Safety in the classroom

08 October 2012

In the UK there has been a rise in the number of child accidents at school, particularly in primary schools. According to the Health and Safety Executive, between 2005 and 2010 there were 35,041 reported accidents involving children.

According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA), every year 30,000 children trap and crush their fingers in doors. The most common finger trapping incidents happen in the hinge side of doors, where gaps provide an easy resting place for small fingers.

To prevent these accidents from occurring it is essential for schools to use child safe furniture in classrooms with the appropriate fittings and fixtures to maintain a safe teaching environment.

Safe school furniture needs to be sturdy and well-built so that it withstands regular and sometimes heavy-handed use, but it also needs to be affordable and conform to health and safety standards.

When sourcing school furniture and equipment it is important to consider how it will be used. For example, students spend a lot of time at their desks so it is important that the chairs and desks encourage good posture and musculoskeletal health. The desks must be durable with rounded corners and flame resistant; tall furniture should be secured to the wall; storage units with drawers should contain a stop to prevent them from being pulled out too far; cupboard doors should have a slow close system to prevent them slamming shut on fingers.

As part of on-going safety checks, it is essential to make sure that all school furniture fixtures and fittings, such as screws, are fixed tightly and checked regularly to avoid unnecessary accidents.

The size of a classroom is another consideration, particularly when sourcing fitted furniture systems. Finding fitted school furniture that allows you to maximise classroom space without compromising on quality and still comes in on budget might sound like a mission impossible, but not with the help of a school furniture specialist.

Our range of fitted furniture for the education sector has been specially designed and developed to meet the everyday needs of all types of education environments from schools to universities, art rooms, laboratories, home economics rooms, classrooms and staffroom areas. Our fitted education furniture for schools is especially robust with a strong emphasis on safety, making it well-suited to special needs schools and secure unit learning establishments.

All of our school storage units come with child-safe hinges, easy clean worktops to ensure optimum hygiene, and our plastic storage trays have smooth surfaces and curved corners – there is never a rough edge or sharp corner in sight.

In fact our desire to promote classroom safety led us to source a new child safe hinge to prevent accidents involving children trapping their fingers in cupboard doors. The nickel-plated metal hinge has a 155º opening angle and spring closing mechanism. The wide-angle hinge has a flat cap to prevent children getting their fingers trapped and also offers greater access to cupboards and other storage units.

When children go to school we want them to learn but we also want them to be safe. Our education furniture range meets both these criteria with the added bonus of being aesthetically attractive. It includes school storage units, bookcases, worktops and sundries, but we can also cater for bespoke school furniture requirements.

For more information on child safe school furniture, or to request a quote, call us on 01843 604 896, or complete our enquiry form.

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Safety in the classroom

08 October 2012

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