Safety Planning

1. Safety Planning Student Support Services Pam Cameron

2. What is a Safety Plan? • Fulfills district and WCB policies requiring staff be informed about any potential danger on the job and what they can do to mitigate/prevent injury • Collaborative planning by the full team involved with the student including principal or designate, parents/guardians, teachers, EAs, CYCWs • It is not a Behaviour Plan • Need to be informative but concise

3. What is a Safety Plan? • Focused on prevention • Ensures that staff respond consistently to incidents in a fair and reasonable manner • Encourages policies, practices and procedures that promote safety

4. When do we need a Safety Plan? • If there is potential of actual injury to a district employee from aggression of a student - See Workplace Violence Risk Assessment (WVRA) • If the risk assessment indicates a concern

5. WCB Violence Definition • BC Reg. 296/97 (4.27) • In sections 4.28 to 4.31, “violence” means the actual exercise by a person, other than a worker, of any physical force so as to cause injury to the worker, and includes any threatening statement or behaviour which gives the worker reasonable cause to believe that s/he is at risk of injury Workers Compensation Act

6. Key Components of a Safety Plan • Objective • Rationale • Key understandings about the student • Setting Events • Antecedents • Crisis Response Plan • Follow-up • Signatures indicating awareness of plan

7. Remember… • The plan is to provide information that allows the staff to maintain safety • Next step? A behaviour plan which would enable the team to develop a positive support plan to teach the student new skills

8. FAQs What is the difference between a threat assessment, risk assessment and a safety plan? • Threat Assessment-when a threat to injure others or to destroy property is made • Risk Assessment-can be done to see if a safety plan is needed- looks at the intensity and frequency of behaviours • Safety Plan-is a “risk containment” plan-what to do to mitigate or eliminate risk

9. FAQs cont. How do we get a safety plan written? • Each school will designate one or two staff members who would write the plan after the training is completed. • A safety plan should only be written by trained personnel (Worksafe requirement) Area counsellors, school counsellors, and special education teachers should be considered for the training.