competency and training
- Monitoring Asbestos
- Record Keeping
- Practical Examples / Case Studies and Q and A
Cleaners Induction
Course delivery: eTraining
Course duration: 25 - 30 minutes
Number of delegates: 1+
About this course: This module provides cleaners with a straightforward introduction to a range of health and safety issues and tests their understanding and competence.
Key topics covered:
- Responsibilities for health and safety in law
- Risk Assessment
- Manual handling
- Working at height
- COSHH / hazardous substances
- Fire safety
- Asbestos
- Working with electrical equipment
- Noise and vibration
- First aid and medicines
- Slips and trips
- Lone working
Environmental Safety
Course delivery: eTraining
Course duration: 15 - 20 minutes
Number of delegates: 1+
About this course: Schools create a lot of waste over the course of a days and weeks and it needs to be disposed of correctly according to the relevant regulations. This course ensures that all staff understand the correct methods of disposal for substances such as chemicals, radioactive sources, batteries and electrical items, and kitchen fats or waste.
Key topics covered: -
- What is your environment?
- How can you affect your environment - both now and as a legacy for the future?
- Climate change
- Biodiversity
- Managing your environmental impact
- Understanding and evaluating your environmental impact
- Water, power, waste, chemicals and pollutants
- Reduce, reuse, recycle
- The law and the environment
- Ways to help, and how to include environmental awareness in the curriculum and day-to-day school life
Legionella Awarness
Course delivery: eTraining
Course duration: 15 - 20 minutes
Number of delegates: 1+
About this course: This course is relevant to all staff as everybody should be aware of the serious effect Legionella bacteria can have, especially on vulnerable young people. The course covers all the practical implications of managing water quality safety on your site.
Key topics covered: -
- What legionella is
- The health risks associated with legionella
- Where in a school legionella may be found
- What factors influence the risks associated with legionella
- What the legislation requires your school to do to minimise the risks
- Some of the more common control measures to reduce the risk of an outbreak
Managing Facilities Contractors (CDM)
Course delivery: eTraining
Course duration: 40 - 45 minutes
Number of delegates: 1+
About this course: This course is designed to prepare members of your staff to deal with contractors and especially your duties under the CDM (Construction Design and Management) Regulations in regards to managing major projects on your site.
Key topics covered:
- Managing day to day contractors
- The selection of contractors
- DBS checks
- The process of managing contractors
- Risk assessments and permits to work
- CDM regulations - managing contractors and refurbishment projects
- The definition of construction work
- The client
- Principal designers and principal contractors
- Planning your project with your contractors
- Construction work documentation
- Construction phase plans
- Welfare arrangements
- The Health and Safety File
Safety Training for Caretakers / Site Operatives
Course delivery: Instructor Led
Course duration: 1 day
Number of delegates: Up to 20
About this course: This course is designed to help caretakers/site operatives understand their duties related safety and planned preventative maintenance as well as covering awareness of the risks that they may commonly face and how to manage and mitigate them.
Key topics covered: -
- Taking responsibility for personal safety and being safety aware
- Hazard spotting and risk assessment
- What safety checks they should be carrying out, the frequency of these checks and how to record them (covering topics such as fire, legionella, asbestos, emergency lighting, lifts, electrical systems, extraction systems, ladders, gas equipment)
- What statutory planned preventative maintenance they should be ensuring is undertaken at their school and how to document the work
- How to vet and choose contractors and how to manage them when they come to the school to undertake work as well as what documentation they should be looking for. This will include a look at permit to work systems
- Manual handling (including practical activity)
- Working with ladders/at height (including practical activity)
- COSHH
- Asbestos
- Legionella
- Noise and Hand/Arm Vibration awareness
- Working with tools
- Lone Working and Security
- Dealing with Contractors
- Major machinery such as lifts, ventilation, air conditioning etc
- Recording safety checks and premises issues and resolutions etc on Handsam systems
Covid-19 Hygiene
Course delivery: eTraining
Course duration: 15 minutes
Number of delegates: 1+
About this course: This course is relevant to all staff as everyone needs to be aware of the vital COVID-19 hygiene precautions needed to be taken in schools and academies from September 2021.
Key topics covered:
- Good hygiene practice and cleaning
- Social distancing
- PPE
- Ventilation
- CO2 monitoring
- Plus references to the latest DfE and HSE advice and guidance on keeping safe in the workplace
"I love the Handsam systems. They make my life easy and help me solve all my problems in one place."
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David - Facilities Manager