School Gates Working Party established by Gate Safe

As part of the charity’s ‘Safe School Gates’ initiative, Gate Safe recently held a meeting hosted by Ashford MP Sojan Joseph and attended by representatives from the police service, the insurance sector, the UK’s leading accident prevention charity and specialists in educational compliance management to discuss the growing importance of gate safety in the school environment.

On the day, Gate Safe shared recent (and concerning) survey findings, which indicate that the majority of gates surveyed represent a clear danger to pupils, staff and visitors. If the survey is representative of gates across the UK, with circa 32,423 schools (including nurseries, early learning centres, primary schools and special schools), this would indicate that there are over 28,000 unsafe gates currently in operation.

In fact, 87% of the swing gates surveyed (in a sample of 87) failed to meet guidance on the need for three hinges, with only 9% being fitted with a robust fall arrest tether to prevent the gate from falling. Over 50% of the gates surveyed only featured one pair of photocells. Just under 25% had either no safety edges or only one safety edge fitted.

Raising awareness 

The meeting debated the collective need to raise awareness of the risks associated with automated and/or manual gates and the role that schools can play – in the case of automated gates – when it comes to ensuring the safety of these machines.

All those attending the meeting agreed to join the Working Party with a view towards organising a future Westminster round table, which would invite additional stakeholders to consider a programme of activity designed to initiate change and to prevent any further accidents from occurring.

Richard Jackson OBE, founder of Gate Safe, commented: “We’re delighted to have gained the support of the delegates who attended the meeting and to receive such positive feedback in terms of the potential ways in which we can work together in order to improve the safety of gates in the school environment. We look forward to sharing further details of the action that has been taken in the coming months.”

*Further information is available online at www.gate-safe.org