Digital Content Editor, Eve Goode speaks exclusively with Richard Agbettoh, Security & Safety Assurance Manager, Ghana International School (GIS).
What does winning the Compliance & Risk Management Award mean to you and your team, and what does it say about the importance of taking a long-term, community-led approach to safety and wellbeing?
Winning the 2026 International SOS Foundation Duty of Care Award for Compliance & Risk Management is an incredible honour for Ghana International School and a defining moment in our safety journey.
More than an award, it validates our belief that a strong safety culture is intentionally built over time through consistent leadership, collaboration and a shared commitment across the entire school community.
At GIS, we have deliberately shifted our approach from viewing safety as the responsibility of a single department to embedding it as a shared value embraced by every member of our community.
We often say that safe schools are better schools, and this philosophy has guided our transformation.
One of our earliest initiatives was introducing the “See Something – Say Something” campaign, encouraging every student, employee, contractor and visitor to become an active participant in safeguarding our environment.
We complemented this with memorable safety slogans: THINK SAFETY – WORK SAFELY! that keep safety at the forefront of everyday thinking, fostering what we call a safety mindset rather than treating safety as a compliance exercise.
Recognising that culture change requires participation, we expanded our Health & Safety Committee to ensure representation from every section of the school.
We also challenged committee members to become ambassadors for safety by strengthening their competencies in critical observation, hazard identification, risk assessment, internal auditing and child safeguarding through structured training and continuous professional development.
Regular committee meetings became more than reporting sessions; they evolved into action-oriented forums focused on accountability, measurable outcomes and ensuring that identified issues were followed through until every corrective action was fully implemented.
We deliberately created opportunities for every voice to be heard regardless of role or seniority, encouraging frontline staff to contribute ideas without fear or intimidation.
This inclusive approach significantly strengthened ownership and accountability across the organisation.
To sustain engagement, we leveraged digital communication extensively through campus-wide electronic display screens, large information monitors, newsletters, recognition programmes and internal awareness campaigns that celebrated proactive safety behaviours and reinforced positive practices.
These seemingly simple but intentional actions have fundamentally changed how safety is perceived at GIS.
They have strengthened organisational resilience, enhanced child safeguarding and reinforced our ongoing journey towards achieving ISO 45001, ensuring that international best practices are embedded into our everyday operations rather than existing only within policy documents.
Ultimately, this award belongs to our entire school community.
It demonstrates that sustainable safety excellence is achieved when everyone understands that Duty of Care is not merely a legal obligation – it is a shared commitment to protecting people, fostering wellbeing and creating an environment where learning and work can flourish.
What do you hope this award spotlights about the role schools can play in raising the bar for compliance and risk management across the education sector?
This award sends a powerful message that educational institutions can be global leaders in compliance and risk management.
Schools occupy a unique position in society.
They are not only centres of academic excellence but also environments where lifelong behaviours, values and leadership qualities are shaped.
By embedding safety, compliance and risk awareness into everyday school life, we are preparing future generations to become responsible leaders who naturally value wellbeing, accountability and resilience in every profession they pursue.
For international schools across Africa, and particularly in West Africa, there is an exciting opportunity to move beyond compliance as a regulatory requirement and instead position safety as a strategic pillar of institutional excellence.
The expectation today is that leading schools should demonstrate robust governance, effective risk management systems, child safeguarding excellence, emergency preparedness, business continuity planning, staff wellbeing programmes and continuous improvement aligned with internationally recognised standards such as ISO 45001.
We are encouraged to see this mindset gaining momentum.
More schools are recognising that investing in health, safety and security is not simply a cost of doing business – it is an investment in educational quality, institutional resilience and stakeholder confidence.
The growing participation of educational institutions in national Health, Environment, Safety and Security (HESS) Awards, with several schools now receiving recognition, reflects this positive shift.
It is encouraging to witness schools becoming increasingly confident in benchmarking themselves against recognised standards and celebrating excellence in safety.
We hope our recognition inspires schools across Africa and beyond to view safety as an enabler of educational success rather than an administrative function.
Every school, regardless of size or resources, has the opportunity to cultivate a culture where students, educators, support staff and families feel protected, valued and empowered.
At Ghana International School, we are proud to be part of this movement.
If our journey encourages even one school to strengthen its Duty of Care programme, invest in child safeguarding or establish a more proactive safety culture, then the impact of this award will extend far beyond our own campus.
What do you see as the biggest opportunities or challenges for compliance and risk management going forward?
The future of compliance and risk management in education presents both tremendous opportunities and increasingly complex challenges.
Schools today operate in an environment where risks are evolving rapidly.
Beyond traditional health and safety concerns, institutions must navigate cybersecurity threats, data privacy, mental health and psychosocial wellbeing, climate-related emergencies, geopolitical uncertainty, infectious diseases, infrastructure resilience and increasingly sophisticated safeguarding requirements.
Successfully managing these interconnected risks requires a holistic and integrated approach rather than isolated compliance activities.
One of the greatest opportunities lies in leveraging technology to strengthen risk management.
Artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, smart surveillance systems, digital reporting platforms and data-driven decision-making can enable schools to identify emerging risks earlier, respond more effectively and continuously improve their safety performance.
However, technology alone is never the solution.
It must be supported by capable leadership, robust governance, competent people and an organisational culture that values transparency, learning and continuous improvement.
Another significant opportunity is collaboration.
Educational institutions can benefit immensely from sharing lessons learned, benchmarking against international best practices and learning from one another’s experiences rather than working in isolation.
Recognition programmes such as the International SOS Foundation Duty of Care Awards play an important role in creating these opportunities by showcasing innovative practices that others can adapt and implement.
Perhaps the greatest long-term opportunity lies with our students.
Schools are uniquely positioned to nurture a generation that instinctively understands risk awareness, personal responsibility and respect for the wellbeing of others.
When children develop these values from an early age, they carry them into universities, workplaces, families and society.
The result is a future workforce and leadership community that naturally embraces safety, ethics, resilience and accountability.
Our vision is therefore simple but ambitious: to continue building a school where safety is not an initiative, but part of our identity; where compliance is viewed not as an obligation but as a commitment to excellence; and where Duty of Care remains central to every decision we make.
Ultimately, safer schools create stronger communities and stronger communities create a safer, more resilient world.