Please see Travel for work and Risk Assessments.

In accordance with the University’s code of practice regarding risk assessments, staff and students should complete a formal risk assessment for all activities that have the potential to cause harm. This involves identifying hazards, evaluating the associated risk and devising suitable control measures to eliminate, or reduce, the risk to an acceptable level.

It is the duty of students and staff to carry out risk assessments of their activities if such does not already exist, or to follow the control measures defined by existing risk assessments.

Risk assessments are particularly important for off-campus activities, and all staff and students involved with fieldwork must complete a full risk assessment or, if applicable, sign one of the risk assessments that cover low hazard activities. 

The online training course Management of off-campus activities should be completed by both staff and students if there is previous experience of completing and assessing risk assessment. 

The additional online course Principles of Risk Assessment E-Learning should be completed as well as, the Management of off-campus activities if, there has been no prior experience in assessing and completing risk assessments.

The training can be accessed through the training and development catalogue in My Manchester or through Staffnet Health and safety pages underneath Risk assessment. 

 All forms apart from the full risk assessment contain a standard template listing assessment of risks as a starting point, if the research does not fit the generic forms listed, staff and students should complete the full risk assessment form for any ‘extra’ hazards not covered by the off-campus work in the UK form or the Low risk overseas destinations form and must be validated, both risk assessments should then be submitted.

The full risk assessment form is the only form that requires an amendment to the ‘Assessed by’ and ‘Validated by’ section of the form which should be assessed by the student/staff and validated by the staff/Line manager.

All other risk assessment forms will require only the first page of the risk assessment to be completed and signed off. The risk assessments include a summary of how the form should be completed.

Completed risk assessment forms should be submitted to the SEEDestates@manchester.ac.uk (as well as appending to any ethical submission where relevant) submission of the document will be considered approved, unless otherwise advised.

Students should complete the Fieldwork Risk Assessment in discussion with supervisors and submit it with their ethics application via the ERM for review.

Staff should submit this assessment with their University Research Ethics Committee documentation review and subsequent UREC ethical approval.

Generic Risk Assessments

Risk assessment for group fieldwork in the UK - use this for any grouped fieldwork with students or staff

• SEED Generic Risk Assessment for Group Fieldwork (in the UK) 

Risk assessment for group fieldwork in low/medium risk overseas countries

• Generic Risk Assessment for Group Fieldwork in Low/Medium Risk Destinations Outside of the UK

Risk assessment for group fieldwork in high risk overseas countries

• Safety Services Specific Risk Assessment for Group Fieldwork in High Risk Destinations

Lone Working

• General Risk Assessment for Lone Working and Guidance on Personal Safety During Lone Working and Out of Hours

Events risk assessments

• SEED social activities risk assessment
• SEED Generic Risk Assessment for Social Activities and Lectures

Find out more

• IG Glossary of Terms
• Information Asset Registers (IAR) - Guidance intended for Information Governance Guardians
• Manual Handling Flowchart

All risk assessments and SOP's for the workshop can be found on the B15 Workshop SharePoint site

In the event of...

Discovering a fire

• sound the alarm by breaking the glass at the nearest call point
• call the Fire Brigade by dialling 9-999 from any internal telephone.

Hearing the fire alarm

• evacuate the building by the nearest available exit
• if you are unable to use the stairs, use the Refuge Area which is clearly labelled
• close all doors behind you and report to the Assembly Point
• do not collect personal belongings
• do not use the lifts
• do not run
• do not re-enter the building until authorised to do so.

It is your responsibility to familiarise yourself with the fire exits and evacuation points on all our sites. 

Fire alarm testing 

The fire alarms are tested weekly in each building as follows:

• Arthur Lewis Building - Monday at 1.30pm 
• Humanities Bridgeford Street Building  - Friday at 9.15am
• Ellen Wilkinson - Wednesday at 11.30am

Fire marshals

SEED's designated fire marshals are as follows.

Arthur Lewis Building

• Ground floor - John Moore, Tom Bishop, John Yarwood
• First floor – Rory Stanton, Chris Jordan, Khalid Nadvi, Adam Johnston
• Second floor – Nick Ritchie, Lawrence Ado-Kofie, Daniel Chung, Irene Kapetanaki

Ellen Wilkinson Building

• Ground floor, B Block – Catriona Fraser
• Ground floor, C Block – Peter Leigh
• Ground floor, A Block - Mohammad Hussain
• First floor, A Block - Steven Jones, Feiran Ren, Loretta Anthony-Okeke, Yasir Khan
• Fifth Floor, A Block - Bee Hughes

Humanities Bridgeford Street Building

• Basement – Scott Miller
• Ground floor – Student Hub Staff
• First floor – Jonny Brewster, Melissa Markauskas, Kelly Osgood, Laura Ingleby, Kerry Mccann, Andy Milne, Mark Shepherd, Ian Mell, Taki Sonbli, Lucy Adams, Eleanor Mackechnie.

Fire marshals are requested to work in teams to ensure cover during staff absences, and are recognised by their green/yellow fire vests which they will wear in the case of an evacuation.

Anyone wishing to become a fire marshal, and all staff are welcome to do so, should contract SEEDestates@manchester.ac.uk.

Fire extinguishers are located on all floors of the building but you should avoid using these unless you have been trained to do so.

Fire Doors

Fire Doors – fire doors contain fire and keep escape routes such as corridors clear. They also protect the remainder of the building, its contents, and other buildings nearby from damage.

Fire doors can be identified by the small, circular blue signs on both sides of the door. It is important to keep these doors closed unless they are specifically designated as an “automatic fire door”.

Fire doors are designed and tested to hold back fire for 30 minutes (FD30) or 60 minutes (FD60), provided they are installed correctly and in good condition.

Your responsibilities – fire doors should be checked by specified staff at least once a month, however if you notice something wrong with a fire door, such as the intumescent seals and cold smoke seals at the top and sides of the door or frame being damaged or missing, you should report this on the Estates Helpdesk.

You should never prop, or wedge open a fire door, or leave anything within the swinging arc of an automatic fire door. If you notice a fire door is propped open or blocked, remove the blockage if you feel comfortable doing so, or report it to SEEDestates@manchester.ac.uk.

Means of Escape and Fire Exits

A designated Means of Escape should have fire directional signage. They usually have a break glass point and often, fire extinguishers close by. Fire exits should have a sign on them and should be kept as a clearway on both sides of the door. They should also be well lit with emergency lighting and should not be lined with any combustible materials.

If you see an obstruction in what you believe is a means of escape, please do not hesitate to report it to SEEDestates@manchester.ac.uk. We will then investigate and rectify if necessary.

Using Helpdesk to Report Fire Safety Concerns

The Estates Helpdesk can be used to report any faults or concerns with fire safety measures. These could be:

• Damage to fire doors, automatic fire doors not closing, fire doors missing signage (e.g., one side has fallen off).
• Emergency signage lights and emergency lighting not working.
• Damage to fire exit doors.
• Fire alarms not working/not audible in your area.

You can also email SEEDestates@manchester.ac.uk if you are unsure or if you want to report any non-defect concerns.

*Fire safety is everyone’s responsibility, so if you see something wrong, please report it.*

Accident, incident and near miss form

• Accident and Incident Report Form

Health and safety policy

• SEED Health and Safety Policy 2024

Health and safety committee terms of reference

• Health and Safety Committee Terms of Reference

Display Screen Equipment Self Assessment (DSE) form 

• Display Screen Equipment Self Assessment Form 

All new starters, and those that have had a significant change to their work location or equipment should complete the DSE self assessment form. Hybrid workers should complete one form for their on campus work station and one form for their home work station. As standard, staff should have a laptop, riser, mouse, keyboard and USB Hub. If the DSE form indicates new equipment is required, the SEED Compliance, Safety and Estates team will contact you to arrange an equipment loan. 

Where possible lone working and/or working out of hours should be avoided. If it is unavoidable, approval must be sought from your line manager, a risk assessment should be carried out, and you should follow the Guidance on Personal Safety during Lone Working and Out of Hours.