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Tag: School Safety

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Howard, A. W., Macarthur, R., Rothman, L., Willian, A., & Macpherson, A. K. (2009). 6 (12)

The risk of playground injuries, especially fractures, is prevalent in children, and can result in emergency room treatment and hospital admissions. Fall height and surface area are major determinants of playground fall injury risk. The primary objective was to determine if there was a difference in playground upper extremity fracture rates in school playgrounds with wood fibre surfacing versus granite sand surfacing. Secondary objectives were to determine if there were differences in overall playground injury rates or in head injury rates in school playgrounds with wood fibre surfacing compared to school playgrounds with granite sand surfacing. Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000195

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Lanham, C. (2009). 75 (6)

The tiny town of Niangua, Missouri, made national headlines in 2008 when a rare cluster of winter tornadoes tore across the state on an unseasonably warm January night. The twisters killed a Niangua woman in her trailer home and destroyed numerous other structures. News photos of the trailer debris were a sobering reminder of the vulnerability of the town's youngest residents: preschoolers who regularly attended class in a double-wide trailer only one mile away. Just a little over a year later, the town is making national headlines again, but this time the news is good. This article discusses the revolutionary steel-reinforced concrete dome that the Niangua R-V School District is building. It will serve as the district's new preschool classroom and double as the town's disaster shelter. The building's unique shape and ability to offer near-absolute protection from tornadoes is noteworthy. But what gives this project national prominence is that the dome building is being constructed with a $300,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The project's federal funding is sparking hope among superintendents in other disaster-prone school districts that more government money may soon be in the pipeline to fund what is known as predisaster mitigation efforts. Those are funds earmarked to help a community "before" disaster strikes, and could become more of a priority in the Obama administration.

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ919337.pdf

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Fitzpatrick, K., Brewer, M., Obeng-Boanpong, K., Park, E. S., & Trout, N. (2008). (0-5470-1)

School speed zones are frequently requested traffic controls for school areas, based on the common belief that if the transportation agency would only install a reduced speed limit, then drivers would no longer speed through the area. This research project was tasked with reviewing existing practices and developing guidelines regarding the establishment of school zones. Researchers documented existing knowledge on traffic control devices in school zones using a review of previous research that examined effectiveness of devices, a survey of practitioners on signing and marking, a review of state and city school zone guidelines and warrants, and a telephone survey of law enforcement officers. Researchers also collected field data at 24 school zones across Texas and analyzed the data for findings on speed-distance relationships, speed time relationships, influences of various site characteristics on speeds, and special characteristics of school zones with buffer zones. The findings from these analyses were used in developing suggested guidelines for traffic control devices, including school speed zones, near schools in Texas. The Guidelines are designed to serve as a supplement to the Texas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and the manual on Procedures for Establishing Speed Zones. They are included in this report as Appendix A. Major topics in the Guidelines include: definitions, school location, school speed zone characteristics, pavement markings, crosswalks, school entrances, and conditions for removing a school speed zone.

http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-5470-1.pdf

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Trinkley, M (2008).

The article provides tips on how to protect your institution from the threat of wild fire. Planning ahead, during an event, and post-event procedures are outlined by author Michael Trinkley. Recovery strategies including salvaging and restoring contents are also included.

Trinkley_Protecting Your Institution From Wild Fires

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Salvesen, D., Zambito, P., Hamstead, Z. Wilson, B. (2008).

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which public schools in North Carolina are located close to environmental hazards and whether state policies for siting schools adequately address the potential threats posed by such hazards. We also sought to demonstrate the usefulness of GIS technology and existing data sources to map environmental hazards that are in close proximity to schools. We relied primarily on secondary data sources that were readily accessible from the web, including EPA’s Envirofacts database.

http://www.ie.unc.edu/cscd/other_docs/schools_final_report-12-30-08.pdf

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U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools (2008). (ED-04-CO-0091)

This guide is intended to be a companion piece to Practical Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide for Schools and Communities, originally published by the U.S. Department of Education in 2003 as a guide for schools and districts to prepare for a variety of crises. This new guide, published by the U.S. Department of Education in 2008, emphasizes a valuable part of emergency management planning-ongoing vulnerability assessment-and is intended to assist schools with the implementation of an effective vulnerability assessment process, to include choosing an appropriate vulnerability assessment tool. This guide is not intended to be prescriptive or to give step-by-step instructions for conducting assessments, rather it is intended to describe the key elements to be considered when selecting an assessment tool appropriate for school environments and provide guidance for conducting an assessment that will inform school emergency management activities.

View Guide

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United States Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2008). (FEMA P-754)

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) strives continuously to improve the delivery of disaster assistance to State, local, and tribal governments. One important goal of disaster assistance is to reduce the vulnerability of communities to damage from future disasters. This Wildfire Hazard Mitigation Handbook for Public Facilities (Handbook) is intended to assist facility owners affected by wildfire disasters by suggesting mitigation measures that can be taken to reduce the vulnerability of damaged facilities to future wildfire incidents. The measures described in this Handbook are applicable to the Public Assistance (PA) Program and are intended to help Applicants for assistance under the program identify options that can be implemented during post-disaster repair and rebuilding to reduce the potential for future damage.

http://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1715-25045-2934/fema_p_754.pdf

 

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Sprague, J. (2008).

The document is intended to put the issue of school wide violence prevention in content for educators and outline an approach for choosing and creating effective prevention programs. The following topics are covered: 1)Why school wide prevention strategies are critical 2)characteristics of a safe school 3)four sources of vulnerability to school violence 4)how to plan for strategies that meet school safety needs 5)five effective response strategies 6)useful web and print resources

sprague_creatingschoolwideprevention

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Maxwell, L. E., Mitchell, M. R., & Evans, G. W. (2008). 18 (2)

This research project investigated, in two stages, the ways in which playground equipment and the addition of loose parts to a playground contribute to preschool children’s dramatic and constructive play behaviors. The second study confirmed findings from the first study that young children like to act out dramatic play themes in small, enclosed spaces. In the second study, children were able to construct their own spaces, which not only encouraged dramatic play but also communication and negotiation skills.

Maxwell_Effects of Play Equipment and Loose Parts

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Prepared under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education (2008).

Educational leaders must comprehend the hazards associated with earthquakes and conduct school safety assessments to prepare, minimize, and recover from the devastation that threatens the lives of students, teachers, and staff. This guide introduces earthquake basics, preparation measures, reduction of nonstructural hazards, and offers an assessment checklist to evaluate current school facilities (Appendix A: Reducing Nonstructural Hazards in Schools Assessment and Appendix B: An Overview of Earthquake Damage to U.S. Schools).

Earthquakes and Schools

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