New ways of hurting yourself

It's amassing how people can find new ways to hurt themselves. About the time we think we have all the safety problems handled we all seem to find something  new to hurt ourselves on. It's almost a full time job changing things around the school that we have found to hurt themselves on.

The playground is still where most of the injuries happen to students. The Insurance Companies have made the schools remove a lot of playground equipment that they say is dangerous, but kids will find ways to entertain themselves that sometimes become more dangerous than the equipment they were playing on. Are the kids taking more chances during their play time than we did years ago, I don't think so it’s just the way people look at things now. Kids don’t play the way we did before all the electronic games and other things that keep them glued to a computer screen. Maybe the reason we didn’t seem to get hurt as much is because we were more physically fit always on the go playing more than sitting.

I am not sure why we adults seem to get hurt more unless it is because of the fast pace we are living not taking time to think before we act. A lot of us now ready for retirement are saying I wish I would have taken better care of my body when I was young so I wouldn’t hurt so much now.

The wisdom for today is to treat your body good today and it will treat your good tomorrow.

Safety Committee Building Inspection Reports

The safety inspection over the years have solved a lot of problems. Most of the problems we have know involve technology demands and electrical needs. The Building Safety Inspection has made the Bigfork Schools a safer place for students and staff.



Building – High School

Office:
a. Principle – need cover over old speaker wires

Hallway First Floor and Second Floor:
a. Need beveled mirror by elevator to monitor hallway intersection

Room 101:
a. Heater cover is off. Working on heater looking for squealing sounds

Room 102:
a. Light cover needs replacing
b. Teacher would like some of the light tubes removed she said it is too bright in the room and she is getting    headaches from it. She said some of the students are having the same problems.

Room 104:
a. Needs more outlets on the north and south walls for more computers
b. Need covers for wires on the floor. From west wall to the desk.

Room 108:
a. Vent cover missing
b. Need more outlets to replace extension cord

Room 109 Student Store:
a. Move hand sanitizer and put it closer to the sink

Coach’s Room:
a. Combusted material stored to close to heater

Room 125 Girls Locker Room:
a. Light cover hanging down
b. Vent cover by bathroom needs cleaning

Boys Locker Room:
a. Junction box needs cover
b. One light cover missing
c. One light cover hanging

Athletic Supply above Stage:
a. Combusted material to close to heater

Room 203:
a. Window hinge is broken – window is secure will fix in the spring

Room 206:
a. Computer table bowing, has four computers on it

Room 208:
a. Need more outlets power strips plugged into power strips

Room 212:
a. Power strips running across floor, need floor covers

__________________________________________________________

Building Safety Inspection

Building: Elementary Little-Fork

Kindergarten area:  The area used as a hallway between the three classrooms needs to be clear of items not to block the center classroom in case of emergency.

Singleton Room:
a. Check on paper cutter to see if it has a lock for the blade
b. Check on fish tank to see if it is safe

Smiley Room:
a. Items blocking the double doors going out of the room

Perleberg Room:
a. Check for items that could fall on kids

Room 156 - Epperley:
a. Check for items that could fall or be pulled off of cabinets and shelving units
b. Make sure all paint containers are in fire proof cabinets (oil base) water base where kids can not get to it.

Room 154 Art Room:
a. Teacher said the floor is real slippery and kids are falling down.

Room 117:
Shults Room
a. Make sure exit doors are not blocked
b. Check on items on cabinets and shelving that they cannot fall or be pulled down on kids

Dorr Room
a. Carpet throw rug is curled up and can cause a trip hazard

Room 114:
a. Needs more electrical outlets - this problem will be solved within two weeks
b. TV on cart needs to be strapped down

Building Elementary Big Fork

Room 204:
a. Thermostat cover is missing

Room 203:
a. TV needs to be strapped down

Room 200:
a. TV needs to be strapped down

Room 148:
a. Switch cover missing

Room 133:
a. TV needs to be strapped down

Room 126 Copy Room:
a. Check paper shelving to see if fastened to the wall

Safety Committee Meeting January 13, 2010

SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING

Committee Members
Gordon Durham – Maintenance Joy Manicke – High School

Kathy Stanley – High School Shirley Gastel – Custodial

Ginny Kirby – Food Service Cory Pierce – Elementary
Marla Childers – Playground Reenie Clock – Transportation

Date: 01/13/2010
Time: 2:15 PM
Location: Room 200 High School

Agenda:

1. Building Inspections Turned In
2. Fire Marshal Inspection
3. Winter safety
4. Others
__________________________________________________
Fire Marshal Inspection - Items they look for

1. The use of extension cords
2. Surge protector plugged into surge protector
3. The use of door stops
4. Three foot clearance in front of electrical panels
5. Exit doors being blocked
6. Flammable material on heaters
7. Exit lights not working
8. Emergency lighting not working
9. Paper and other items piled up in storage areas and classrooms
10. Switch and outlet covers missing
11. Paint and other items in fire proof cabinets

Safety Tip from the Bigfork Schools Safety Committee

Hypothermia -- The Silent Killer

Three factors are major causal factors in hypothermia: cold, water, and wind.

1) In a cold environment, the body must work harder to regulate heat; contact with cold air, water, snow, ground or clothing will cause heat losses due to conduction.

2) If a person is submersed in water, heat will be lost due to conduction and convection. At a water temperature of 32 degrees death occurs in 15 minutes; at 70 degrees survival for as long as 48 hours has been observed. Loss of heat by evaporation is a major contributor also. Wet skin or clothing will cool of the body quickly, especially if it is windy and/or cold.

3) Wind will cause heat loss due to convection, and will accelerate heat loss due to evaporation.

4) Hypothermia occurs much more quickly in the elderly and chronically ill.
Hypothermia is insidious. As the body's core temperature drops, more and more body systems suffer from the effects of cold. The presence and severity of hypothermia can be assessed by the signs and symptoms below. A patient is hypothermic at any temperature below 98.6 degrees fahrenheit (rectal). 98-94 degrees is mild hypothermia; 94-84 degrees is moderate hypothermia, and below 84 degrees is severe hypothermia.

STAGES OF YPOTHERMIA:

98 - 95 degrees - Sensation of chilliness, skin numbness; minor impairment in muscular performance, especially in use of hands; shivering begins.

95 - 93 degrees - More obvious muscle in coordination and weakness; slow stumbling pace; mild confusion and apathy. Skin pale and cold to touch.

93 - 90 degrees - Gross muscular in coordination with frequent stumbling and falling and inability to use hands; mental sluggishness with slow thought and speech; retrograde amnesia.

90 - 86 degrees - Cessation of shivering; severe muscular in coordination with stiffness and inability to walk or stand; incoherence, confusion, irrationality.

86 - 82 degrees - Severe muscular rigidity; patient barely arousable; dilatation of pupils; in apparent heartbeat and pulse. Skin ice cold.

82- 78 degrees and below - Unconsciousness; death due to cessation of heart action.

Safety Meeting November 18, 2009

This was our first meeting for the new school year. All but one of the previous committee members are back, Cory Pierce joined us representing the Elementary.

Agenda:
1. Building Inspections
2. Playgrounds
3. Parking Lot
4. Winter safety
5. Others

-----------------------------------------------------------

Building Inspections: Items to check
1. TV stands and TV wall holders that look unsafe
2. Overloaded bookshelves where the shelves are sagging
3. Power strips plugged into power strips
4. The use of extension cords
5. Broken switch and outlet covers
6. Tops of heaters covered with flammable material.

Playgrounds
1. Broken equipment
2. Ground cover under equipment

Parking Lots
1. The movement of traffic
2. Elementary kids crossing the High School parking lot

Winter Safety
1. Will be using sand again this year
2. Slips and falls
3. The use of proper foot ware

Others
1. Students and staff using chairs and other items to stand on instead of using a stepladder
2. Lifting heavy items properly
3. Make sure the bottles of cleaning chemicals in classrooms are marked as to what chemical is in them

The first order of business for the new year is to do a building inspection looking for unsafe conditions. Over the years, many safety issues have been solved which makes the school a safer place for students and staff.

Each committee member assigned an area of a building. When the inspections are completed, a report of the findings is given to the Superintended, Building Principals, and Maintenance Department, and then a plan is put in place on how to make the correction.