Health and safety

We expect staff, students, contractors and visitors to comply with our policies and procedures and to understand that they have legal and moral obligations to themselves and to one another.

For emergencies

Dial internal extension 4444 for all emergencies including accidents.  

If you cannot get to an internal phone, dial 020 7589 1000 - add this number to your mobile. Find out about the departmental first-aiders.

Fire escape routes

The safe routes from the departmental buildings are shown in green on this map.

During the evacuation of your building, to prevent bottlenecks, where people have to queue prior to exiting the building, the fire safety team have advised, in an emergency, you should leave via the nearest safe exit. It is imperative you familiarise yourself with the emergency exit routes within your building, as the nearest safe exit may not be the same way you entered the building.

If you are on floors above or below ground level and enter a staircase, it is important to remember that you will be in a position of relative safety, as the staircases have a minimum of 30 minutes fire protection and in some instances more. Therefore, you will remain safe even if queuing occurs.

Please also familiarise yourself with the emergency assembly point(s) for your building.

The emergency exit routes and emergency assembly points for all buildings can be identified at the following location:

Generic Emergency Evacuation Plans (GEEPS)

Safety inductions and training

All new staff require a safety induction and there are various requirements for line managers. Find out about the training requirements.

View our important safety induction welcome video and the Health and Safety Induction for Staff document.

Safety induction advice is also available.

Occupational health

The College Occupational Health Service provides services to protect health at work, assess and advise on fitness for work and to ensure that health issues are effectively managed.  Visit the Occupational Health website for more information.

Thefts

Advice about what to do following a theft.

Lone working

Lone working is working in physical isolation, e.g. as the sole occupant of a laboratory or where no other person is in the vicinity, i.e. within earshot. It is possible for a worker to be on the same floor of a building or even in the same general area as others, yet be working alone.

The principle risk of lone working is that if an accident were to occur, a fall, a heart attack, accidental electrocution, nobody would be available to offer assistance or call for help. Lone working includes working out of normal business hours, after building closures, during public holidays and during college closures. 

Lone working in DoC requires permission from the Department Operations Manager Anne O'Neill. Your request must include information about a contacts outside of the Department who will check up on your wellbeing during and after your intended working times.

To apply for lone working consent from the Department please click here .

For more information please consult the College's Lone Working Policy .

Projects and off-site working

A risk assessment may be required for experimental work to be carried out in the laboratories or workshops.  Please consult the departmental health and safety advisers if you or your colleagues are to undertake any new project work.

Projects that are to be partially completed away from the department must be given special consideration.  Guidance for off-site working is available.

Battery Disposal Protocol

Please view our Battery Disposal Protocol document.

More information

Please find additional information on the Safety Department website.