Nekoosa School District

District Overview
Schools: 3
Employees: 180
Students: 1,150

Diana Martinson, administrative assistant for the Nekoosa, Wisconsin School District, felt overwhelmed. Her district, like any other, needed to comply with federal and state requirements for staff safety training. But providing the needed training had also proven hugely complicated.

It wasn’t just a matter of providing each staff member with the training relevant to each position. Administrators also had to keep track of it all: constantly updating the records of staff members to know who had completed which trainings, and when.

“We tried to keep track of training with a binder at each school,” Martinson says. “But this wasn’t the most effective method.”

A Way to Breathe Easier

Fortunately, the business manager at Nekoosa, Lynn Knight, attended a state School Business Officials conference, where a colleague mentioned the PublicSchoolWORKS EmployeeSafe Suite.

“He told me, ‘You have got to get on this system,’” Knight explains. “So, I reached out to PublicSchoolWORKS and they walked me through it. That’s when I realized the program did more than online training. It’s so robust!”.

How EmployeeSafe Staff Training Works

After the initial set up, the EmployeeSafe Staff Training System automatically emails each employee with links to their assigned online courses. 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.

Why Employees Prefer It

The EmployeeSafe Staff Training System makes employees’ lives not only safer but easier. When a new employee or substitute begins work in the district, they’re added to the PublicSchoolWORKS System and automatically receive the required training based on their role.

Also, staff can complete the training courses at their convenience. When Martinson and Knight asked for feedback about training, staff members requested all assigned courses at once instead of on a quarterly basis. So, administration adjusted the training calendar and employees now receive one email at the beginning of the year with all required training links and deadlines.

How the EmployeeSafe Suite Makes Accident Reporting Simple

While the EmployeeSafe Training System greatly enhances staff awareness of how injuries can be prevented, accidents happen sometimes. When they do, the Staff Accident Management System responds with maximum efficiency.

At Nekoosa, years ago, when a staff member suffered an injury on campus, he or she used to report it to the secretary, who then filled out a paper report. The injured employee then met with the district’s payroll/ benefits coordinator who documented everything (again, on paper) and completed more paperwork for the insurance company. In other words, a lot of paperwork, and the only staff members who officially learned of the accident were the secretary and the payroll/ benefits coordinator.

Now, with the Employee Safe Suite, injured employees fill out an online accident report in the EmployeeSafe Accident Management System. Once the report is submitted, several key contacts instantly receive the news via email.

“I now find out an employee has been injured as soon as they submit their accident report, so I can get the follow-up process started immediately,” Knight explains. “We also set it up so that our insurance company is immediately notified of the report, regardless of whether it results in a workers’ comp claim. They love it because they are kept in the loop from day one.”

Proactive Safety: Chemical and Maintenance Issues

At Nekoosa, 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 online access to safety data sheets (SDS) in a virtual binder. Additionally, in the event of a chemical-related emergency, staff can call our chemical safety specialists right away. The district spreads awareness of these resources by hanging posters provided by PublicSchoolWORKS that feature the hotline information.

Lastly, to make operation of the Nekoosa school district run even smoother, the EmployeeSafe Suite includes the EZ Maintenance system, allowing employees to report maintenance issues the instant that they encounter them. “In the past, we would only hear about issues when the board hosted listening sessions and issues would come out of the woodwork,” says Knight. “Now, using EmployeeSafe, employees can report requests and our maintenance or IT departments see them immediately. It has accountability. We love it.”

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.

“Our Experience Modification Rate used to be a very high 1.4,” Knight explains. “That meant that because of our workers’ compensation claims, our district was paying 40 percent more than the state average in insurance premiums. Since partnering with PublicSchoolWORKS and taking a preventative approach to safety, our rate has dramatically decreased to 1.16, so our insurance premiums have decreased, too.”