GEMS Education rolls out strict health and safety provisions in preparation for reopening of schools
GEMS Educations group of schools are preparing for the eventual coming back of pupils, parents and staff, employing a variety of health and safety measures to fall in line with the highest international hygiene, cleaning and disinfection standards.
All GEMS schools are working with and drawing on the specialist knowledge of a variety of internationally credited health and safety service providers, covering all things from food organisation and deep cleaning, to school transport and staff accommodation. All staff involved in cleaning and sanitising are mandated to be dressed in full personal protective gear and have received extensive health and safety training that complies with the global standards as well as local requirements set up by government bodies such as Dubai Health Authority.
Paul Slater, Vice President Operations and Health, Safety and Environment at GEMS Education, said: The safety of our students, parents, teachers and staff is of greatest importance and remains our highest priority. Our arrangements for reopening schools are already well on track. We have been diligently revisiting practices across Europe and Asia to make sure we apply only the best international standards. We have a team of committed health and safety professionals, both centrally and at a school level, who are working determinedly to ensure we continue to follow the best, most up to date health and safety standards.
We have also executed added layers of health and safety measures to ensure the welfare and security of all our students, teachers, staff and parents. These boost our existing health and safety management system that is ISO 45001 certified, which is regarded as the international standard for health and safety management systems. In addition, we have a number of compliance checks in place as part of our ISO 45001 certification programme, which includes ongoing annual third-party audits.
In the run up to school reopening, subject to regulatory guidelines and directions, all GEMS Education schools are undergoing regular deep cleaning and disinfection using hospital-grade anti-viral sanitisers that are generally used in healthcare facilities. These products are environmentally safe and proven successful against coronavirus strains such as SARS and MERS. Following disinfection, a special antimicrobial product is being applied that can provide protection for up to four weeks.
Additional measures comprise of frequent disinfection of all air conditioning vents, and GEMS Educations Health and Safety Team is currently reviewing other measures to enhance the safety of people coming into school, including the potential use of sanitisation tunnels at main entrances as well as IP thermal cameras for improved temperature checking. In addition, dedicated health and safety specialists have been revising policies and procedures, to ensure that social distancing and safety guidelines are applied and abided by.
GEMS Education is taking on international health, safety, and hygiene standards as part of its yearly internal audits. The group has appointed a dedicated professional task force responsible for supervising how the schools will be returning to operation safely and to ensure that the best health standards are being executed, based on prior research and knowledge from regions where schools have reopened.
