Compliance Management for Universities
Handle complex compliance across research facilities, estates, and student services with enterprise-grade digital tools.
The Challenge
Universities manage compliance across vast estates with hundreds of buildings, specialized research laboratories handling hazardous materials, student accommodation housing thousands of residents, and semi-autonomous faculties operating like separate organizations. Research facilities must comply with HSE regulations, chemical safety standards, biological containment requirements, and research ethics frameworks. The estate includes lecture halls, libraries, sports centers, catering facilities, and historic buildings - each with different compliance obligations. Faculties operate independently with their own budgets and priorities, making institution-wide standards difficult to enforce. Office for Students (OfS) registration conditions, research council requirements, professional body accreditations, and funding body audits all demand different evidence. Compliance information lives in faculty systems, estates databases, HR platforms, and research safety management tools - with no unified oversight. Problems surface during major incidents, regulatory inspections, or when the executive needs institutional compliance dashboards that don't exist.
How Assistant Manager Solves Universities Compliance
Each module is designed to address the specific challenges universities businesses face every day.
Checklist Management
Universities need comprehensive checking systems covering research laboratory safety, student accommodation fire safety, estate building inspections, and specialized facility compliance - all visible at institution level while allowing faculty autonomy
The Problems
Why This Matters for Universities
- Chemistry labs have safety checks for fume cupboards, emergency showers, and hazardous material storage, but each faculty creates their own procedures and there's no university-wide visibility
A serious chemical incident occurs, HSE investigation reviews safety checking procedures across all labs, and discovers wildly inconsistent practices - some faculties excellent, others dangerously inadequate
- Student accommodation fire safety checks across 15 halls of residence rely on maintenance staff completing paper checklists, with no systematic verification or tracking of missed checks
Fire service audit discovers three halls haven't had documented fire door checks for six months because staff turnover meant nobody took over the responsibility
The Solution
How Checklist Management Helps
Building and facility-specific digital checklists with faculty-level customization, hazardous area safety system verification, automatic escalation for missed checks, and institution-wide dashboards showing compliance across the entire estate
Every research lab, residence hall, and campus building has documented safety checks, faculty heads have visibility of their areas, and executive leadership sees university-wide compliance status in real-time
Use Cases:
- • Research laboratory safety system daily checks
- • Student accommodation fire safety weekly inspections
- • Biological safety cabinet verification and certification
- • Radiation-controlled area safety checks
- • Chemical store ventilation and containment checks
- • Estate building fire safety and premises inspections
- • Sports facility equipment safety checks
- • Catering facility food safety and hygiene inspections
Feature Screenshot
Checklist Management
Real-World Examples
Example 1: Chemistry labs have safety checks for fume cupboards, emergency showers, and hazardous material storage, but each faculty creates their own procedures and there's no university-wide visibility
Real Scenario
"Following a chemical spill, the university reviews safety checking across all chemistry facilities. The main campus labs have rigorous daily checks with full documentation. The new science building two miles away has no documented checking system at all - researchers were expected to 'keep things safe' with no formal procedures."
Example 2: Student accommodation fire safety checks across 15 halls of residence rely on maintenance staff completing paper checklists, with no systematic verification or tracking of missed checks
Real Scenario
"A fire in student accommodation leads to investigation of safety systems. Fire door checks were supposed to be weekly. Paper records in the maintenance office show checks for some halls but not others, with gaps of several months. Nobody noticed because there was no oversight system."
Training & Development
Universities need training systems covering specialized research safety, student welfare and safeguarding, Prevent duty awareness, equality and diversity, and professional body requirements - managing thousands of staff across diverse roles
The Problems
Why This Matters for Universities
- Research staff need specialist safety training for the materials and processes they work with, but training is delivered by individual research groups with no institutional verification
A postgraduate researcher causes a serious incident, and investigation reveals they received informal training from another student rather than accredited instruction
- Safeguarding training for staff working with students is inconsistent, with academic staff often assuming it doesn't apply to them, and no verification of who has completed required training
A serious safeguarding incident reveals multiple staff missed concerning signs because they didn't recognize them - they'd never completed safeguarding training
The Solution
How Training & Development Helps
Research-specific safety training modules with competency verification, role-based training assignment ensuring academic staff complete appropriate safeguarding training, automatic tracking of research permits and authorizations, and institution-wide compliance reporting
Research staff complete verified safety training before accessing laboratories, all staff working with students complete appropriate safeguarding training, and institutional compliance is visible to regulatory bodies
Use Cases:
- • Research laboratory safety training with competency assessment
- • Chemical safety for specific hazard classes
- • Biological safety training and containment level authorization
- • Radiation protection training and permit tracking
- • Safeguarding training for all staff with student contact
- • Prevent duty awareness for academic and support staff
- • Mental health first aid training for student-facing roles
- • Professional body mandatory CPD tracking for accredited programs
Feature Screenshot
Training & Development
Real-World Examples
Example 1: Research staff need specialist safety training for the materials and processes they work with, but training is delivered by individual research groups with no institutional verification
Real Scenario
"A lab incident involving a PhD student triggers HSE investigation. The student claims they were trained by their supervisor. The supervisor says they asked another postdoc to show them the procedure. Nobody can prove what training was actually delivered or what competency was verified."
Example 2: Safeguarding training for staff working with students is inconsistent, with academic staff often assuming it doesn't apply to them, and no verification of who has completed required training
Real Scenario
"Following a student suicide, review discovers the student's personal tutor noticed concerning behavior but didn't know how to respond. Academic staff assumed safeguarding training was for student services, not them - no verification system caught that they never completed required training."
HR Management
Universities need HR systems managing diverse appointment types, tracking both employment compliance and research authorizations, managing complex access control, and providing institutional visibility across semi-autonomous faculties
The Problems
Why This Matters for Universities
- With 3,000+ staff, numerous visiting researchers, honorary appointments, and student demonstrators, the single central record doesn't capture everyone with campus access or student contact
A safeguarding incident involves a visiting researcher who had regular student contact but was never DBS checked because they weren't considered 'staff' for HR purposes
- Research permits authorizing work with hazardous materials, radiation, or biological agents are approved by safety committees but not linked to HR records, so there's no visibility when someone leaves
A researcher leaves the university but their permits remain active, and their keycard still accesses controlled areas because permit systems aren't connected to HR
The Solution
How HR Management Helps
Comprehensive SCR covering employees, visiting researchers, honorary appointments, and student demonstrators, research permit tracking linked to HR status, automatic access revocation when employment ends, and institutional oversight of all individuals with campus access
Everyone with student contact or campus access is properly vetted regardless of employment status, research permits are automatically reviewed when people leave, and institutional compliance is demonstrable to regulators
Use Cases:
- • Comprehensive SCR including visiting researchers and honorary staff
- • Research permit tracking (chemical, biological, radiation)
- • Facility access authorization linked to employment status
- • Professional registration tracking for healthcare education
- • Visa sponsorship and right to work for international staff
- • PhD supervisor approval and safeguarding verification
- • Contractor and maintenance staff vetting for residence access
- • Automatic access revocation on employment termination
Feature Screenshot
HR Management
Real-World Examples
Example 1: With 3,000+ staff, numerous visiting researchers, honorary appointments, and student demonstrators, the single central record doesn't capture everyone with campus access or student contact
Real Scenario
"Investigation following an incident discovers a visiting professor from overseas has supervised students for three years. They were never entered in the SCR because they're employed by their home institution. Nobody verified their suitability to work with students."
Example 2: Research permits authorizing work with hazardous materials, radiation, or biological agents are approved by safety committees but not linked to HR records, so there's no visibility when someone leaves
Real Scenario
"A security audit discovers five people with radiation permits and access cards who left the university months ago. HR offboarding process didn't include revoking research permits because the systems weren't linked."
Risk Assessment
Universities need risk assessment systems supporting research autonomy while ensuring institutional safety standards, managing novel activities with unprecedented hazards, and providing governance oversight of overall risk exposure
The Problems
Why This Matters for Universities
- Research risk assessments are created by individual researchers using faculty templates, with no institutional quality assurance or verification that high-risk activities are properly assessed
Novel research with significant hazards proceeds based on inadequate risk assessment because no institutional oversight caught that controls were insufficient
- Student fieldwork, overseas research trips, and off-campus activities are assessed by individual departments with different standards, and some high-risk activities slip through with minimal assessment
A student is seriously injured during overseas fieldwork, and investigation reveals the risk assessment was cursory and didn't consider specific hazards present at the location
The Solution
How Risk Assessment Helps
Research-specific risk assessment with institutional safety committee oversight for high-hazard activities, fieldwork and overseas travel assessment templates, automatic escalation of novel or high-risk activities for expert review, and university-wide visibility of all research risk assessments
High-risk research receives appropriate expert safety review, overseas activities are assessed with institutional oversight, faculties maintain assessment autonomy within university standards, and the executive has visibility of institutional risk exposure
Use Cases:
- • Research project risk assessments with hazard-specific templates
- • Fieldwork and overseas research trip assessments
- • Student research project risk assessment supervision
- • Novel research activity institutional safety committee review
- • Biological safety containment level determinations
- • Radiation protection risk assessments
- • Lone working risk assessments for research staff
- • Student placement and internship environment assessments
Feature Screenshot
Risk Assessment
Real-World Examples
Example 1: Research risk assessments are created by individual researchers using faculty templates, with no institutional quality assurance or verification that high-risk activities are properly assessed
Real Scenario
"A serious research incident triggers review of the risk assessment. The researcher completed a template risk assessment that was approved by their supervisor. Neither had expertise in the specific hazard involved. No institutional safety review happened because the process was entirely faculty-level."
Example 2: Student fieldwork, overseas research trips, and off-campus activities are assessed by individual departments with different standards, and some high-risk activities slip through with minimal assessment
Real Scenario
"Geography students travel to an overseas location for research. The risk assessment was a generic template completed by a PhD student leading the trip. A serious incident occurs and the assessment provided no consideration of political unrest in the region or medical facilities available."
Accident & Incident Records
Universities need incident reporting covering research laboratories, student welfare and mental health, safeguarding concerns, residence hall incidents, and campus safety - all with institutional visibility while respecting faculty autonomy
The Problems
Why This Matters for Universities
- Laboratory incidents are recorded in faculty accident books, student welfare concerns in student services systems, and safeguarding issues in a separate database - there's no institutional view
Patterns affecting multiple areas aren't identified, and a serious incident reveals multiple warning signs were recorded in different systems that nobody connected
- Research near-miss incidents are reported informally within research groups if at all, and opportunities to learn from incidents and prevent serious accidents are lost
A serious research incident occurs that could have been prevented if near-miss incidents in other faculties had been shared and learned from
The Solution
How Accident & Incident Records Helps
University-wide incident reporting covering research safety, student welfare, safeguarding, estate incidents, and student accommodation, automatic escalation of serious concerns, trend analysis across the entire institution, and executive dashboards showing patterns
Every incident is documented appropriately, patterns across faculties and student services are identified, near-miss learning prevents serious incidents, and institutional safety performance is visible to governance
Use Cases:
- • Research laboratory accident and near-miss reporting
- • Student welfare concern logging with automatic escalation
- • Safeguarding issue documentation and DSL notification
- • Student accommodation incident recording
- • Campus security and public order incidents
- • Occupational health incidents for staff and students
- • Fieldwork and off-campus incident reporting
- • RIDDOR reporting with institutional oversight
Feature Screenshot
Accident & Incident Records
Real-World Examples
Example 1: Laboratory incidents are recorded in faculty accident books, student welfare concerns in student services systems, and safeguarding issues in a separate database - there's no institutional view
Real Scenario
"A student experiences a mental health crisis. Investigation discovers they had three separate concerning incidents - one recorded by their academic tutor, one by student services, one by residential staff. Because these were in different systems, nobody saw the pattern that should have triggered intervention."
Example 2: Research near-miss incidents are reported informally within research groups if at all, and opportunities to learn from incidents and prevent serious accidents are lost
Real Scenario
"A major lab incident injures multiple researchers. Investigation reveals similar near-miss incidents happened in three other faculties over the past year, but were only reported verbally within those groups. No institutional learning happened."
Document Management
Universities need document management supporting faculty autonomy while ensuring institutional standards, tracking diverse certification requirements, and providing executive visibility of compliance status across all areas
The Problems
Why This Matters for Universities
- Research safety documentation, faculty policies, and institutional procedures are stored across faculty servers, SharePoint sites, and personal drives with no version control
Researchers access outdated procedures, inspectors question which policies are current, and institutional compliance evidence can't be gathered efficiently
- Estate safety certificates, research equipment calibrations, and residence fire safety documentation are filed separately by different departments with no centralized tracking
Annual testing is missed because nobody tracked renewal dates, and regulatory inspections find expired certificates that damage institutional reputation
The Solution
How Document Management Helps
Institution-wide document library with faculty-level organization, version control ensuring current policies are identified, automatic certificate expiry tracking, and quick-search access to all regulatory evidence across the entire university
All policies and procedures are current and version-controlled, estate and research safety certificates are tracked with automatic renewal alerts, and regulatory evidence is accessed instantly regardless of which faculty owns it
Use Cases:
- • Research safety procedure libraries by faculty
- • Estate building safety certificate tracking
- • Research equipment calibration and maintenance records
- • Student accommodation fire safety documentation
- • Institutional policy library with read receipt tracking
- • Professional body accreditation evidence
- • Research ethics approval documentation
- • OfS registration condition compliance evidence
Feature Screenshot
Document Management
Real-World Examples
Example 1: Research safety documentation, faculty policies, and institutional procedures are stored across faculty servers, SharePoint sites, and personal drives with no version control
Real Scenario
"HSE inspectors ask to see the institutional chemical safety policy. Estates produces one version, chemistry faculty has a different version, and the safety office has a third. Nobody knows which is current or whether anyone follows them."
Example 2: Estate safety certificates, research equipment calibrations, and residence fire safety documentation are filed separately by different departments with no centralized tracking
Real Scenario
"Fire service inspection of student accommodation requests gas safety certificates for all halls. The accommodation office has certificates for some halls but can't locate records for two residences. Eventually found in estates files, but the impression is of poor compliance management."
Visitor Management
Universities need visitor management balancing open campus culture with controlled area security, tracking regular research collaborators and visiting scholars, and providing emergency evacuation accountability across vast estates
The Problems
Why This Matters for Universities
- Campus is open-access during the day with hundreds of visitors, no systematic tracking of who accesses research facilities or student areas, and emergency evacuation accountability is impossible
A fire evacuation occurs and nobody knows how many visitors are in the building or whether everyone got out safely
- Research collaborators, visiting scholars, and industry partners access controlled areas regularly, but there's no systematic verification of training or safety authorization
A visitor works in a controlled laboratory without appropriate safety training because staff assumed someone else had verified them
The Solution
How Visitor Management Helps
Building-level visitor sign-in with controlled area access verification, regular visitor vetting and safety training tracking, research facility access authorization, and real-time evacuation accountability across the entire campus
Every visitor is tracked for emergency purposes, regular visitors have appropriate safety training verified before controlled area access, and campus security has real-time visibility of who is where
Use Cases:
- • Campus visitor sign-in with building-level tracking
- • Research facility and controlled area access verification
- • Visiting researcher safety training and authorization
- • Student accommodation visitor management and safeguarding
- • Conference and event visitor registration
- • Contractor induction and campus access control
- • Emergency evacuation accountability across multiple buildings
- • VIP and dignitary visit security coordination
Feature Screenshot
Visitor Management
Real-World Examples
Example 1: Campus is open-access during the day with hundreds of visitors, no systematic tracking of who accesses research facilities or student areas, and emergency evacuation accountability is impossible
Real Scenario
"Fire alarm in a science building during open day with prospective students and parents touring. Fire wardens have no idea how many visitors are in the building. Fortunately everyone evacuates safely, but the fire service criticizes lack of visitor accountability."
Example 2: Research collaborators, visiting scholars, and industry partners access controlled areas regularly, but there's no systematic verification of training or safety authorization
Real Scenario
"An incident involves a visiting researcher from industry. Investigation reveals they accessed a biological safety laboratory regularly for two months. Nobody verified they had appropriate containment training or institutional authorization - local research group just assumed it was fine."
Communication Platform
Universities need communication systems working across faculty boundaries, reaching diverse staff roles, ensuring critical safety information is received, and coordinating student welfare support across multiple services
The Problems
Why This Matters for Universities
- Critical safety information needs to reach researchers across multiple faculties, but institutional emails get ignored and safety alerts don't have verified delivery
Researchers continue using equipment or procedures after safety alerts are issued because they didn't see the communication or it got buried in email
- Student welfare concerns need to be communicated between academic tutors, student services, and residence staff, but there's no systematic handover or shared visibility
Critical information about student vulnerability doesn't reach the people who need it, and opportunities to support students are missed
The Solution
How Communication Platform Helps
Faculty and building-level communication channels with message read confirmation, critical safety alert system with mandatory acknowledgment, student welfare information sharing with appropriate access controls, and institutional broadcast capability
Safety alerts reach all affected staff with verified delivery, student welfare information is shared with proper permissions between support services, and institutional communications are tracked
Use Cases:
- • Research safety alerts with mandatory acknowledgment
- • Campus security and emergency notifications
- • Student welfare information sharing between support services
- • Estate facilities updates and building closures
- • Institutional policy updates with read receipt tracking
- • Research facility booking and coordination
- • Student accommodation emergency communications
- • Executive announcements to all staff and students
Feature Screenshot
Communication Platform
Real-World Examples
Example 1: Critical safety information needs to reach researchers across multiple faculties, but institutional emails get ignored and safety alerts don't have verified delivery
Real Scenario
"The university identifies a safety issue with a type of equipment used in multiple laboratories. Safety office sends email to all facility managers. Two weeks later a researcher is injured using the equipment - their facility manager's email filters sent the alert to spam and they never saw it."
Example 2: Student welfare concerns need to be communicated between academic tutors, student services, and residence staff, but there's no systematic handover or shared visibility
Real Scenario
"A student discloses mental health concerns to their academic tutor. The tutor mentions it to student services, but assumes someone will tell the residence staff. The student has a crisis in their hall, and residence staff have no idea they were at risk."
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