LSE is generally a low-risk environment, but we still need to take measures to make sure that everyone who works, studies or visits the campus or may be affected by the activities of the School is kept safe from harm.
Health and safety impacts everything we do at the School, from the buildings and equipment we use to the way we work and study. Everyone, whether student, staff or visitor, has a role in ensuring that the School remains a safe environment.
How do we do this?
- LSE has a Health and Safety Team to provide professional health and safety advice and support to managers and supervisors to fulfil their health and safety responsibilities.
- The LSE Health and Safety Policy sets out the School's aims and objectives and the health and safety responsibilities for everyone at the School.
- We have procedures that sit under the Policy as well information and advice on a range of subjects from travel safety to first aid to workstation assessments. Please see the sections below for the full list of information and procedures available, we also have a list here.
If you have problems finding the information you need, wish to see further information, or have a question, please contact the Health and Safety Team.
How we implement the Health and Safety Policy
The School has the following arrangements in place to prevent, or at least reduce the impact of, the most likely hazards that staff, students and visitors may encounter at LSE.
These arrangements cover common occupational health and safety issues at LSE, but it is not an exhaustive list and we’ll review this information as required. In addition to these arrangements, departments or services whose activities may give rise to specific risks should have procedures in place to manage these risks.
By law, the School is required to notify the Health and Safety Executive of specific types of injuries (including those caused by violence), incidents, illnesses and safety conditions. All such notifications must be done within a set period of time.
It is therefore very important that the following are reported promptly:
All work-related accidents and injuries - Report these to the Health and Safety Team using the Assure Go+ portal.
All diagnosed work-related illnesses - Report these to HR by following the Sickness Absence procedure.
Building safety incidents and risks in Halls of Residence - In Halls of Residence only, use the normal reporting procedure for the Halls to report all building safety incidents and risks which involve at least one of the following:
- structural failure of the building
- the spread of fire or smoke in the building
where these could cause (or have caused) serious injury to or death of a significant number of people.
If you are in any doubt about what should be reported, please contact us.
Further information is available on our Travel pages.
For information relating to fire safety at LSE please see the Estates Division Fire Safety webpage.
For further information please visit the First Aid page.
The School supports a blended approach to working, where possible, which gives employees and managers more options over where and when work is undertaken. When done well, blended working can enhance both service delivery and the employee experience of work. In addition, the development of a blended working culture mutually supports a more progressive approach to work which focuses on outputs. These will vary according to the nature of the role and, in addition to specific deliverables, will include a strong emphasis on collaboration, teamwork and citizenship. Further information is available here.
The Health and Safety Executive also has useful guidance for working from home.
In this context 'lone working' means someone working on their own without access to immediate support from colleagues and/ or supervisors, and could include staff working from home.
Line managers should:
- ensure that there are arrangements in place to address any health and safety issue arising from employees undertaking 'lone working'.
- identify which members of their staff are required to work on their own for the whole or part of their working time
- consider whether 'lone working' increases or creates additional risks. This should be done as part of the risk assessment of any given work activity
Arrangements for lone working should include means of monitoring and communicating with the lone-working employee, both routinely and in emergencies, e.g. a system of logging in and regular checking on the condition of lone workers, especially those who are required to work outside normal hours. They should also include arrangements for dealing with emergencies, e.g. how the lone worker raises the alarm and summons assistance.
Staff working on their own in their offices on campus 'out of hours', i.e. after 7.00pm on weekdays or any time at weekends, should inform security staff on the main reception desk on arrival, so that security are aware of their location in the event of an emergency.
The Health and Safety team are not medically qualified and cannot give medical advice. Information on accessing medical services in the UK can be found on the Student Support pages under Healthcare.