807 Policy: Health and Safety
- PURPOSE
The purpose of this policy is to assist the school district in promoting health and safety, reducing injuries, and complying with federal, state, and local health and safety laws and regulations.
- GENERAL STATEMENT OF POLICY
- The policy of the school district is to implement a health and safety program that includes plans and procedures to protect employees, students, volunteers, and members of the general public who enter school district buildings and grounds. The objective of the health and safety program will be to provide a safe and healthy learning environment; to increase safety awareness; to help prevent accidents, illnesses, and injuries; to reduce liability; to assign duties and responsibilities to school district staff to implement and maintain the health and safety program; to establish written procedures for the identification and management of hazards or potential hazards; to train school district staff on safe work practices; and to comply with all health and safety, environmental, and occupational health laws, rules, and regulations.
- All school district employees have a responsibility for maintaining a safe and healthy environment within the school district and are expected to be involved in the health and safety program to the extent practicable. For the purpose of implementing this policy, the school district may form a health and safety advisory committee to be appointed by the superintendent. The health and safety advisory committee will be composed of employees and other individuals with specific knowledge of related issues. The advisory committee will provide recommendations to the administration regarding plans and procedures to implement this policy and to establish procedures for identifying, analyzing, and controlling hazards, minimizing risks, and training school district staff on safe work practices. The committee will also recommend procedures for investigating accidents and enforcement of workplace safety rules. Each recommendation shall include estimates of annual costs of implementing and maintaining that proposed recommendation. The superintendent may request that the safety committee established under Minnesota Statutes section 182.676 carry out all or part of the duties of the advisory committee or the advisory committee may consider recommendations from a separate safety committee established under Minnesota Statutes section 182.676.
- The policy of the school district is to implement a health and safety program that includes plans and procedures to protect employees, students, volunteers, and members of the general public who enter school district buildings and grounds. The objective of the health and safety program will be to provide a safe and healthy learning environment; to increase safety awareness; to help prevent accidents, illnesses, and injuries; to reduce liability; to assign duties and responsibilities to school district staff to implement and maintain the health and safety program; to establish written procedures for the identification and management of hazards or potential hazards; to train school district staff on safe work practices; and to comply with all health and safety, environmental, and occupational health laws, rules, and regulations.
- PROCEDURES
- Based upon recommendations from the health and safety advisory committee and subject to the budget adopted by the school board to implement or maintain these recommendations, the administration will adopt and implement written plans and procedures for identification and management of hazards or potential hazards existing within the school district in accordance with federal, state, and local laws, rules, and regulations. Written plans and procedures will be maintained, updated, and reviewed by the school board on an annual basis and shall be an addendum to this policy. The administration shall identify in writing a contact person to oversee compliance with each specific plan or procedure.
- To the extent that federal, state, and local laws, rules, and regulations do not exist for identification and management of hazards or potential hazards, the health and safety advisory committee shall evaluate other available resources and generally accepted best practice recommendations. Best practices are techniques or actions which, through experience or research, have consistently proven to lead to specific positive outcomes.
- The school district shall monitor and make good faith efforts to comply with any new or amended laws, rules, or regulations to control potential hazards.
IV. PROGRAM AND PLANS
- For the purpose of implementing this policy, the administration will, within the budgetary limitations adopted by the school board, implement a health and safety program that includes specific plan requirements in various areas as identified by the health and safety advisory committee. Areas that may be considered include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Asbestos
- Fire and Life Safety
- Employee Right to Know
- Emergency Action Planning
- Combustible and Hazardous Materials Storage
- Indoor Air Quality
- Mechanical Ventilation
- Mold Cleanup and Abatement
- Infectious Waste/Blood borne Pathogens
- Community Right to Know
- Compressed Gas Safety
- Confined Space Standard
- Electrical Safety
- First Aid/CPR/AED
- Food Safety Inspection
- Forklift Safety
- Hazardous Waste
- Hearing Conservation
- Hoist/Lift/Elevator Safety
- Integrated Pest Management
- Laboratory Safety Standard/Chemical Hygiene Plan
- Lead
- Control of Hazardous Energy Sources (Lockout/Tag out)
- Machine Guarding
- Safety Committee
- Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)
- Playground Safety
- Radon
- Respiratory Protection
- Underground and Above Ground Storage Tanks
- Welding/Cutting/Brazing
- Fall Protection
- Other areas determined to be appropriate by the health and safety advisory committee.
If a risk is not present in the school district, the preparation of a plan or procedure for that risk will not be necessary.
- The administration shall establish procedures to ensure, to the extent practicable, that all employees are properly trained and instructed in job procedures, crisis response duties, and emergency response actions where exposure or possible exposure to hazards and potential hazards may occur.
- The administration shall conduct or arrange safety inspections and drills. Any identified hazards, unsafe conditions, or unsafe practices will be documented and corrective action will be taken to the extent practicable to control that hazard, unsafe condition, or unsafe practice.
- Communication from employees regarding hazards, unsafe or potentially unsafe working conditions, and unsafe or potentially unsafe practices is encouraged in either written or oral form. No employee will be retaliated against for reporting hazards or unsafe or potentially unsafe working conditions or practices.
- The administration shall conduct periodic workplace inspections to identify potential hazards and safety concerns.
- In the event of an accident or a near miss, the school district shall promptly cause an accident investigation to be conducted in order to determine the cause of the incident and to take action to prevent a similar incident. All accidents and near misses must be reported to an immediate supervisor as soon as possible.
- BUDGET
The superintendent shall be responsible to provide for periodic school board review and approval of the various plan requirements of the health and safety program, including current plan requirements and related written plans and procedures and recommendations for additional plan requirements proposed to be adopted. The superintendent, or such other school official as designated by the superintendent, each year shall prepare preliminary revenue and expenditure budgets for the school district’s health and safety program. The preliminary budgets shall be accompanied by such written commentary as may be necessary for them to be clearly understood by the members of the school board and the public. The school board shall review the projected revenues and expenditures for this program and make such adjustments within the expenditure budget to carry out the current program and to implement new recommendations within the revenues projected and appropriated for this purpose. No funds may be expended for the health and safety program in any school year prior to the adoption of the budget document authorizing that expenditure for that year, or prior to the adoption of an amendment to that budget document by the school board to authorize that expenditure for that year. The health and safety program shall be implemented, conducted, and administered within the fiscal restraints of the budget so adopted.
- ENFORCEMENT
Enforcement of this policy is necessary for the goals of the school district’s health and safety program to be achieved. Within applicable budget limitations, school district employees will be trained and receive periodic reviews of safety practices and procedures, focusing on areas that directly affect the employees’ job duties. Employees shall participate in practice drills. Willful violations of safe work practices may result in disciplinary action in accordance with applicable school district policies.
Legal References:
Minn. Stat. § 123B.56 (Health, Safety, and Environmental Management)
Minn. Stat. § 123B.57 (Health and Safety Projects)
Minn. Stat. § 182.676 (Safety Committees)
Minn. Rules Part 5208.0010 (Accident and Injury Reduction Program; Applicability)
Minn. Rules Part 5208.0070 (Accident and Injury Reduction Program; Alternative Forms of Committee)
Cross References:
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 407 (Employee Right to Know - Exposure to Hazardous Substances)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 701 (Establishment and Adoption of School District Budget)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 806 (Crisis Management Policy)
Sauk Rapids-Rice Public Schools ISD 47
Orig. 2012
Revised 06.12.12
Revised 06.24.13
Reviewed 06.16.14
Revised 07.20.15
Reviewed 07.18.16
Reviewed 08.05.19
Revised 08.22.22