This awareness training will lay the foundation for building a strong occupational health and safety culture in the province of Ontario. 
George Gritziotis, Chief Prevention Officer, Province of Ontario

A strong safety culture is dependent upon demonstrating a commitment to safety by the senior management of an organization. 
Council of Ontario Directors of Education

Workplace complaints to the ministry about exposures to chemicals and a lack of proper ventilation are often associated with larger-scale maintenance activities or renovations. 
(Education sub-sector, Industrial Sector Plan 2012-2013, Ministry of Labour)

Ensuring that our school communities are safer and healthier places to learn and to work is an important part of supporting student achievement and educator excellence.
The work to prevent student injuries and to ensure student health and safety is by no means complete (CODE 2014)

Schools with better physical conditions show improved academic performance. 
(Environmental Protection Agency, USA)

A safer, healthier workplace means you can be
at your professional best without the stress of illness or injury.

Accidents, deaths, and injuries have far reaching effects on students, educators, families and communities. The fact is they are preventable, and everyone has a role to play in that prevention. 
Sam Hammond, ETFO President

Safe workplaces mean safe learning environments for students. 
Sam Hammond, ETFO President

To help ensure that students have acceptable, suitable environments to learn in, the Ministry of Education should develop an ongoing process to identify and address urgent capital renewal needs before schools become prohibitive to repair. 
School Renewal and Maintenance, 2010 Annual Report of the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario

Overall, it may be time for boards to undertake development of a strategic plan for student success that integrates academic achievement along with student health, safety and well-being” (CODE 2014)
If it’s difficult to report a health and safety concern, get help from your steward or your ETFO local.

Worker health issues include seasonal infections. 
(Education sub-sector, Industrial Sector Plan 2012-2013, Ministry of Labour)

Ensuring health and safety in schools is an essential part of any supervisory officer’s responsibilities. 
Council of Ontario Directors of Education

Workplace violence and harassment, “is a concern when working with students in general, and particularly for educational assistants and teachers who work with special needs students.” 
(Education sub-sector, Industrial Sector Plan 2012-2013, Ministry of Labour)

  • ETFO MOU Task Force Report
    Health and Safety
  • Training
  • Workplace Violence, Workplace Harassment, and Serious Student Incidents
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Construction
  • Indoor Air Quality
  • Asbestos
  • Joint Health and Safety Committees
  • Slips,Trips and Falls
  • Electrical Hazards
  • Infection Prevention and Control
  • Reporting Hazards
  • The Health and Safety Bulletin Board
  • Government Connections
  • Health and Safety in the Media

Media Links

  • Teachers’ union raises alarm over rising violence in schools
  • Hot classrooms a problem in local elementary schools
  • We need $867M, and 10,000 spare keys
  • Peel District School Board Fined $50,000 After Student Injured in Manufacturing Classroom
  • Poor air quality in Toronto schools could impair learning environment
  • Making Ontario schools healthier and safer, RadioLabour Canada
  • Provincial task force tables 22 recommendations for healthier, safer school communities
  • All Ontario teachers should be given classroom keys, task force says, Toronto Star, October 9, 2014
  • ETFO urges lockdown training for supply teachers, Toronto Star, August 15, 2013

ETFO recommends government funding for health and safety training

January 2014

ETFO First Vice-President Susan Swackhammer presented the federation’s submission to the legislature’s pre-budget hearings on January 16, 2014. There were seventeen recommendations including a recommendation for the funding of health and safety training of principals and educators. Read the preamble and the recommendation below. Find the ETFO Pre-Budget Brief at (link http://www.etfo.ca/Publications/BriefstoGovernmentAgencies/
Documents/2014Pre-budgetBrief.pdf
)

Safer, healthier places to learn and to work

Ensuring that our school communities are safer and healthier places to learn and to work is an important factor in student achievement and educator excellence. Longstanding health and safety issues such as lack of training, workplace violence, poor indoor air quality, incomplete emergency planning, and risks of exposure to hazardous materials such as asbestos remain leading concerns with significant potential to impact the wellbeing of people in the school community. There are practical solutions to all of these issues based upon legislation, policy, best practice, common sense and stronger working relationships between education partners. The quality, frequency, and duration of legislated health and safety training vary considerably among school boards across the province. There is a lack of clarity about how legislative requirements under both the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Education Act are to be met.

Recommendation:

That the Ministry of Education allocate funding for the health and safety training of principals and educators to ensure that school boards meet the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Education Act.

POSTED IN: Government Connections

Updates

MOL clarifies definition of critical injury

The Ministry of Labour takes the position that the fracture of more than one finger or more than one toe does constitute a critical injury if it is an injury of a serious nature.MOL clarifies definition of critical injury

New requirements for workplace sexual harassment

Bill 132 (Sexual Violence and Harassment Action Plan Act ) brings amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act that come into force on September 8, 2016.New requirements for workplace sexual harassment

Revised Provincial Lockdown Policy

The revised Lockdown Policy has better text about keys: “All staff, including occasional, part-time, or itinerant teachers, must have the ability to lock their classroom doors.”Revised Provincial Lockdown Policy

ETFO MOU Task Force on Health and Safety completes its report

Read the Task Force Report and take a look at all twenty-two recommendations here.ETFO MOU Task Force on Health and Safety completes its report
Updates archive
ETFO Health and Safety
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