USHA is the Universities Safety and Health Association.
Their role is to promote safety and health in the higher education sector and to ensure the wellbeing of staff, students and visitors.
USHA produces guidance documents which offer best practice for some of the common challenges that are found in the University sector.
The University of York is a member of USHA and we actively promote their style in safety management across our activities. As such, the starting point for many of our risk assessed activities and management should include USHA guidance where possible, as well as legislation, guidance notes, information sheets and codes of practice from organisations such as the Health and Safety Executive, British Compressed Gas Association etc.
It produces statistical analysis of the sector’s H&S performance, runs events seminars and conferences, and publishes professional standards and guidance documents.
You can use this standard to help you understand your legal duties and demonstrate your visible commitment to the success of the health and safety management system in the University.
The broad principles can all be captured within the management system approach:
Plan, Do, Check, Review
This approach is no different to management processes used across Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) for other purposes, such as procurement, applying for research bids or developing institutional strategies.
This standard describes principles and practices which managers in any HEI will need to apply in order to demonstrate good health and safety management.