AQW 40688/22-27

Ms Paula Bradshaw
Alliance Party
South Belfast

Tabled Date: 16/02/2026
Answered On Date: 25/02/2026
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail any consideration her Department has given to providing advice to workplaces, based on the joint unions' report, Good ventilation in schools and colleges and how to achieve it.

Answer:

Employers responsible for schools and further education are required to comply with the health and safety duties outlined within the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 and subordinate regulations. HSENI is the health and safety regulator for such premises.

HSENI is supportive of the aims of the joint union guide for union representatives / health and safety representatives entitled ‘Good ventilation in schools and colleges and how to achieve it’, namely, to promote the importance of good ventilation in schools and colleges, and to help educate trade union representatives to work together to improve ventilation across settings to the benefit of all staff and pupils.

Guidance, in the form of an Approved Code of Practice, on how employers can comply with the regulations relating to the matters covered by the report was published by the Health and Safety Executive in Britain in 2013 and is applicable to the north of Ireland. Further relevant information is also available on the Health and Safety Executive’s website. HSENI is satisfied that no further guidance needs to be issued at present.