Classroom Health And Safety Checklist

[Nadia Summerhill]

Administratorscoordinators, and teachers know that their schools should comply with Federal or State Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations. However, the task may seem overwhelming! This Safety Checklist Program can help these leaders bring their schools into compliance even when they have little safety and health experience, a busy schedule, and many unanswered questions.

Many States mandate that career-technical schools and institutions have safety and health programs in place, conduct hazard analyses for each career-technical program, do safety inspections and maintenance, and comply with safety and health and environmental regulations. In one easy-to-read source, the Safety Checklist Program provides information needed by schools to maintain safe classrooms, shops, and labs for teachers and students in career-technical education. This information can also be used by colleges and universities with occupational safety and health programs. The key to preventing injury and illness of school employees and students, and protecting the environment, is to establish a safety and health and environmental safety program.

At first glance, the size of the Safety Checklist Program can seem overwhelming because of the large number of checklists needed to cover all regulations applicable to career-technical school settings. The program contains four chapters and several appendices. Each chapter builds on the preceding one to develop a workable plan for implementing a checklist program.

Appendix A: Resource Agencies and Organizations gives descriptions and contact information for regulatory agencies and their respective regulations, professional organizations, and other occupational safety and health groups.

Appendix E: Text of Selected Regulations provides links to OSHA regulations for construction and general industry regulations. Includes the actual text of most common Federal regulations in the workplace such as employee emergency plans and fire prevention plans, personal protective equipment and respirators, and medical and first aid.

Additional Resources

Large collection of safety related information provided to aid in creating a safety and health program. Includes links to databases and a wide variety of safety and health related material.

DISCLAIMER: Mention of any company or product does not constitute endorsement by NIOSH. In addition, the inclusion of links to particular items or Web sites is not intended to reflect endorsement by NIOSH, nor it is intended to endorse any views expressed or products or services offered by the author of the reference or the organization operating the server on which the reference is maintained.

The Safety Checklist Program was modeled after a manual developed in New Jersey entitled Safe Schools: A Health and Safety Check. This manual of checklists covers environmental regulations as well as safety and health regulations for secondary occupational and career orientation programs in New Jersey public schools. The Safe Schools manual is a successful, pilot-tested manual developed with the help of hundreds of individuals and supported by the New Jersey Department of Education, Office of School-to-Career and College Initiatives. The manual has been successfully used in New Jersey since 1992.

Below are some commonly asked questions that participants raised during the development of the New Jersey Safe Schools Manual, on which the Safety Checklist Program is modeled:

Q: Do the checklists cover all potential hazards in my program?

A: The checklists were developed only for hazards covered by current Federal regulations. It was beyond the scope of this project to include checklists for unregulated environmental, safety, and health hazards. A career-technical program or course may still contain hazards, even if all of the checklists indicate good compliance. In Appendix A: (Resource Agencies and Organizations), an effort was made to locate resources for additional information about some of the hazards not covered by regulations.

Q:Are the checklists all I need for a safety and health program at my school?

A: Self-inspection checklists are only one of many elements that need to be in place to protect people and the environment. Other essential elements include management commitment, employee and student training and involvement, student safety and health competency testing, established procedures to follow in an emergency, and a coordinated effort to eliminate any hazards that are found. Many of these topics are discussed in Chapter 2: How to Establish an Effective Occupational Safety and Health and Environmental Safety Program . Suggestions for involving students are covered in the Appendix B: Using the Safety Checklists to Teach Students About Occupational Safety and Health.

Q: Do the checklists deal with occupational safety and health and environmental safety regulations applicable to the whole school?

A: The checklists address only regulations that are directly related to career-technical classroom programs and courses. For example, the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act of 1986 (AHERA) regulations issued by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) covering management of asbestos-containing materials in schools are not addressed in this manual (although checklists and regulations pertaining to asbestos in brake linings are covered). These regulations are relevant to schools in general but are not directly related to career-technical programs and courses. On the other hand, the hazardous waste disposal and electrical checklists and others can be used in other programs and classrooms.

Q: Do the checklists cover cooperative education off school grounds?

A: The checklists are designed to cover environmental, safety, and health regulations that are potentially applicable to public career-technical classroom settings on school grounds. Non-school, non-classroom situations and locations, such as cooperative education programs at the worksite, were not specifically considered in the development of the checklists. However, many of the checklists and regulations apply to these other situations.

Q: Do the checklists cover science classes and adult career-technical education classes?

A: Although important safety and health regulations need to be considered in adult career-technical education classes and science classes, these checklists have not been developed with these target classes in mind. Many of the checklists, however, also apply to these areas.

Health and safety in a school is about taking a sensible and proportionate approach to ensure that the premises provide a healthy and safe place for all who use them, including the school workforce, visitors and pupils.

It has been designed to complement the steps the employer takes across the school to manage risks from topics such as fire, legionella, asbestos, manual handling or violence etc. School-wide approaches to assessing and managing real risks should be in place so they do not need to be reassessed in an ordinary classroom.

This checklist doesn't cover drama and sports facilities or specialist classrooms, including laboratories, art, IT, design and technology facilities. In these specific environments, where more specialist equipment and/or substances are in use, risk assessment and management appropriate to the activities should be in place.

The purpose of this evaluation is for the health and safety of students and staff even in the absence of a specific statute or code. The Health and Safety Evaluation of School Buildings Checklist Facilities review is for the evaluation of school buildings including traditional public school districts (owned or leased), private schools for the disabled, charter schools, renaissance school projects and any other school settings. This evaluation checklist must be completed annually by appropriate district personnel and kept on file for inspection or other legal issues. Further, districts must submit the Health and Safety Evaluation of School Buildings Checklist Statement of Assurance annually by January 30. These checklist items cover regulations issued by New Jersey Department of Education, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The items listed on the Health and Safety Evaluation of School Buildings Checklist are not mutually exclusive of other findings a monitor/inspector may site.

A school district that is operating a prekindergarten (PreK) program must follow uniform quality standards for PreK classrooms located in both school buildings and community-based organization (CBO) sites. The school district must ensure that facilities that house its PreK program are safe for the children in the program.

To assist school districts in fulfilling these obligations, the Office of Early Learning has developed a Health and Safety Checklist. School districts are encouraged to complete this checklist for each of its PreK sites annually, at a minimum. School districts may revise the checklist to include additional items that are relevant to its specific partnership(s). In addition, districts should develop plans to ensure that identified deficiencies are corrected and documented.

Schools can often be a chaotic environment. From moving chairs and children running around to paper planes flying past, schools are very fast-paced; and with an environment that changes as dynamically and often as this, it can be difficult to keep on top of classroom health and safety.

This will help you to identify any new risks before the classrooms start to fill up again. However, this checklist should not be used alone, as it should also be used in conjunction with other school-wide approaches to assessing and managing risks.

Slips and trips make up 55% of injuries in the education sector, so it is important to keep the risks to a minimum. This means preventing slips and trips in the classroom by keeping the walkways and floors clear. Some key areas to check are:

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