Sun exposure in schools putting Government offside

Sun exposure in schools putting Government offside on workplace safety?

Government’s failure to provide adequate shade facilities at many New Zealand intermediate schools and colleges – despite alarming melanoma statistics – means that some government departments risk falling short of the new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA).

After witnessing the failed attempts of numerous schools to secure funds for shading, Fresco Shades spokesperson Megan Cummins said she was prompted to speak out because kids falling out of trees are the least of a school’s worries, when compared against the fatality statistics of melanoma – which is greatly increased by sun exposure during childhood.

“Asbestos related diseases take many years to develop, and so does skin cancer from the sun,” she said, calling on Government to lead the cultural change that must accompany the rollout of the new health and safety legislation, beginning with sun safety for teachers and children.

A recent University of Otago study of sun protection practises by staff and students at 10 schools on sports days in Dunedin last summer found that only three per cent of college students, and less than 25 per cent of adult supervisors, wear sun protective hats.

“As Education Minister Hekia Parata told media recently, it’s difficult to make teenagers wear hats. It’s just ‘not cool’. For that reason, the Ministry of Education – and Minister Parata – should be considering urgent steps to provide adequate shade cover at our schools.

“It is a safety and health issue when you consider that New Zealand and Australia have the highest rates of melanoma in the world. The Ministry of Health’s own research tells us that sun exposure in childhood increases the risk of melanoma later in life.

“Australian schools are very good at shade cover. Sadly, we cannot say the same for New Zealand schools. Government needs to be alive to the issue that there are kids in school now who will die one day because they were not adequately protected during childhood,” she said.

Ms Cummins said that under the new legislation, schools were the primary PCBU (person in control of workplaces) and carried the most liability, but she had seen first hand their struggle to raise funding for adequate shade cover.

“It’s unfair because the Ministry of Education won’t provide the funding and many schools are cash strapped as it is.”

Ms Cummins said she was not optimistic that education programmes would suddenly get teenagers to wear hats or apply sunblock because they are at an age where they consider themselves to be bullet proof.

“It’s our job to ensure the spaces that we provide for our children will adequately protect them from health and safety hazards like sun exposure.”

ends

© Scoop Media