Accident Investigation for Schools
Accident Investigation for Schools is an online course of approximately 30-45 minutes for senior leaders and school business managers, site and premises managers, first aiders and welfare staff, subject leads for practical subjects, governors with a health and safety remit, and anyone completing accident records. It covers why schools investigate and the reporting rules, first response, gathering the facts, finding causes, and reporting and action. Scored assessment, 0.75 CPD hours.
Description
Accident Investigation for Schools is an online course of approximately 30-45 minutes for senior leaders and school business managers, site and premises managers, first aiders and welfare staff, subject leads for practical subjects, governors with a health and safety remit, and anyone completing accident records.
The course has five short lessons:
- Why schools investigate and the reporting rules: Why investigate, what to investigate, and RIDDOR for staff, pupils and visitors.
- First response and preserving evidence: What to do in the first minutes after an accident, and how to preserve evidence in a busy school.
- Gathering the facts, including from children: Taking accounts from staff and pupils, talking to parents, records to check, and safeguarding overlaps.
- Finding causes: Immediate, underlying and root causes, and looking past the person to the system.
- Reporting and action: Writing findings that lead to action, following through, and sharing what you learn.
Every teaching page is narrated with captions and includes an interaction. Each lesson before the last ends with a knowledge check, and the last lesson closes with a 12-question assessment drawn from all five lessons (70% to pass, unlimited retakes, results by lesson) and a set of personal commitments recorded with the result.
This course gives school staff an awareness of how to investigate accidents and near misses. Serious incidents may need your local authority or trust, insurers and legal advice involved, and your school's own procedures always apply.
Main sources: HSE HSG245, Investigating accidents and incidents; HSE EDIS1, Incident reporting in schools; RIDDOR 2013; DfE, Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026.
Qualification Breakdown
By the end of this course the learner will be able to:
- Decide what to investigate and which incidents are reportable, including pupil incidents.
- Respond first and preserve evidence in a busy school.
- Gather the facts, including from children, appropriately.
- Separate immediate, underlying and root causes.
- Write findings that lead to action.
Certificate validity
3 years