School Safety Association of B.C. introduces new name and online services

By Lisa Fattori

Formerly the B.C. School Safety Association, the re-branded School Safety Association of B.C. (SSABC) has been operating since 1999. The association works to develop and increase knowledge, skill and efficiency of its members in the fields of health and safety, and to promote cooperation between the SSABC and other groups in the education sector. With membership from occupational health and safety professionals from 29 school districts across the province, SSABC’s work in providing support, information and standards for best practices is instrumental in fostering a culture of workplace safety in B.C.’s schools. “The SSABC is a collective of occupational health and safety professionals who work together and collaborate on many issues,” says Collette O’Reilly, the SSABC’s newly elected president.

“The SSABC is a collective of occupational health and safety professionals who work together and collaborate on many issues,” says Collette O’Reilly, the SSABC’s newly elected president. “The association has helped to raise the profile of health and safety in the K-12 sector and has made a fundamental cultural difference in the health and safety of our schools.” The SSABC was born out of an informal group of school district health and safety managers, who began meeting in 1990. The group met to share concerns and solve problems concerning school district compliance with Workers’ Com-

pensation Board regulations. Today, the association has representatives that sit on several advisory committees, including WorksafeBC and the Schools Protection Program (SPP), and has formed partnerships with other organizations, including EFMA B.C. One of the SSABC’s accomplishments was the development of the MSDSfetch system for Material Safety Data Sheets, which provides B.C. school districts with safety and emergency information on hazardous products. The online system offers convenience and more readily available information in complying with Workplace Hazardous Materials Information Systems (WHMIS) regulations, and is currently in transition and compliance with the Global Harmonized System (GHS). Owned and operated by the Vancouver School Board’s Health and Safety Department, MSDSfetch supports school districts, municipalities and other public organizations with their inventory, updating and retrieval needs.

The SSABC also played a role in supporting guidelines for Youth Safe Outdoors (YSO), which has become the provincial standard for public school outdoor activities and field trips. Funded by a grant from the Workers’ Compensation Board of British Columbia, expert panel projects had participation by the SSABC in establishing strategies and standards appropriate to B.C.’s public school districts. The SSABC also helped to create A Clean Sweep, a flip-out booklet that serves as a guide to safer custodial work to reduce the risks of sprain, strain and injuries. “Custodians have one of the highest injury rates in the school environment,” O’Reilly says. “The flip-book covers everything from ergonomics to how to avoid slips and falls. It’s been used in B.C. schools since 2007, and will be converted to an online resource this year.” The SSABC’s executive meets several times a year, holds an AGM and participates in several safety-related conferences. Zone meetings for school districts in various regions throughout the province provide the opportunity for members to address current issues and to formulate performance-based solutions that best suit a particular organization. Health and safety topics, including working alone or in isolation, violence in the workplace, chemical safety, emergency preparedness, autohoist inspections, electrical safety, and lock-out protocols for machinery are a sampling of issues under discussion. From noise and voice dysfunction in schools to the provision of Automated External Defibrillators (AED), the SSABC keeps abreast of the latest topics, technologies, and health and safety risks to make informed recommendations.

“For example, we recently discussed again and reviewed violence in the workplace risk assessments – considering frequency and severity of injury – and then discussed controls for hazards common to most districts,” O’Reilly says. In addition to re-branding its name, the SSABC will launch a website in the near future (www.schoolsafetybc.ca) and is excited to be able to offer members convenient online services.

“We plan to teleconference more and more with our members and, with our new website, there is an even greater opportunity for collaboration,” O’Reilly says. “The website will have sharable resources on health and safety, as well as a forum where members can ask questions from one another and gain valuable experience and expertise from others.”

Interested in information about the SSABC? Please contact the association directly at society@telus.net. b

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