3a. Housekeeping practices

1. Safe Housekeeping Practices

Depending on the environment in which you are working, there will be a range of safe housekeeping practices that you will be either partially or wholly responsible for.

It is important to understand what your role is in these practices.

Often this will be determined by:

• the actual physical environment (every classroom and teaching space is different)

• the age of the students and their capacity or willingness to self manage

• the colleagues with whom you are working

• the responsibilities of other staff.

For example:

• in a Kindergarten classroom you might need to assist to manage the safety and positioning of furniture and other classroom items

• in that same classroom you might need to undertake cleaning tasks before and after food is eaten

• in a class for students with additional needs you might need to ensure there is enough tidy movement space for the movement of wheelchairs or walkers

• in cooking or art classes you might need to assist with safe practices such as managing knives and cutting implements, or assisting to do washing up, laundry etc.

• in science classes you might assist with the cleaning up after chemical use or the use of heating equipment.

2. Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)

PPE you might use includes:

• gloves for all cleaning and management of body fluids etc

• face/breathing mask if required in science, art or when students are ill

• apron in art, cooking, science

• sunhat for work in the playground and outdoors

• closed in shoes for playground and outdoors, for lifting and carrying tasks in storerooms and library

• high-vis vest for playground duty and if a fire warden

• helmet if a fire warden

• Other?