Visual Inspection for defining Safety Upgrading Strategies (VISUS)
Protecting learners, educators and staff from harm when they are in school is essential to ensure children鈥檚 equitable access to safe, continuous, and quality education, and to build resilient societies. It is a question of public safety, and a serious concerns for public administrators in hazard-prone territories.
However, the data on schools鈥 exposure to risks is often lacking, and many school buildings are not designed to withstand hazards due to minimum regulatory building codes, lack of local experience and knowledge in earthquake-resistant architecture, or unsafe practices. Additionally, managers often do not have access to the tools they need to facilitate decision making on educational facilities and infrastructure.
There is a clear need for an efficient approach to risk assessment, taking into consideration the limited financial resources available. VISUS provides an innovative approach that enables administrators to:
- assess the current situation of educational facilities in terms of safety,
- identify needs and priorities, and
- develop retrofitting strategies.
The VISUS methodology was developed to provide policy makers with a comprehensive risk assessment of their school facilities swiftly and economically, and to provide the data they need to make science-based decisions and prioritize actions to further improve school safety.
The methodology provides a multi-hazard perspective, examining risks of:
- Geological risks: earthquakes, landslides, erosion, etc.
- Hydrometeorological risks: cyclones, floods, avalanches, etc.
- Fire hazards
- Day-to-day risks: falling, electrocution, sanitization, etc.
Impact of the VISUS methodology
VISUS Methodology
Preparation and adaptation
Steering and local committees are established. They are responsible for the implementation procedure, taking into account specific local challenges and risks. UNESCO and the University of Udine are part of the steering committee, appoint a focal point, and establish a local committee consisting of local staff from the Ministry of Education, academia, and UNESCO field offices. Both committees work together to define a list of schools to be assessed, collect relevant background information to facilitate the adaptation of the methodology to local circumstances, and prepare for the next phases.
Training
Once the groundwork has been prepared, local and steering committees hold training sessions in local communities. These aim to transfer knowledge and to strengthen local capacities, enabling self-management of the project in each community. Trainings are provided for
- local decision makers, to help them understand the processes and its expected outcomes,
- local teachers and experts, to acquire the technical expertise needed and to act as future trainers, and
- local university students, who will be the surveyors.
Survey
A comprehensive survey is carried out by trained VISUS surveyors. They inspect each of the schools that were identified during the first phase to collect general information and key observations, including topography, school plans, and structural details of the buildings, etc. All collected data are shared with the University of Udine for further evaluation.
Analysis and reporting
All of the information collected is integrated into deliverables that support decision-making. Using an automated software, the Safety and Protection Intersectoral Laboratory of the University of Udine (SPRINT-UNIUD) performs the elaboration process to extract data from previous surveys and generate a set of visual indicators that summarize the safety situation of each of the schools assessed. They are compiled and presented in various types of reports that provide both general and specific information on the safety situation, to help decision makers design upgrade strategies
Guidelines
