Are you ready for The Big One?

A few weeks ago, our area felt the effects of an earthquake whose epicenter was just off the inland coast of Southern Vancouver Island. Every year our staffs and students practice the ‘duck and cover’ procedure followed by an evacuation of the building. Yet when this one struck outside of school hours, I remained on my couch wondering what had happened. I did not duck and cover, even though I have practiced this procedure every year for over 21 years!

Perhaps it is the infrequent nature of earthquakes that we physically experience that causes us to hesitate. We wonder if it is an explosion, or a large truck passing by before hitting Google to see what happened. The telltale signs of a fire are easy to identify as are flooding, and power outages. The windstorms of November pointed out some gaps in the School Emergency Preparedness Guide in dealing with some of the calamities that can accost our worksites.

The School Emergency Preparedness Guide sets out the protocols for dealing with emergencies that may best the workplace. From Lockdowns to Earthquakes, procedures and protocols are identified. Your school will also have handbooks describing the procedures to follow in the event of one of these emergencies. Procedures change as well, so it is a good document to review by Joint Occupational Health and Safety committees. For instance, many sites still have search and rescue teams to go through the school once students have been evacuated in an earthquake scenario. Yet, that is no longer required for safety reasons. Only trained First Responders should enter a building after an earthquake. How many of you are still doing that job?

Maybe we wont react exactly as we are supposed to in an emergency situation, but we can be prepared. I encourage Health and Safety reps to check out the School Emergency Preparedness Guide to ensure your school is practicing the proper protocols. You can find the document on the Staff Portal at the District website. It is under Human Resources/Health and Safety page.

As for the gaps identified from the windstorms, the District Occupational Health and Safety committee is working to include those in the Guide as soon as possible.

Be Safe,

One More Form!

The latest Health and Safety bulletin just came out from the District Health and Safety office. It contained a good poster on First Aid. One thing missing due to space limitations was to fill out a Form 6a. 

I know in the heat of the incident it is the last thing you want to do. Time with your class is precious and the incident or injury seems minor. Yet completing a Form 6a is important. I wont regal you with a series of stories of people who ignored this step and then WCB refused to honour a later claim. Nor will I recount the little injuries that became big problems later on for employees. Suffice it to say, completing the form, even if you never have another issue stemming from the problem, is like an insurance policy. It establishes when the injury occurred. If you require time off, instead of using your sick time, it will be classified as WCB time and they pay for your absence. If rehabilitation or physiotherapy is required, WCB will pay for it.

Some members have encountered resistance or obstacles put in their face by WorkSafe claim adjusters. Unfortunately this has happened as WorkSafe is not always as supportive as it should be. If you have a claim denied or getting held up by WorkSafe please contact Diane Irvine at the BCTF office. Her contact info is dirvine@bctf.ca or call toll free 1-800-663-9163 and ask for Diane.

Filling out Form 6a also provides the District Occupational Health and Safety Committee with the ability to track trends of incidents / injuries that happen to the various employee groups. This review allows us the opportunity to target certain issues or investigate a particular worksite to create prevention strategies. One reason I am writing this post is due to the number of injuries sustained but no form 6a was completed. In some cases the injury was significant but no further medical assistance was sought out. 

Perhaps we teachers are a stoic bunch or we have a habit of putting the needs of others before our own. I implore you to not put off filing out the Form 6a. It might save your life!

Violence, Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace

Violence in the workplace can be a frightening experience for workers. We know that working with people, there is always a possibility of encountering violence, bullying or harassment. People are unpredictable. With adults, we expect mature behaviour but children are less sophisticated. Nevertheless, it is not the expectation that it is part of your employment. The Worker Compensation Act and WorkSafe BC were created to ensure that BC workers work in safe and healthy environments. As the BC Federation of Labour reminds us, "Violence is NOT part of your job."

If you have been humiliated, sworn at, spat on or hit at work, you have experienced workplace violence. Constant exposure to workplace violence, even the seemingly small stuff like the passing comments of parents, "the other teacher does it differently," for example, can wear you down over time. Constant exposure can have repercussions on your physical and mental health, as well as, your job satisfaction. Because of the implications for the employer, such as increased sick time and lower productivity, they have an investment in reducing and eliminating workplace violence.

Our District has now put into place several policies and programs to this end. Policy 4304, 4300.1, and 5131 and their accompanying Regulations clearly state the employer's commitment to staff safety. The Violence Prevention Protocol and new WCB Bullying and Harassment policy add teeth to any worker claim of violence, bullying or harassment. We have Collective Agreement language that set out the process for dealing with workplace harassment or sexual harassment. It is no longer tolerable for any worker to experience these actions anymore. Parents cannot shout, berate or intimidate us any longer. It is unacceptable. We do not have to accept threats, fouls language or physical violence from students regardless of age.

These concerns are relative to the worker. If the staff member felt threatened, intimidated or abused, then our processes can kick in. WorkSafe BC defines violence as, 

"the attempted or actual exercise, other than a worker, of any physical force sa as to cause injury to a worker, and includes any threatening statement or behaviour which gives a worker reasonable cause to believe that he or she is at risk of injury."

If it is worker to worker violence, another process comes into play. The bullying and harassment policy from WorkSafe defines it as the following,

"includes any inappropriate conduct or comment by a person towards a worker that the person knew or reasonably ought to have known would cause that worker to be humiliated or intimidated...”

    The definition is broader and includes the actions of colleagues, students, parents and administrators. Being directed or disciplined by an administrator is not harassment, unless it is done in an intimidating or humiliating manner.

 In our office, we do receive complaints of violence from students, but also threatening or intimidating behaviour by administrators, inappropriate remarks made by co-workers and strong-arm behaviour by parents. It is the vindictive email, the negative discussion of a teacher at a PAC meeting, unwanted innuendos by a co-worker or the "guys only" table in a staffroom.

    The most egregious complaints, believe it or not, are about the few principals who will humiliate teachers in staff meetings to suppress dissent, the placing of baby bottles in teacher mailboxes for those that complain, administrators who use homophobic remarks, comments about absences, paternalistic attitudes or gossip about a teacher to his/her co-workers to bring someone in line. It is about power: creating authoritarian or abusive environments to manage schools or to gain something from another person. It has to stop.

It is time to change this culture in our schools. We have the commitment from the Board of Education. We have a commitment from the new Superintendent to create a more respectful and collaborative atmosphere. We have the processes and protocols to deal with these behaviours and attitudes. Let's use them for our benefit. We have the right to a safe and healthy work environment. A safe workplace is everybody's responsibility, let's make it happen.

Welcome back to a new school year

A new school year and time to assure and assert your Health and Safety rights. First things first, however, does your school have an active health and safety committee? The committee should have fifty per cent representation from the employee groups of your school. This committee is a legislated requirement and therefore at least one GVTA member needs to be on the committee.

I don't wish to nag but it is important that we have representation on the committee. It is helpful if the name of the GVTA member on the JOHS committee is forwarded to the GVTA office. Carolina can then add it to the database. The health and safety email list is used to send pertinent information out to committee members.

In the coming month, the union will send out a report on the survey we asked teachers to fill out in June. There is some interesting information stemming from that survey already. While teachers are experiencing more violent behaviour, the number of Form 1 documents (Worker Statement of Incident) completed is considerably less. The need for more education for administrators and teachers is very evident.

The area of "violence in the workplace" will continue to be a major focus for me this year. The new regulations and policies on Bullying and Harassment are also a primary concern. There are clearer and more defined rules to protect workers and the education sector is quickly catching up. We are not trying to label students hazards, but you are entitled to a violence free workplace.

At an upcoming SURT (school union rep training) session, of which H&S reps will be invited, we will run a session on the Violence Prevention Protocol and Bullying and Harassment Policy. We will dissect the forms and processes to make the system less complicated or frightening.

Stay Safe

David Futter

End of Year Events

Karen Langenmaier, the BCTF Health and Safety Officer sent out this reminder on end of year events. It seemed appropriate to reproduce it here.

Hi all, I’ve had a few questions regarding WCB coverage in the event that a teacher is injured during a sports day or extra-curricular lunch time activity that are so popular at this time of year.

The short answer is "yes" teachers are covered.

However, the long answer is more important:

1. the event must be a school organized and sanctioned event.

2. the administrator must know and approve of the event.

3. there should be some paper work that confirms the above.

The reason for this is that in the event a teacher is injured, WCB has in the past tried to deny claims saying that the activity was on the teacher's own time and therefore not part of their work.  We know that extra-curricular, while not part of our "educational" work, is still part of an historically accepted practice that IS part of our work.  Just to make sure that all areas are covered however, make sure that the administrator knows of all the teachers taking part and sanctions the event.

Having said all this, the best advice we can offer is: remember how old you are and that even though that competitive fun edge comes out, your body won't respond as well as the students'. Don't push your physical limitations.  Prevention is way better than compensation!

Yours in health and safety,

Karen Langenmaier

May Madness

A    A warm welcome to Michael Colussi, the new Health and Safety Officer for the District. Michael has an extensive background in Heath and Safety. The GVTA looks forward to working with him to continue to improve health and safety in the district. 

     Be sure to send your month meeting minutes into the the District via Mr. Colussi or Dennis Dudley. We review the minutes, fire drill reports and inspections each month to see if  trends are developing that the District Committee needs to take action upon. 

     One area that can have an influence on health and safety is stress. The newly published research report by the BCTF called Worklife of BC Teachers cites the following as major stressors:

• feeling pressured by the demands of multiple tasks and limited time
• the complexity of the classroom, in terms of class size and class composition
• a lack of support for teachers in their efforts to meet students' needs
• a lack of support to deal with problematic student behaviour
• relationships with a small number of parents were difficult and strained
• reporting caused a periodic increase in stress
• inadequate time for preparation and marking     

     The causes and results of stress may be different depending on career stage, gender and age. Newer teachers, for instance, find the job insecurity stressful. Regardless of the cause, working under stress can lead to illness or cause one to become distract and thus pose a safety risk to themselves or others. Another area of stress that can occur is stress from a critical incident. Staff who are apart of or witness a critical incident can experience emotional or psychological symptoms which may impair their ability to perform well at work or outside of work. WorkSafe BC identifies the following issue as problematic. "After a critical incident, workers’ feelings about their jobs and the workplace can be seriously affected. Workers may become disillusioned with their workplace if they believe that their problems are not being taken seriously, or that they are not being given adequate support." (Coping with Critical Incident Stress at Work: 2002)

     Health and safety is everyone's business. Please look out for each other and speak up when you have a health and safety concern.

Be Safe!

Update: 911 issue

In conversations at the District Health and Safety meeting, it was agreed that the policy is out of date and needs updating. The new Occupationa Health and Safety Officer, Michael Colussi, confirmed that the existing policy is in contravention of Provincial Statutes regarding First Aid and First Responders.
A district teacher is a trained First responder and provides training in first aid. Kirk Doherty from Lambrick Park responded to my previous email about Emergency Calls with some very useful information. I have added it to this post for your reading as it is instructive. Here is his advice:

"As I'm sure you know, according to OHS Regulations (see below), a designated OFA attendant's authority for treatment of an injured worker trumps an administrator's authority (or district policy for that matter). As an OFA attendant, under no circumstances would I seek an administrator's approval to call an ambulance for an injured staff member. As the OFA, that decision is mine to make (unless the injured worker refuses medical treatment or there's someone present with  higher level of first aid certification).

Similarly, it is my understanding that lay rescuers (anyone who has taken a first aid course but is not a designated first attendant at the site) are protected by the Good Samaritan Act only if they act as a reasonably prudent person within the limits of their training. Every lay rescuer course I am aware of (and certainly the ones I teach) emphasizes the "call first" approach for serious medical emergencies and recommends that the rescuer call 9-1-1 if at all in doubt. A rescuer who waits for an administrator's approval to call an ambulance or calls an administrator to assist with the determination as to whether an ambulance is needed or not is not working within the limits of his or her training nor acting as a reasonably prudent person and could be placing themselves outside the protections of the Good Samaritan Act should things go badly.

With that in mind, a school administrator who insists on providing authorization for an ambulance in case of an injured worker would, I suspect, be playing with legal fire as there is nothing in her training which makes her qualified to determine whether an ambulance is needed or not. I can't imagine the district wanting to be exposed to this kind of liability in order to save the cost of an ambulance.

Finally, with respect to choices for staff members responding to another injured staff member, the choice should not be to call 9-1-1 then inform the school administrator or try to contact a school administrator, etc. for assistance with assessing the situation if unsure.  Rather, staff members responding to an injured co-worker should provide care within the limits of their training and experience (including calling 9-1-1 if deemed necessary by the first responder) and/or contact the designated Occupational First Aid Attendant (using procedures established for that particular worksite) if the injury/situation is beyond the scope of their training. 

Regards,

Kirk Doherty

Lambrick Park Secondary School"

 

Be Safe!