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Going Back to School with District Worker’S Compensation and Employee Safety Programs
Going Back to School with District Worker’S Compensation and Employee Safety Programs
Going Back to School with District Worker’S Compensation and Employee Safety Programs
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Going Back to School with District Worker’S Compensation and Employee Safety Programs

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When school administrators think of school safety, they frequently think of student safety and security. School district administrators need also to be concerned about the safety of all adult workers including certified and classified employees e.g. administrators, teachers, secretaries, custodians, foodservice workers, nurses, administrators, bus drivers, maintenance personnel and others.

Losses from injuries to employees result in disruption of the educational process, lost days from work increased insurance premiums and consequent loss of funding for core educational initiatives. Injuries can diminish in frequency and severity or be avoided almost entirely if administrators implement health and safety systems.

The cost of providing medical care to injured employees establishes baseline data on which worker compensation premiums are assessed. Administrators could reinvest costs saved in workers compensation insurance premiums into educational programs for the direct benefit of students.

A comprehensive safety system that confirms administration commitment to a safe working environment assures management commitment as a legal and ethical responsibility, promotes employee involvement, pinpoints and eliminates potential hazards, and encourages employees to prevent potential harm to other employees, teaching staff, and students.

This text focuses on developing a successful workers compensation program and safety system for school district employees. The models and strategies may be adapted for use in school districts for reducing school injuries.

School district administrators are frequently forced to do more with less funding, particularly considering the requirement to implement many unfunded mandates from state and federal governments. Dollars saved from improved worker safety and reduction of insurance premiums may directly benefit educational initiatives in school districts. Primarily, the funds for educating students may originate from saved workers compensation dollars.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherAuthorHouse
Release dateSep 7, 2013
ISBN9781491806883
Going Back to School with District Worker’S Compensation and Employee Safety Programs
Author

Diane K. Schweitzer PhD RN CSRM

Diane Schweitzer, PhD, is currently the Director of Buildings and Grounds for the School City of Hammond in Hammond, Indiana. She attained her PhD from Iowa State University, Master’s Degree from DePaul University, Bachelor and Associate Degrees from Purdue University. She is a Certified School Risk Manager (CSRM), Registered Nurse (RN), Certified Food Service Professional (CFSP), Foodservice Management Professional (FMP), and School Nutrition Specialist (SNS). The School Nutrition Association named her Indiana School Foodservice Director of the Year and Northeast Regional Director of the Year. Under her direction, the School Nutrition Association named her school district foodservice program the first District of Excellence. She is a member of the Indiana Association of School Business Officials, School Nutrition Association, Indiana School Nutrition Association, American Society of Safety Engineers, Purdue Alumni Association, and Hammond Community PTA. She has previously authored the book “Planning and Designing Modern and Effective School Kitchens,” contributed to several books on worker safety, school foodservice facility design, and authored numerous articles on foodservice management. She has spoken at many national, state, and local conferences on kitchen safety and facility design incorporating ergonomics for worker safety and comfort. Diane Schweitzer is a resident of St. John, Indiana and can be contacted at Diane1224@Comcast.net

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    Going Back to School with District Worker’S Compensation and Employee Safety Programs - Diane K. Schweitzer PhD RN CSRM

    2013 by Diane K. Schweitzer. All rights reserved.

    No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

    Published by AuthorHouse 08/28/2013

    ISBN: 978-1-4817-7470-3 (hc)

    ISBN: 978-1-4918-0688-3 (e)

    Library of Congress Control Number: 2013916059

    Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

    Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

    Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

    Contents

    Acknowledgement

    Preface

    Chapter 1-School Safety is Important-Cost and Prevalence of Injuries

    Cost of Employee Injuries

    Significance of Worker Safety Programs

    Worker Safety in Business and Industry

    Chapter 2-School Safety as a Legal and Ethical Responsibility

    Employee Rights:

    Employee Responsibilities:

    Employer Rights:

    Employer Responsibilities:

    Workers Compensation, a State Legal Safety Requirement

    Recordable and Compensable Injuries

    Moral and Ethical Reasons for Providing Safe Workplace

    Benefits of a Best Practice Safety Program

    Chapter 3-Business Models of a Best Practice Safety Program

    The Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation Model

    SARA Model

    Chapter 4-Challenges to Developing and Implementing a Worker Safety System in School Districts

    Lack of Safety Systems

    Human Resources

    Education and Training

    Facilities and Equipment

    Environment and Engineering

    Funding

    Politics

    Chapter 5-Components of a Best Practice Safety Program

    Administrative Support/Management Commitment

    Safety Plan

    Safety Team

    Communication

    Education and Training

    Medical Treatment

    Injury Reporting

    Accident Investigation

    Return to Work Programs

    Hazard Inspections

    Audits and Analysis of Data

    Retraining

    Chapter 6-School Safety by Select Location Classroom Safety Tips

    Art Classroom Safety

    Science Laboratory Safety

    Consumer & Family Science, Culinary Arts Classroom Safety

    Career and Technical Education Classroom Safety

    Music/Drama Education Classroom Safety

    Special Education Classroom Safety

    Athletics, Physical Education Safety

    Media Department Safety

    Health Services Department Safety

    Technology Department Safety

    Administrative Office Safety

    Custodial Department Safety

    Maintenance Department Safety

    Outdoor Safety (Grounds Department)

    Child Nutrition, Food Service Department Safety

    Transportation Safety

    Parking Lot Safety

    Definitions of Terms

    References

    Appendices

    List of Figures

    1. Frank E. Bird’s iceberg model: cost of a work-related accident

    2. OSHA Health and Safety Program Elements (1989)

    3. How to Establish an Effective Occupational Safety and Health and Environmental Safety Program (NIOSH, 2004a)

    4. Plan Do Check Act

    List of Tables

    1. Characteristics of a Best Practice Safety System

    2. NIOSH Safety Plan for Eliminating and Reducing Injuries

    3. Elements of an Effective Electrical Safety Plan (Kolak, 2007)

    4. Benefits of Training

    Appendices

    A. OSHA Form 300

    B. OSHA Form 300 A

    C. OSHA Form 301

    D. Safety Analysis Risk Assessment (SARA) Form

    E. Estimated Functional Capabilities Form

    F. Job Description with Physical Capabilities Statement

    G. First Report of Injury Form

    H. Authorization to Treat Form

    I. Accident Investigation Form

    J. Sample Return to Work Policy

    K. Staff Emergency Information

    L. Sample Light Duty Jobs

    M. Notice to Physician of Transitional Return-to-Work Program

    N. Memorandum of Agreement for Job Restriction, Return to Work Program

    O. Attending Physicians Report-Return to Work Orders

    P. Implementation Checklist for School Worker Safety

    Q-Facility Inspection Form

    Acknowledgement

    In memory of Karen Wallisch, the late Chief Administrator for School Business Services, School City of Hammond, in Hammond, Indiana. Karen was instrumental in allowing me to develop the Best Practice Safety Model outlined in this work and to implement each component with great success.

    It was a pleasure working with Karen before she left us, much too prematurely, in August 2010. Together we analyzed injury frequency and severity data every quarter for almost three-years. We were always excited when we found the new model was extremely successful in saving millions of education dollars for our students.

    Karen made a huge personal and professional impact on everyone she met. During her tenure she was insightful, caring, and giving, and always a good listener. She tried to give others what they needed to become successful in their personal and professional endeavors. Providing the very best educational learning environment she could for all Hammond, Indiana students, she wisely knew where and how to save school district funds while making prudent investments in quality products and services. She gave the directive to transform the workers compensation insurance plan from fully insured to self-insured. She instinctively knew this program would only be successful by having an active and working system for reducing the number and cost of employee injuries.

    I will forever be grateful to Karen for allowing me the opportunity to put into practice my model for reducing injury claims. Several years and millions of dollars of savings are evidence of her thoughtful wisdom and insight.

    D.S. August, 2013.

    Preface

    When many school administrators think of school safety, they frequently think of safety in terms of student safety and security. Another lesser-considered part of school safety is the personal safety and well-being of its employees. School district administrators need also to be concerned about the safety of teacher aides, secretaries, custodians, foodservice workers, maintenance personnel, nurses, administrators, playground supervisors, bus drivers, and many support personnel.

    Losses from injuries to employees result in disruption of the educational process, lost days from work, increased insurance premiums and consequent loss of funding for core educational initiatives. Data indicate that occupational injuries are very costly to both employers and employees. Injuries can diminish in frequency and severity or be avoided almost entirely if administrators implement health and safety systems, provide information and training to employees, initiate and enforce safety measures in the workplace, provide incentives for compliance with safety goals, and secure safety as part of the workplace culture (Marsh et al., 1998).

    Costs to provide medical care to individuals have escalated into double digits for several years. Insurance providers pass these costs on to the employer through increased insurance premiums established by general and industry specific analysis (Lundberg & Tylczak, 1997). The cost of providing medical care to injured employees establishes baseline quantitative and qualitative data on which to base worker compensation premiums paid by the employer. Administrators could reinvest costs saved in workers compensation insurance premiums into educational programs for the direct benefit of students.

    Modeling and promoting safe practices has a positive impact on the workplace environment. Good administration can cultivate safe practices to increase productivity, improve work quality, reinforce employee retention, cultivate well-trained employees, reduce costs, and help provide a secure workplace (Andreoni, 1986). A comprehensive safety system that confirms administration commitment to a safe working environment assures management commitment as a legal and ethical responsibility, promotes employee involvement, pinpoints and eliminates potential hazards, and encourages employees to prevent potential harm to other employees, teaching staff, and students. As well, a comprehensive safety system reduces frequency of incidents, injury claims, and rehabilitative and insurance costs to the employer and promotes goodwill within the organization (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health [NIOSH], 2001).

    In a research study of safety practices and attitudes in school district foodservice programs, safety practices highly correlated with attitudes toward safety. In this study, school foodservice directors who modeled and practiced safety perceived fewer challenges implementing a worker safety system. Challenges to implementing a best practice safety system included funding (to upgrade facilities and for promoting safety initiatives); time (for safety meetings and training employees); lack of resources for human engineering safety consultants and trainers, and safety seminars; and the absence of formal worker safety systems (Schweitzer, 2007).

    In the same study, additional qualitative research revealed a number of strategies and models for implementing successful employee safety systems in both commercial and non-commercial settings. Formal safety system components include teaching and training workplace safety to employees; performing facility safety inspections; communicating workplace safety; involving employees in safety committee meetings; and devoting resources to minimizing or even eliminating hazardous workplace conditions.

    This text focuses on developing a successful workers compensation program and safety system for school district employees. They are as much at risk for injury as employees in the non-education, business sector of employment. The models and strategies contained within this text may be adapted for use in school districts for sustained employee health and safety, reduced frequency of on-the-job injuries, as well as less severe and costly injuries. These results will decrease losses and injury claims history, which in turn forms the basis of future insurance premiums.

    School district administrators are frequently forced to do more with less funding, particularly considering the requirement to implement many unfunded mandates from state and federal governments. Dollars saved from improved worker safety and reduction of insurance premiums may directly benefit educational initiatives in school districts. Primarily, the funds for educating students may originate from saved workers compensation dollars.

    Chapter 1

    School Safety is Important-Cost and Prevalence of Injuries

    The nature of work for school district employees combined with workplace environment predisposes them to occupational injuries. Many certified school district employees could become injured due to performing repetitive work with heavy lifting, twisting, turning, reaching, stretching, and bending. Employees may slip on wet floors; or fall on icy parking lots; trip over data cables, electrical extension cords, or boxes; function in poor or inadequate lighting; endure high levels of noise; or breathe poor indoor air quality due to mold, mildew, improper levels of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, or noxious outside air that enters the building through ventilation systems. On top of that, principals, teachers, and coaches are at risk for injury from aggressive or hostile students and parents.

    Potentially hazardous conditions in schools could contribute to, or result in, injuries to large numbers of non-certified school district employees. Support employees are the non-teaching classified or non-certified employees of a school district who support teachers and administrators. They clean and maintain buildings and grounds; operate technology; and transport, nourish, and keep students healthy and safe. These non-certified employees suffer larger numbers of injuries due to the physically demanding and challenging nature of their work.

    Secretarial, clerical, media, and management information systems personnel are prone to repetitive stress disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome from keyboarding at an improper working height. They may work at desks dimly lit, noisy, or crowded workstations. Personnel who lift and carry heavy boxes such as copy paper are prone to musculoskeletal strains and back injuries. They may trip over open file cabinet drawers and boxes that are improperly stored.

    Maintenance and custodial personnel work with cutting tools and blades such as knives, and box cutters. They may use various types of saws and small hand tools such as drills, hammers, and sanders that cause vibration resulting in injury. Maintenance personnel may be prone to repetitive stress injuries and musculoskeletal disorders. They work on ladders and scaffolds in dangerously high places. Sometimes they must bend, stoop, and crawl in potentially dangerous areas. They work with high voltage electricity, natural gas, refrigerants, volatile chemicals, and noxious fumes such as paints and paint thinners.

    Personnel work on wet or greasy floor surfaces; dispense caustic chemicals; push, pull, and lift heavy equipment, cases, and boxes; and work with flammable materials. They use motorized equipment including hand and riding mowers, trimmers, and snow throwers. They might move heavy materials such as stone, sand, dirt, or snow with manual material handling equipment such as wheelbarrows and shovels. Some are typically the first persons called in the event of a gas leak, fire, flood, bodily fluid spill, or intrusion in a building. They handle broken glass, sharps, and bio hazardous materials. Custodians frequently lift heavy trashcans, heavy cases of paper, and buckets of water. They swing mops from side to side and move heavy loads with a force that may exceed normal body limits.

    School nurses are prone to back strains from lifting students. They are exposed to bodily spills (blood, urine, vomit, and feces) and communicable diseases from ill students; sustain needle stick injuries from injecting medications; and they may be injured from slipping and falling on wet floors.

    Foodservice employees work with hot ovens, ranges, and dangerous production equipment. They stand in place for long periods with high noise levels (National Foodservice Management Institute [NFSMI], 2002). Employees are exposed to cuts from knives and blades on food processors and slicers. They are burned by hot ovens, ranges, steam tables, fryers, dishwashers, and scalding liquids from kettles and stockpots. They slip and fall on wet or greasy floors, particularly in dish rooms and around fryers and steam tables. Employees sustain musculoskeletal disorders from lifting heavy cases of canned and frozen foods, from pushing heavy carts and hot cabinets. They suffer sprains and strains from bending over sinks and reaching pans from hot ovens. Cashiers may sustain repetitive stress disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome from repetitively handling cash or meal cards and finalizing meal transactions on a computer monitor or keyboard.

    Transportation employees sustain back injuries from lifting special needs students, back strains from bouncing up and down on non-air cushioned seats, and slipping and falling on wet or icy pavement. They may sustain injuries from getting in and out of vehicles or going up and down stairs frequently. They may be exposed to noxious diesel fuel fumes from idling engines and have contact with communicable diseases from ill children in confined vehicles. They may be distracted while driving if students misbehave and there is lack of other supervision on the bus.

    Playground aides, hallway and lunchroom monitors, and security personnel supervise and monitor children while not in the classroom. These individuals may be prone to injuries because of slipping on wet or icy pavement, tripping on uneven surfaces such as playground

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