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

brita.somerkoski@utu.fi tel. +358 (0)44 20 90 040

brita.somerkoski@thl.fi 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