Policy 807 - Health and Safety

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.

A. 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 health and safety, environmental, and occupational health laws, rules, and regulations.

B. 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 will form a Health and Safety Committee. The Health and Safety Committee will be composed of employees and other individuals with specific knowledge of related issues. The 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.

A. Based upon recommendations from the Health and Safety 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.

B. 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.

C. 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.

A. 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:

1. Aerial Lift Program
2. Asbestos Management Plans
3. Bloodborne Pathogens and Infectious Agents Exposure
Control Plan
4. Bloodborne Pathogens Program for ECFS
5. Chemical Hygiene Plan
6. Confined Space Entry Program
7. Ergonomic and Back Safety
8. Fall Protection/Ladders/Scaffold Safety
9. Fire Safety Program
10. First Aid Program
11. Gas Cylinders and Compressed Gas Program
12. Hazard Communication-Employee Right to Know Act
13. Hazard Communication-Community Right to Know Act
14. Hearing Conservation
15. Hoist Use and Inspection Policy
16. Indoor Air Quality Management Plan
17. Industrial Trucks/Forklift Safety Program
18. Lockout/Tagout Electrical Safety Program
19. Offensive Behavior, Sexual Harassment, and Violence Prevention
20. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
21. Radon Management Plan
22. Respiratory Protection Program
23. Welding Safety Program

Other safety issues being addressed include:

24. Machine Guarding
25. Mercury
26. Playground Safety
27. Underground and Above Ground Storage Tanks
28. Chlorine
29. Other topics or areas determined by the health and safety 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.

B. 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.

C. The administration shall conduct or arrange safety inspections and drills. Any identified hazards, unsafe conditions, or unsafe practices will be documented and corrective action taken to the extent practicable to control that hazard, unsafe condition, or unsafe practice.

D. 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.

E. The administration shall conduct periodic workplace inspections to identify potential hazards and safety concerns.

F. 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.

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 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.

• Minnesota Stat. §123B.56 (Health, Safety, and Environmental Management)
• Minnesota Stat. §123B.57 (Capital Expenditure; Health and Safety)
• Minnesota Stat. §182.675 (Safety Committees)

• 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)

• Adopted: July 9, 2012
• Amended: June 8, 2015
• Amended: December 18, 2023
• Last Reviewed: December 18, 2023