Do I need to conduct a risk assessment for my business?
Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations Act 1999 you are required by law to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment of the risks your business faces. Risk is the chance, high or low, that someone, or something could be harmed by a hazard e.g a slippery floor.
You must have a written record of your risk assessment if you employ more than 5 people, you need to:
Do I need to have a Health and Safety Policy?
You must have a policy for how you look after health and safety. If you employ more than five people this policy must be in writing. Under Section 2 (3) of the Health and Safety at Work act 1974.The written statement must:
Do I need to register my business?
If you are starting a new business and are employing people, you are legally obliged to notify your local authority. Check that your premises is not already registered with your local authority who look after leisure and sport businesses. Once you are registered with your local authority they will then contact you with what you need to know about health and safety.
What sort of lighting should I have in my dance studio?
General light is ususally best lit by florescent tubes. These should be behind frosted glass panels to provide mellow and complete coverage. For the larger studio it is best for these to be controlled in three or four banks as you don’t want to have to switch on each individual light.
What sort of flooring should I have in my studio?
The ideal floor for a dance studio is one that is fully sprung, permanently laid and used exclusively for dancing, the floor must not be highly polished or slippery.If you do not own the building where you teach dance then you should think carefully before laying a floor permanantly because you will have to leave it at the end of the lease and your landlord could charge you to remove it. So if you do not own the studio your best option is to loose-lay or semi-permanantly lay the floor for repositioning at a later date.
However it is not always possible to work in the ideal environment. So in this case if the floor is concrete jumps and activitites that involve falling to the floor should be avoided or minimised. If the floor is slippery or dirty, appropriate footwear should be worn. Water or resin might be used to reduce the danger of footwear slipping. If the floor is cold or dirty, students should not be expected to spend lots of time working on the floor. (Dance Teaching Essentials, 2002)
The studio should really be a minumum of 3 square metres for each child of primary school age and a minimum of 5 square metres for each child of secondary school age. Where class sizes are in the region of 30 then 150 square metres of floor area is required. In other circumstances 10 metres x 9 metres is the minimum size of floor space needed.
What sort of first-aid provisions should I have in place?
Under the Health and Safety (first aid) Regulations act 1981, workplaces must have first aid provision.You must also have an appointed person, someone who is authorised to take charge of a situation if there is a serious illness or injury. The appointed person should have been on a recent first aid course, which they must keep up to date with.
First aid boxes should only contain items that a first aider is trained to use, it must not contain medication and you should not give medication to students (Dance teaching Essentials, 2002). It is also a Good idea to maintain up to date contact details of parents/carers in case of an emergency or illness whilst at a class.
Do I need to have an accident book?
Yes you need to record and report accidents. All employees should be informed where the company’s accident book is located. Certain information is required to be written down:
What should I be doing to avoid disability discrimination?
As a service provider you cannot refuse a service to a disabled person or treat a disabled person less favourably than anyone else. A disabled person is defined by The Disability Discrimination Act as: “Someone with a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.’ So people could have varied impairments from physical and mental to sensory impairments or suffer from illnesses such as epilepsy or diabetes.
Since 1999 service providers have had to consider making reasonable adjustments to the way they deliver their services so that disabled people can use them. Since 2004 service providers have been required to take reasonable steps to tackle physical features of premises, like steps or narrow doorways, that prevent, or make it unreasonably difficult for, disabled people to access their services.It does not matter if you are a sole trader, self employed or a volunteer you must still comply with making reasonable adjustments to your business, to avoid committing an act of unlawful discrimination. If you are an employer you are also resposible for the actions of your employees, so you must make sure that they do not unlawfully discriminate against disabled people either.
What fire regulations should I have in place?
New rules on fire safety were introduced in October 2006, fire certificates are no longer valid. You should have a responsible person which is, “someone who has control, or a degree of control, over premises or fire-prevention systems within premises,” (www.businesslink.gov.uk). The responsible person must make sure that everyone who uses your premises can escape if there is a fire. The people you must think about include anyone who might be on your premises including employees, visitors or members of the public.
If you are the responsible person then you must carry out a fire risk-assessment. If you employ more than five people then you must keep a hard copy of the fire risk assessment present on the premises that is available for inspection at all times.
The Business Link website has a useful set of tasks that you should carry out, such as:
Do I need a PRS Music Licence?
Yes, “any location or premises, outside of home, where music is played from clubs to concert halls, from discos to dentists waiting rooms and from trains to takeaways. The owner/proprieter of the premises is normally responsible for obtaining a PRS Music Licence for the public performance of copyright music.” (www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk). If you do not obtain a PRS music licence and continue to play music in your dance studio you will be breaking the law and may be fined.
The Tariff for Dance Schools was agreed between PRS and the Teachers’ Committee of the British Dance Council. The Annual Charges are a small percentage of actual takings: 1% from dance tuition classes; 2% from practice or club dances. (www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk)
Do I need a PPL Licence?
Yes “if you are broadcasting or playing sound recordings in public a PPL licence is required by law,” (www.ppluk.com). The price you will have to pay for your PPL licence is calculated by multiplying the number of classes you teach each week by the number of weeks per year in which you teach by the average attendance per class. Costs will vary between an annual fee of £47.75 - £140.37. You will need to provide the date you started playing recorded music to enable PPL to calculate the start period for your license.
What sort of insurance do I need?
If you employ anyone, you’re legally required to have Employers Liability Insurance. This provides cover against any claims made by employees for injuries or illnesses they’ve suffered as a result of working for you.
You should also strongly consider taking out Public Liability Insurance (although this is not a legal requirement). This type of insurance covers damages and legal costs resulting from injury, death or damage to property caused to members of the public – such as visitors to your premises. Remember that you are even responsible for outdoor routes to your building e.g you have to put salt down on icy steps. Personal Accident Insurance may also be useful to a dance teacher to protect him/herself against injury.
What is a recognised school of dance?
A r ecognised school is a dance or musical theatre school that has been awarded a mark of recognition by the Council for Dance Education and Training. The award is only given to those schools which adhere to the council’s basic requirements of sound professional practice. Any dance or musical theatre school is eligible to apply for it. . Being a recognised school of dance can give parents the reassurance that your school is run professionally and that all teachers have the relelvant qualifications and CRB checks.
“A Teacher should be aware of data protection legislation,” (www.cdet.org.uk). All public and private organisations are legally obliged to protect any personal information they hold. Whether electronic or in a paper based filling system it must be kept securely. It is illegal to pass on information to a third party without the student or parent’s permission. You should notify the Information Commissioner if you are processing information unless you only have personal information for the use of:
You should not keep any personal data if it is no longer required for business purposes. The data should then be disposed of appropriately. If any information is held on a pc and contains financial information it should be password protected. Also you should be aware that “in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 everyone has the right to see information held about him or her by another organisation,” (Dance Teaching Essentials, 2002)