Safe School Gates campaigners attend Westminster meeting

The meeting at Portcullis House brought together key stakeholders to identify solutions designed to put a stop to serious gate accidents in schools. This follows on from Gate Safe survey activity indicating that there could be as many as 24,000-plus schools with unsafe gates in England.

When compared to the 232 schools affected by RAAC, this highlights the severity of the issue since many of these gates are automated – and, as such, classed as machines – and capable of inflicting serious injury or worse if not installed or maintained correctly.

The meeting, chaired by Gate Safe founder Richard Jackson OBE, was attended by delegates representing the following organisations: the Health and Safety Executive, Secured by Design (the official police security initiative), Zurich Insurance (itself a trusted insurance partner to thousands of schools), the Safety Assessment Federation and the Electrical Contractors’ Association. 

In addition, senior personnel from companies responsible for manufacturing and installing automated and manual gates were present.

Discussion points

Key points for discussion included the following:

*a move towards ensuring that all new installations comply with the law, which states that all gates/machines should be safe, and to bring historic installations up to the required safety standards

*the supply of all manual and automated swing gates with three hinges as is required by the British Standards to avoid the growing number of falling gate accidents (a third hinge or tether should be retrofitted to any existing non-compliant installations)

*recognition of the legal requirement to have all automated gates maintained a minimum of every six months by a suitably trained and competent professional

*improved policing of school gates, which could extend to the need for Building Regulations to be applied to automated gates and Ofsted inspections to incorporate more detailed requirements for automated (and manual) gates

*better understanding among schools, the insurance industry and the inspection domain of the requirements for a safe and legally compliant gate

Commitment to collaborate 

Delegates attending the round table were united in their commitment to collaborate with Gate Safe and implement a sustained campaign of activity. Sojan Joseph will be making a formal approach to the Department for Education to enlist further support from the Government on the matter of gate safety.

Richard Jackson OBE commented: “The meeting has been a resounding success, affording the opportunity for Gate Safe to bring the issue of gate safety in schools to the top of the agenda. We’re confident that, with the support of the delegates who attended the round table, we can move forward to ensure a better standard of safety for gates and barriers installed in the school environment. It’s an environment in which children are present having been sent there by their parents in the latter’s belief that those children will be safeguarded and not exposed to unnecessary risks.”