A new safety training course has been developed for teachers to help cut the number of accidents on school trips.

The course, run by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), will involve guidance on Government policy, legal requirements and risk management .

Juliet Barratt, RoSPA's head of safety education and a former school teacher, developed the idea because she had no specific instruction in risk assessment or health and safety during her training.

She said: "National training in this area of accident prevention is very limited but there is a huge demand for this type of course.

"It is well documented in safety education circles that risk assessment is not an area that many teachers feel confident in.

"Having the knowledge to carry out a risk assessment properly is an essential tool with which all teachers should be equipped."

The three-hour session, called Managing the Risks, will be run from RoSPA's headquarters in Edgbaston, Birmingham from Easter.