teacher safe: digital application as an occupational safety tool
TRANSCRIPT
Teacher safe:
Digital application as an occupational safety tool
Brita Somerkoski phD (Education)
National Institute for Health and Welfare
University of Turku
Finland
Safety in Basic Education Act of Finland
“ A pupil participating in education shall be entitled to a safe
learning environment.”
Read more of the Basic Education Act: http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokset/1998/en19980628.pdf
Conceptual remarks
• Accident is an event in which a person dies, is severely injured or
sustains a less serious injury. The concept contains two components:
the event and the injury.
• Safety pedagogics, safety vs. security
• Usability vs. usefulness
The concepts around safety pedagogics
® OPTUKE
2012
Green Cross software
• Web-based work-flow software for monitoring risks and injuries at
school
• Developed and designed in co-operation with school authorities as a
part of regional quality assurance work
Monitoring process at Green Cross software
Quick incident reporting
Cause analysis Problem solving
Study of user experiences
• 5 pilot communities
• 10 (n=10) end-users, interview
• 2 elementary, 6 upper secondary, 1 kindergarten, 1 school authority
Study questions:
Does the software work?
What kind of injuries and risks are monitored with the software?
What are the actions taken after the analyzing process?
Main results
Usability
• Some of the respondents used the program very seldom (1-2 times a
term)
It was difficult to remember the passwords
It was still too complicated compared to oral reporting
In some cases there was double-reporting (for the insurance
company, for the program, sometimes even to the student
administration software called Starsoft Wilma)
Main results: What kind of risks and injuries
were reported?
Violence: fighting, a knife found in student´s clothing, bullying, student threw a chair, aggressive
behavior, student escapes from the school,
Injuries: injury on icy or slippery surface, head hit to a stone wall, no sand in the icy yard - a parent
fell, a student fell down at a playground, finger injured by a door, teacher was hit by a hard baseball,
student ran through window glass, student jumped down from a storage building roof, allergic
reaction, student´s head was stuck in the staircase
Structural or technical failures: bad acoustics, handrail was broken, school door was open,
cleaner´s school keys were stolen, electrical appliance was broken, a loose object in the door,
indoor air pollution issues
Accidents: car accident, student´s work jacket caught fire during crafts lesson
Near miss: a hand was about to get injured in the angle grind machinery, allergic child got wrong
food, a tractor was speeding at the school yard
Main results: Solutions after the Green Cross
analysis Case or near miss Solutions after Green Cross analysis
fights in crowded corridoors when going to recess more flexibility, re-scheduling rush times
a student climbed and jumped off the roof during
the recess – severe injury
more supervision during recesses, cpr training for the supervisors,
modifications to roof access
near miss: an allergic person got wrong food additional education material for substitute workers, better process
description at the kitchen
a student was stuck at the staircase technical department was contacted, additional installations to the
staircase
student´s unpredictable aggressive behaviour code word for announcing the staff to how to respond
work jacket got on fire during craft, design and
technology lesson
new and fire-proof working jackets for students
child ran through the window more durable window with markings was installed
near miss: a student was about to hurt his hand
when using a lathe (turning machine)
new method of working with machinery was introduced
Discussion
• Injuries at school are somewhat unpredictable and connected to
human factor using products or acting against the norms or
regulations
• In the monitoring process near miss cases and injuries were caught
better than with any other monitoring tool
• The responders found the visual screen very informative
• After the analysing process practical actions were carried out e.g.
changes in supervision during the recess, introduction of new more
appropriate materials, better maintenanceimplementation!
Discussion
• Special attention for usability should be considered
• The reporting phase should be designed as simple as possible and
also the users should be encouraged to use the software when the
activity decreases
• The software wasn´t a good solution for reporting repeatedly
happening cases
It would be necessary to report without doing any analysis, which is
not possible with the current status of the program
The Developing Network of Safety Culture
in Schools
The Developing Network of Safety Culture in Schools (OPTUKE)
• from the viewpoint of Safety pedagogics
• The network was established in 2010 to advance a wide, systematic and open
safety culture in schools.
• Especially school, youth and fire authorities as well as social care workers, NGO´s
and researchers are welcome to join this open network.
• The strength of the network comes from its multi-agency and interdisciplinary co-
operation.
Contacts:
• Brita Somerkoski
[email protected] tel. +358 (0)44 20 90 040
[email protected] tel. +358 (0) 29 524 8448
SAFETY 2016
FROM RESEARCH TO IMPLEMENTATION
18–21 September 2016
Tampere Hall • Tampere • Finland
www.thl.fi/safety2016
@Safety2016, #Safety2016FIN
Important dates
• Deadline for abstract submission: 1 November 2015
• End of early bird registration: 16 May 2016
12th Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion
TAMPERE HALL
• Largest congress hall in the Nordic
countries.
• Situated in a park setting within a walking
distance of major hotels, the railway
station and the city center.
• Committed to sustainable development.
• Fully accessible for disabled persons