Across the country students are returning to the classroom. New backpacks, the latest sneakers, and orderly lockers characterize those first few days. Another constant in every classroom is a teacher--supportive and ready with extra help when needed. According to one source consulted for this article, however, education is "a forgotten sector" when it comes to employee health and safety.

Few would argue that teaching is as dangerous as factory work, construction, agriculture, or mining. But there are considerable hazards, and they often don't get the attention they should. What are the risks educators face and what organizations and initiatives aim to provide them with protection?

The answers, plus valuable lessons applicable to nonschool workplaces, are the subject of this article. Look for:

• Details on a national campaign that targets bad indoor air, unprotected chemicals, teacher inactivity, and other concerns,
• Insight from a pair of authors/educators who urge teachers to stop ignoring their own needs and take steps to reduce stress,
• Guidance from NIOSH on establishing a school safety program, and
• Tips from one state that believes safety and health committees are the key to protecting school staff.

Schools Are Complex

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there are around 6 million teachers in the United States. About two-thirds of them teach pre-school through high school and the rest work at colleges and universities.

Among obstacles to their protection is the fact that public school teachers in federal OSHA states do not enjoy OSHA protection. But that hasn't stopped groups, including the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union, from reaching out with assistance.

Darryl Alexander is program director for AFT's health and safety office. About 18 years ago, the organization started taking a hard look at schools. "We realized that schools are pretty complex industries from a health and safety point of view," says Alexander. And unlike industrial workplaces, schools don't have safety professionals on staff or access to professional expertise.

In states and territories that operate their own OSHA programs (or programs for the public sector) AFT helps school districts understand and meet OSHA regulations. But in other states and schools, the goal is to enhance awareness and offer hands-on assistance for both union members and nonmembers.

"We try to get our locals involved in health and safety joint labor/management committees. We've also developed all kinds of training for school employees," says Alexander. Among workers targeted by AFT initiatives are special education teachers and aides. Their duties can include diapering children, changing feeding tubes, and physically handling students in ways that might expose the workers to body fluids, including blood.

"We're also very concerned about bus drivers. Many pump their own diesel fuel and have never received MSDSs or proper protective equipment," Alexander adds. Drivers (as well as some teachers) can be exposed to violence, too. And those who work in school kitchens face hazards like cramped, hot working conditions, and manual material handling. Alexander says AFT is also concerned about indoor air quality and deferred maintenance on school buildings.

New York and Beyond

New York City's local AFT affiliate, the United Federation of Teachers, has worked closely with the city's school system to improve lab safety. "We found huge amounts of chemical reagents, including carcinogens, in many labs," says Alexander. "And the school district had no organized way of hauling away hazardous substances."

Many school labs lacked training, safety showers, eyewash stations, and specialized cabinets for storing flammable chemicals. With AFT's assistance, a comprehensive lab safety plan was developed and has been in place for several years in New York City schools. It even includes an annual, 4-day chemical emergency response training session.

The union has made inroads in other parts of the country, too, including at a school district in Jefferson County, Alabama. Over the past 5 years, AFT has instituted a train-the-trainer program there. It brings safety and health best practices to school nurses, food service workers, and custodians. Although Alabama is a federal OSHA state and public sector workers are not covered, AFT uses an "OSHA framework" to deliver training based on agency regulations.

Nationally, AFT has launched "Building Minds, Minding Buildings." This is a certificate program that encourages the incorporation of environmental, safety, and health concerns into the construction of new school buildings. "We see so many schools shoddily constructed in which students and staff are sentenced to bad ventilation, security problems, and other issues," says Alexander.

Healthy Schools

The Healthy Schools Campaign is a national nonprofit group started by Rochelle Davis nearly 6 years ago. Its mission is "to advocate for policies and model programs that allow students and staff to learn and work in a healthy school environment." The group is headquartered in Chicago.

The campaign offers diverse types of assistance, including a Quick and Easy Guide to Green Cleaning. Davis says more than 50,000 copies of the free guide have been distributed to date. (For more information see the website, www.HealthySchoolsCampaign.org.)

The guide promotes steps such as: using cleaning chemicals that are less harmful to people and the environment; spraying product directly on a cleaning cloth, not on the surface being cleaned; and use of floor cleaning equipment with high-efficiency filters that capture microscopic particles.

The campaign was instrumental in recent passage of an Illinois law that will require all schools to implement green cleaning.

Another new measure endorsed by the campaign mandates that new schools built with state funds be "healthy and high performing." According to Davis, healthy refers to the presence of kitchens, gyms, and outdoor space; high performing refers to energy efficiency.

Fighting Frazzle

Alongside advocates for healthy buildings and systems are those who emphasize the personal health of teachers. Patsy Queen and her husband, Dr. Allen Queen, have written a book titled The Frazzled Teacher's Wellness Plan.

Patsy is a nurse, Allen is an educator, and both teach at the college level. Patsy explains: "Talking with colleagues we came up with the idea [for the book] as we realized that teachers, like others in the helping professions, seem to take care of everyone but themselves."

The book offers practical suggestions. The tips are equally useful for busy, not overly active, workers in other types of businesses. Among them:

• Desktop yoga exercises and stretches. The Queens say just 2 to 3 minutes of movement and breathing exercises at the desk can help teachers combat stress. These can even be done before or between classes.
• Smart eating. The aim is to help on-the-go teachers improve their nutrition by reducing fat intake, controlling portions, and avoiding temptations. (Patsy acknowledges what many teachers know well-those home-baked treats in the teachers' lounge can be deadly.)
• Improving behaviors. The book addresses habits like perfectionism and procrastination and offers tips for making positive change. There are also ideas about managing time as a way to reduce stress.

Patsy Queen says an important factor in helping teachers become healthier is the emergence of a ring leader. Teachers often become friends, and when one person decides to champion a healthier diet or exercise, others are likely to join.

Although wellness is not often institutionalized in schools, as it is in corporate settings, many teachers informally adopt group strategies. These might include a weekly pot luck lunch that substitutes fresh salads for fattening casseroles. Other ideas are walking clubs or on-site Weight Watchers meetings.

Dr. Martin Collis is a former educator and professor who also writes about teacher wellness. He offers: "The reality is that teaching is one of the world's best jobs if you like it and one of the worst and most stressful if you don't." His other recommendations include these:

• If you don't like teaching, quit. It's not fair to yourself or your students if you resent the demands of the profession.
• Think in positive terms about yourself, your students, and your job.
• Build physical activity into your daily routine.
• Follow conventional wisdom when it comes to improving nutrition.
• Consider techniques like conscious breathing, yoga, and meditation to help cope with stressful situations.
• Always try to have something to look forward to.

Get Out the Highlighter

NIOSH has produced a school safety checklist program to help administrators and teachers bring their workplaces into compliance. NIOSH wrote the program mindful that educators typically have limited safety and health experience. The program can be downloaded from the NIOSH website (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh); in the search box, type: "Publication no. 2004-101."

The guidance is divided into four chapters that cover:

• Making sense of regulations
• Establishing an effective environmental, safety, and health program
• Implementing a safety checklist program
• A collection of checklists and appendices

Guidance for program development is similar to that recommended by OSHA for any industry:

1. Ensure management commitment and employee/student involvement.
2. Identify and prioritize potential hazards.
3. Eliminate hazards.
4. Train employees, students, and management.

Commitment and Involvement

Although space does not permit a detailed explanation of the full program, the NIOSH guidance on ensuring management commitment and teacher involvement is worth a closer look. Here's what's recommended:

• Get top administration informed and involved in the program.
• Develop a written safety and health policy.
• Have adequate people power. Assign appropriate individuals to carry out the program as described in the NIOSH manual. Select people who are competent and motivated.
• Provide financial resources. Money must be allocated in the budget for a safety and health program in order for it to succeed.
• Evaluate performance. Make the school or district safety and health program part of regular performance reviews. Acknowledge those who lead the effort to identify and fix hazards.
• Establish a hazard prevention committee made up of representatives of management, employees, and possibly students.
• Communicate new procedures and safety initiatives regularly. Do this through newsletters, bulletin boards, paycheck stuffers, and meetings.
• Develop hazard reporting procedures. Encourage employees to look for and report discoveries to your safety and health coordinator or the committee chairperson.

Cultivate a Committee

In Oregon, businesses with 10 or more employees are required to have safety and health committees. That includes both public and private schools. The state says a good committee should be engaged in seven activities:

• Demonstrate accountability. Make sure members understand they are expected to:
1. Contribute to the committee and
2. Recommend to management how to strengthen its accountability for health and safety.
• Establish commitment. This includes the commitment from management that it will act on the committee's recommendations.
  
  Also, representatives must demonstrate their own commitment by attending meetings, following through on tasks, and encouraging other employees to identify hazards.
• Involve employees. Offer staff specific ways they can assist the committee. And encourage them to report hazards and unsafe work pr
actices. Keep the committee visible by reporting on its progress at staff meetings.
• Identify hazards and unsafe practices. Train committee members in hazard recognition and control. Conduct thorough workplace inspections at least quarterly; document hazards and discuss how to control them.
• Investigate accidents and near-misses.
• Keep accurate records of committee activities, including: minutes of each meeting; reports, evaluations, and recommendations; management response to the recommendations; employee safety suggestions; and hazard reports.
• Assess the committee's accomplishments, strengths, and weaknesses. Once a year, schedule a special committee meeting to identify the accomplishments of the past 12 months, review work on the seven key activities, and set new goals for the next year.

Impressive Results

In Ohio, the Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) interviewed school districts several years ago to learn about OSH best practices in use.

Asked about the benefits of managing employee safety, the schools responded favorably. (Active participation in BWC safety programs allows all businesses, including school districts, to achieve discounts on their workers' compensation rates.)

The survey found:

• A nearly 35 percent reduction in premium costs over 4 years,
• A 78 percent reduction in claims in a 2-year period,
• Reductions in injury frequency and severity among all participating schools,
• Safety-related communication systems that helped improve overall communications throughout the districts, and
• Heightened employee awareness of safety issues, on and off the job.

Issue Your Own Report Card

If you're in the education business, use some of the tips and checklists in this article to begin to assess your own success in protecting teachers and other staff.

For additional help, consult the resources mentioned as well as OSHA, your state consultation program, EPA, education organizations to which you or your school belong, and community resources.

For those in nonschool work settings, we hope the information and ideas presented will be applicable. Although program design and implementation can be complex, the essence of successful safety always comes down to the basics: Assess your situation, determine the risks, develop ways to address them, benchmark your progress, and do it all with a maximum of management commitment and employee involvement.

[Source: OSHA Compliance Advisor. Subscribe today!]