New York Public School Districts

District Overview
BOCES Staff: 262
Districts: 19
District Staff: 2,964

In central New York state, Otsego Northern Catskills Board of Cooperative Educational Services (ONC BOCES) faced a challenge: The board served 19 districts across 1,661-square-miles—in other words, a vast area, which made providing consistent safety policies quite complicated.

Resources allowed for only one Safety Risk Officer—the person responsible for risk management—to be shared by most districts. And, as you might expect, the districts depended heavily on that person. The Officer not only helped school leadership comply with federal and state regulations (providing staff training, updating safety plans, renewing first aid certifications, etc.). She also provided expert guidance on asbestos management plans, underground fuel storage, conducting inspections, and more.

So, imagine ONC BOCES’ concern when this Officer—who, for 20 years, had been a singular resource for ensuring the districts’ compliance with safety protocols—announced her plans to retire.

EMPLOYEESAFE SUITE TO THE RESCUE

With their only Safety Risk Officer retiring, the board understood keenly just how much was at stake. They needed to ensure that her successor could continue to provide, seamlessly, a safe environment for thousands of students and staff.

It would be an enormous task. And, fortunately, the EmployeeSafe Suite made it easy.

How?

• The EmployeeSafe Compliance Task Management System includes a library of all federal and state-mandated inspections and drills, customizable forms, written programs, checklists, and other documents.
• The EmployeeSafe Staff Training System includes all federal, state, and district-mandated courses. Each online course has a deadline for completion, but employees can complete the courses when and wherever they choose. To ensure employees complete the training in a timely manner, the system periodically reminds them to complete their training before the deadline. If an employee fails to do this, the system automatically sends non-compliance reports to administration.
• The EmployeeSafe Accident Management System immediately alerts the Safety Risk Officer when unavoidable accidents occur and notifies all appropriate parties of actions needed.

NOW STAFF CAN FOCUS ON WHAT THEY LOVE

The EmployeeSafe Suite eliminates unnecessary work and frustration. It auto-emails the Safety Risk Officer and appropriate staff every time a required task needs completion, and its online reporting makes compliance much faster and easier to ensure.

As a result of ONC BOCES’ implementation of the EmployeeSafe Suite, its streamlined approach is seen as a best-practices precedent for other BOCES wanting support for their Safety Risk programs. With EmployeeSafe, ONC BOCES’ Safety Risk Officer can now much more effectively ensure a safe environment, allowing staff more time and energy to help their students succeed.