Health and safety risk assessment for children coerced into wearing masks at school
Dear Department of Education (Northern Ireland),
With reference to the video in the link below by PPE and respirator expert Megan Mansell, has your department conducted a health and safety risk assessment for children in NI secondary schools who have been recommended to and coerced by the Department of Education and their school teachers, to wear face coverings for prolonged periods during school hours. If such an assessment has been done by your department please forward a copy. I would expect this to detail possibility of oxygen deprivation, carbon dioxide inhalation, bacterial infection probability due to masks becoming contaminated through touching, sneezing, coughing, using the bathroom etc., Ideally any social and psychological impacts mask wearing would have on young people should be included.
https://rumble.com/vg6wkv-leon-county-sc...
Yours faithfully,
Tricia McGuigan
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Thank you for your email requesting information relating to the wearing of
face masks in school.
Your request was received on 06/05/2021 and it will be dealt with under
the terms of the above legislation.
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Dear Ms McGuigan,
Please see attached response in relation to your recent request.
Regards
Kieran Coulter
Restart Correspondence and Communications
Room 402
Rathgael House
Balloo Road
BANGOR
BT19 7PR
Telephone - 02891279429 (DD. 59429)
Email - [1][email address]
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[2]http://nics.intranet.nigov.net/staff-ser...
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D38F80.1C34BB00
References
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2. http://nics.intranet.nigov.net/staff-ser...
Dear Coulter, Kieran,
Thank you for your response. I wish you to clarify part of your statement. "The Education Authority (EA) and Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) would have certain responsibilities as the employer of staff in controlled and maintained schools. However, Boards of Governors of all schools have a statutory duty to ensure health and safety on premises under their control; this includes, where appropriate, compliance with the directions of the employing authority."
The first part of the statement implies Boards of schools have full responsibility for health and safety risk assessments, but the second states they must comply with the directions of the employing authority. This is an ambiguous statement which does not make it clear whether the board or the employer has the responsibility for the risk assessment. Please clarify which it is.
Yours sincerely,
Tricia McGuigan
Dear Ms McGuigan
In relation to your recent query, for clarification the Board of Governors within schools have the statutory duty and are responsible for conducting risk assessments within schools.
Kieran Coulter
Restart Correspondence and Communications
Room 402
Rathgael House
Balloo Road
BANGOR
BT19 7PR
Telephone - 02891279429 (DD. 59429)
Email - [email address]
CLICK LINK BELOW TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT GDPR
Dear Coulter, Kieran,
With reference to the excerpts below from a letter from your department's MLA, Peter Weir, addressed to all school principals, it would appear strong coercion was used by the department to ensure compliance on the mask wearing policy, and this implies responsibility for the policy and therefore the related risk assessment lies fully with your department.
"Additional signage will be provided to all schools to encourage everyone to comply with public health messaging. There will be a publicity campaign to promote the use of face coverings within school settings and on school transport, and spot checks will be carried out at key points along bus routes....... Again I want to thank you for your leadership, commitment and dedication to our children and young people at this difficult time.
Peter Weir,
MLA Minister of Education"
Many newspaper articles reflect the same coercion and as you have confirmed no risk assessment has been done on the health affects of prolonged use of face coverings by school children, I hereby request the policy be set aside until such a risk assessment has been carried out.
https://www.irishnews.com/news/northerni...
Please forward this letter to the appropriate person responsible for carrying out my request and please confirm this has been done and forward their contact details.
Yours sincerely,
Tricia McGuigan
Dear Ms McGuigan
I am the contact point who responded to your original request. The Department’s COVID-19 guidance, including that specifically relating to the wearing of face coverings in schools, continues to be informed by advice from the Chief Medical Officer, the Assistant Chief Scientific Advisor and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) which takes account of a broad range of scientific and medical evidence. This advice reflects the expert consideration of a range of complex and often interdependent epidemiological factors and takes account of experiences across the globe in responding to the pandemic.
The wearing of face coverings by pupils and staff is only one of a range of mitigating measures that are in place to reduce the risks of virus transmission in schools. All of these measures have been recommended by the Department following detailed engagement with the Department of Health, seeking to balance the benefits in reducing transmission of the virus with the potential disruption to children’s education. No mitigating measure will be in place any longer than is necessary, however, any changes to the Department’s guidance in areas such as the wearing of face coverings in schools will only take place after engagement with the Chief Medical Officer, deputy Chief Scientific Advisor and Public Health Agency. This is necessary in order to ensure that the actions of pupils and schools continue to be part of the co-ordinated wider societal response to the challenges raised by COVID-19.
The virus continues to impact many aspects of all of our lives, and we have to take the actions necessary to protect all of our pupils and staff.
Education is a small part of a much wider package of societal responses to the spread of COVID-19. My Department will continue to work closely with the Department of Health, and, whenever the wider health situation allows us to make further relaxations in schools, we will do so, as demonstrated by the Executive's announcement yesterday. I would reiterate that the statutory duty for the carrying out of risk assessments fall to Board of Governors within schools and the Department does not hold the information you requested.
Regards
Kieran Coulter
Restart Correspondence and Communications
Room 402
Rathgael House
Balloo Road
BANGOR
BT19 7PR
Telephone - 02891279429 (DD. 59429)
Email - [email address]
CLICK LINK BELOW TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT GDPR
Dear Coulter, Kieran,
Thank you for the clarification. I will communicate this to the schools in my area, as I am sure they entirely unaware they risk being sued. The Health Dept has stated they do not hold any risk assessment either, and it would appear that the entire Executive have been negligent in this respect and just as Public Health England have admitted in a recent court case, 'the dis benefits of wearing face coverings has not been considered'. Meanwhile there may be untold harms and irreversible brain damage being inflicted on our children, all in the name of a 99.9% survivable virus.
I would just like to say it appears entirely illogical to wear face coverings, as if the virus were so deadly, those face coverings would be so dangerous due to the poisonous droplets they contain, that they would spread the disease much more rapidly due to children touching them constantly and then contaminating surfaces, books, computers, desks, food etc., and the school death toll would be astronomical.
Thank God the English politicians have seen sense and reversed the policy from 17th May. Hopefully the NI Executive will follow suit.
Thank you for your prompt response to my enquiries.
Yours sincerely,
Tricia McGuigan
Dear Coulter, Kieran,
Please see below link to new correspondence from Public Health England which states the Dept for Education is responsible for advice on face coverings in schools. Can you please confirm if this statement is correct?
Thanks.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/7...
Yours sincerely,
Tricia McGuigan
Dear Ms McGuigan
Thank you for your further correspondence in relation to this matter, in
order to provide some clarity the PHE is the Public Health Agency for
England not Northern Ireland and their reference to DfE relates to the
Department for Education in England, therefore I cannot confirm what
arrangement they have in place.
However, from reading the arrangement it would appear a similar approach
is taken within Northern Ireland and by the PHA NI and Department of
Education (DE) i.e. DE receive advice from various organisations including
PHA NI which help inform the guidance produced, and I would restate from
my response to you on 14 May 2021 "The Department’s COVID-19 guidance,
including that specifically relating to the wearing of face coverings in
schools, continues to be informed by advice from the Chief Medical
Officer, the Assistant Chief Scientific Advisor and the Scientific
Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) which takes account of a broad range
of scientific and medical evidence. This advice reflects the expert
consideration of a range of complex and often interdependent
epidemiological factors and takes account of experiences across the globe
in responding to the pandemic".
The Department’s guidance continues to be informed by advice provided by
the Chief Medical Officer and Assistant Chief Scientific Advisor, the
Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and World Health
Organisation, based on the scientific and public health advice available
at the time of writing.
It will continue to be monitored and amended to reflect any updates to
public health guidance as the pandemic continues - [1]Coronavirus
Guidance for Schools and Educational Settings - March 2021.pdf
(education-ni.gov.uk), and no restriction will be in place longer than
needs be, it should be noted as per the guidance page 38 bullet point 34
no one should be excluded from a school for failure to have or wear a face
covering.
I would also reiterate as per my response of the 11 May 2021 in relation
to risk assessments “The Education Authority (EA) and Council for Catholic
Maintained Schools (CCMS) would have certain responsibilities as the
employer of staff in controlled and maintained schools. However, Boards
of Governors of all schools have a statutory duty to ensure health and
safety on premises under their control; this includes, where appropriate,
compliance with the directions of the employing authority.”
I hope this answers your query and I can be contacted as below if you
require any further clarity.
Kieran Coulter
Restart Correspondence and Communications
Room 402
Rathgael House
Balloo Road
BANGOR
BT19 7PR
Telephone - 02891279429 (DD. 59429)
Email - [2][email address]
CLICK LINK BELOW TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT GDPR
[3]http://nics.intranet.nigov.net/staff-ser...
[4]cid:image001.jpg@01D38F80.1C34BB00
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