Concerns about health and safety in Barbados’ schools should be managed internally through proactive committees before escalating to the Ministry of Education or unions, Deputy Chief Education Officer Julia Beckles said on Monday.
Addressing more than 130 educators at an awareness-building session for health and safety committee chairpersons at the Erdiston Teachers’ Training College, Beckles, the ministry’s senior official responsible for schools, suggested that many issues could—and should—be resolved at the school level through proactive, well-functioning health and safety committees.
Her comments come against the backdrop of last school year’s disruptions, when teachers at several schools walked off the job over environmental and safety concerns, prompting ministry intervention and temporary closures in some cases.
“Some are active, but we would like all of them to be active, and we would like them to be more active than they are,” she said. “We are hoping that we will be able to foster that culture of collaboration on safety, which will see matters of safety being dealt with at the level of the school before they have to be reported to the union or even to us, because in some cases there are matters that can be fixed once management and the health and safety committees work together to bring resolution.”
Beckles explained that, while all schools have established health and safety committees as required by law, not all are functioning at full capacity. “We can tell you that all schools have health and safety committees, and we are hoping that after today and some other interventions that we are going to put in place, that all of them, we will have 100 per cent excited and forging ahead, ensuring that we have that culture of collaboration as it relates to safety and disaster risk reduction.”
Citing an example raised during the session about rodents and droppings sightings, Beckles said these too could be managed at the school level through education and preventative action.
“Schools are in residential areas, and we know that sometimes the practices—we can’t control the practices of everyone—but certainly in terms of education, health and safety committees can speak to their members at schools to ensure that they are doing the right things as it relates to disposing of rubbish,” she said.
“Principals can have campaigns at schools to ensure that children are disposing of rubbish properly because obviously we have to starve the rodents out. If they feel that they can be fed, they’re going to come to those environments.”
Beckles added that when environmental challenges arise, “the principal can then, along with the health and safety committee, determine whether it is a situation where there is a breach and what measures can be put in place. They can collaborate on this, baiting can be done, and that would involve calling in the Ministry of the Environment and health personnel”.
The deputy chief education officer said the ministry recognised the need to do more to support school health and safety teams, especially as Barbados continues its ongoing education transformation efforts.
“We deemed it necessary that more be done to assist our schools’ health and safety teams, and certainly to ensure that our schools’ health and safety teams are up, running and being proactive,” Beckles said. “Part of the pillars on which this transformation rests is the objective of having school environments that are fit for purpose. We want to modernise our school environments, and part of that modernisation should always have a focus on health and safety.”
She told the participants that schools needed to be fit for purpose, especially as the ministry was rolling out its education reform programme.
As Barbados joins the rest of the region in observing Caribbean Safety Week this week, Beckles said the ministry viewed the timing as ideal to renew focus on creating a “culture of health and safety in schools.”
“We want you to go back and re-energise and mobilise your teams—not in any acrimonious way, not because you are there just looking for when something goes wrong. We want you to be there all the time,” she said.
Encouraging reflection, Beckles asked participants to consider: “When was the last time your health and safety team held a meeting that had nothing to do with any problem seen within the environment? When was the last time your health and safety team did a walk-through of your school’s environment?”
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