Forest Hills School District (OH) and Mesa Public Schools (AZ)

Districts Overview
Forest Hills School District
Schools: 9
Staff: 1,000
Students: 7,800

Mesa Public Schools
Schools: 82
Staff: 10,276
Students: 63,780

As an administrator for a public school district, it can be tempting to believe that another districts’ safety solutions won’t solve your problems, either because your district is larger or smaller, or because it exists in a different region, with different demographics and different concerns.

That’s why, in this case study, we’re spotlighting the experiences of two dramatically different districts: Forest Hills School District (FHSD) in Cincinnati, OH, and the much larger Mesa Public Schools, in Mesa, AZ—almost 2000 miles away.

In 2010, Forest Hills wanted to reduce insurance costs by leaving a workers’ compensation pool to become self-insured. The financial incentives were significant, but so was the risk—especially if they didn’t first make improvements to their staff safety training and accident management system.

At the same time, Mesa Public Schools recognized that its insurance costs depended on the improved handling of chemicals. Like all public schools, they were required to provide easy access to Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and the appropriate training for how to use them.

Despite the differences in district size and location, both Forest Hills and Mesa decided to invest in PublicSchoolWORKS’ safety systems. Forest Hills selected the EmployeeSafe Suite to manage staff safety training and accident reporting, and Mesa enrolled in the EmployeeSafe SDS Now! System, to ensure the responsible handling of chemicals.

HOW IT WORKS

By switching to PublicSchoolWORKS’ user-friendly, automatic, streamlined processes, both districts have greatly improved the way they meet federal and state requirements.

• Staff Training – After the initial set up, the EmployeeSafe Staff Training System automatically emails each employee with links to their personalized online courses. (In addition to courses about bullying and harassment, for example, a chemistry teacher also receives courses about the safe handling of chemicals, while a coach receives training about concussions, etc.) Each 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.
• Staff Accident Management – In the past, at Forest Hills, when a staff member suffered an injury on campus, he or she would have to report it to a secretary, who then had to complete a time-consuming and inefficient paperwork process. Now, with the EmployeeSafe Staff Accident System, the injured individual simply completes an online accident report, and the system automatically emails key administrators. It even integrates with the Staff Training System to notify the injured employee of enrollment in an online retraining course, all with zero effort from administration.
• Safety Data Sheets (SDS)— At Mesa, before investing in EmployeeSafe, staff needed to sift through lots of paperwork to properly label and handle chemicals. Now, with the EmployeeSafe SDS Now! System, employees have 24/7 access to online SDS, which, of course, can be easily printed. Staff can also call a 24-hour hotline manned by chemical safety experts to have SDS emailed or faxed to them, obtain chemical information, or, in the event of an emergency, receive immediate assistance. The district spreads awareness of these resources by strategically placing posters and stickers (provided by PublicSchoolWORKS) that feature the hotline information.

THE EMPLOYEESAFE SUITE SAVES MONEY

Investing in the EmployeeSafe Suite not only maximizes efficiency for staff training, accident reporting, chemical safety and work order protocols. It also saves money.

With more efficient systems, districts avoid paying employees to complete tiresome, costly paperwork. Also, with fewer accidents, insurance costs get lowered too. In its first year with EmployeeSafe, Forest Hills FHSD saved $211,000.