818.50 p (
+3.00) 
Health & safety
An environment where people feel safe to challenge us on health & safety.
Health, safety and security of students and our teams
is at the heart of what we do
We’re committed to creating and maintaining an exceptional standard of health, safety and security in our accommodation and offices for our students, teams and visitors. We focus on creating an environment where people feel safe to challenge us when something doesn’t feel right, and we ensure that people’s mental health is prioritised along with their physical health.
Health & safety
At Unite Students, health and safety (H&S) is at the heart of all we do. We are committed to conducting all our activities in a safe and secure manner and to continually improve our H&S performance. We have a team of qualified and competent H&S practitioners who are responsible for ensuring that our robust H&S management system is in place and up to date. In 2019, we achieved five-star rating in the British Safety Council’s occupational H&S audit and were then delighted to be awarded the Sword of Honour in 2020 for excellence in occupational H&S management.
During 2020, we continued to expand and regionalise our H&S team, providing closer and more ‘on the ground’ support for our operations teams and helping them to deliver on our brand promises. This also enables our strengthened regional teams to better support the successful integration of Liberty Living. Ensuring the safety of our teams and students remains our key priority.
Our focus is on giving employees, visitors, and students and their parents/guardians absolute confidence over the safety of our properties and how we operate them. We are also concentrating on providing information and education to students on how they can keep themselves safe and secure in their homes. Our Group H&S policy is here.
Fire safety
The way that we manage fire risk comes from the responsibility we have for the young adults living with us, with many away from home for the first time. Our motivation of doing what’s right and keeping everyone safe in line with our corporate values is leading to the development of a more proactive, risk-based approach to fire safety, embedded across our entire business.
We have a dedicated fire safety team who ensure that we keep ahead of legislative updates and promote best practice. Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, we have made significant progress with addressing the issue of combustible property façades and we have provided a detailed update here on our approach to fire safety.
Security
Security is integral to students feeling safe in their homes. We focus on management controls, design and technology as part of a holistic approach to protecting them. We also work closely with our university partners and liaise with local police to provide a community approach to security.