Safety on School Tours is our #1 Concern – it has been for over 33 years.
New: read our post on coach safety following recent coach crashes in Europe and the UK.
Wyvern Schooltours deems many aspects of organising school tours abroad as hugely important; but there is no other aspect of the tours that …there is no other aspect of the tours that we arrange that is as important as Health and Safetywe arrange that is as important as Health and Safety. Health and Safety is our guiding principle in absolutely everything we do, followed a close second by the educational aspect of our tours which we also nurture.
Like us, we recognise that you have grave concerns over the well being of your students and group members when you take them abroad. Wyvern was set up by teachers in the 1970′s and the ethos of our staff is still set by the same people with the same drive and determination to “do it better” 33+ years later.
Wyvern has an enviable health and safety record, we work extremely hard to keep it that way…not for us (although it helps) but for our clients and the students that they bring along with them.
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How are Wyvern tours safer?
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- Wyvern Schooltours never sacrifice safety for price - we never have and never will, not in 33 years of trading.
- Wyvern Risk Assess all accommodation centres and all parts of the tours that we are paid for- if there is anything that we see in our detailed inspections that is not safe we issue demands to the relevant supplier,
telling them to treat the problem or lose our patronage. We pride ourselves in working with suppliers to get it right before students set foot in any coach, ferry or accommodation. - Wyvern has in house Health and Safety expertise with regular training to staff responsible for Risk Assessments
- Wyvern only work with high quality suppliers. If a coach company or accommodation shows any signs of health and safety weakness we immediately remove them from our small pool of chosen suppliers.
- Wyvern only have a few suppliers. We drive all of our business to few companies – they appreciate our business and work hard to keep it.
- Wyvern has a robust, tested, living, expert designed and fit for purpose Safety Management Plan and Emergency Plan that involves the FCO, police, liaison teams, media teams, support teams, 24 hour emergency support, insurance cover, ABTA cover and more – your tour is propped up by a great team should it be called upon.
| Please feel free to check out our comprehensive Safety Management Plan using the link below: | ||
| Wyvern Schooltours Safety Management Plan 309.26 kB | ||
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- All Wyvern sub-contracted coaches pass all EU required inspections and laws.
- All drivers allocated to the main tour element are required to be CRB cleared.
- All drivers are allocated single bedrooms by default on long-haul journeys. This includes single berths on ferries.
- If your driver is waiting for a long time (e.g. while your group is at a theme park) we aim to find them a local hotel to rest in before (s)he picks you back up again.
- Coach companies are selected for their values, which are expected to be similar to ours – safety first.
- All drivers’ hours regulations are strictly followed.
- All tour leaders are invited to fill in a Party Leader Report Form which contains an area for feedback for drivers – all forms are passed on to the coach company. Wyvern monitor the grades given to coach companies and if there is a trend towards negative reports, an immediate investigation is started which involves an immediate directors meeting between the two companies.
- Wyvern risk assess the coach journeys annually. RAs are available on our resources area for logged in clients.
- While there is little that ever goes wrong on ferries, the Health and Safety aspect is constantly monitored. All tour feedback is scrutinised for ferry comments and any negative feedback is fed directly in to our contacts at the company involved.
- Wyvern hold regular meeting with the companies and our concerns are fed into an action plan where necessary.
- Wyvern risk assess the ferry and Eurotunnel journeys annually. RAs are available on our resources area for logged in clients.
- Wyvern only use accommodation that has passed our strict criteria for Helath and Safety and ability to hold a group in a safe, educational and dignified manner.
- All accommodation centres are risk assessed. RAs are available on our resources area for logged in clients.
- Any accommodation centre that cannot provide drivers with a single room are discarded from use.
- Any accommodation that does not meet our health and safety requirements are discarded from use.
- All rooms have locks.
- Group leaders are able to download RAs of all centres.
- Wyvern supply detailed information about the nearest dentist, hospital, pharmacy etc for all centres.
Insurance is not really a Health and Safety function but it is important to outline the function that it plays in an incident as part of the reaction to a Health and Safety incident.
- Your tour insurance has a leader’s liability insurance element included as standard – we have worked hard to get this included to protect you.
- The insurer has a 24hour emergency support team that will, like Wyvern, swing into action to provide immediate support and if needed, funds to aid the group.
- Our premiums are low because of the respect that the insurer has for what we do on the Health and Safety side.
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Health and safety comes first – always.
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