Checking Safety in Technology Education

Introduction Does the sound of an ambulance make your heart beat faster? What would you do if that horrifying sound were coming to your school because one of your students had an accident in class? Would you question whether that student received proper safety instruction on the piece of equipment he/she was using? Would you ask yourself whether you made all the necessary safety inspections of the equipment and facility? Technology education (TE) instructors and school administrators should have no doubt that one of their major program goals is to eliminate accidents and unsafe situations in TE classroom/laboratory settings. TE instructors need to make students aware of the safety protocol for working in the classroom environment, operating equipment, and using tools properly. Standards at all grade levels address the need for instruction that is directly related to safe use of technology (ITEA, 2000/2002). In addition to addressing safety as subject matter to include in lesson plans, TE instructors also need to address safety as a major overall objective in the teaching and learning process throughout the program--from the first day of class until the last. Technology Safety Requirements The use of tools, materials, and skills that require the use of equipment is embedded throughout Standards for Technological Literacy (STL) (ITEA, 2000/2002). Specifically, as illustrated in Table 1 on the following page, Standard 12 states that students will develop the abilities to use and maintain technological products and systems as targeted safety objectives for specific grade categories. Because of these key technology standards, a major responsibility for safety in the TE classroom belongs to the instructor. Since a TE instructor assumes an inherent liability and the legal duty to protect students, a comprehensive safety program must be developed that protects students and utilizes documentation in the form of safety checklists. This comprehensive safety program should include every aspect of the TE curriculum, from managing activities to supervising work-based projects. Modeling Safety Throughout the Technology Education Program TE instructors must consider several issues when deciding how to develop a comprehensive safety program. First, as the educational leader of the classroom/laboratory, the TE instructor must model appropriate safety strategies. TE students focus on the instructor as a role model and imitate both the positive and negative behaviors they witness. Sometimes it may not seem worth the effort to don a pair of safety glasses when drilling just one hole in a piece of metal. Who would know if the safety guard is lifted off a table saw for just a second to make this one saw cut? Students see these safety omissions and feel that all the talk about safety is just that--talk. When students imitate these shortcuts and get injured in the process, the ultimate responsibility falls on the TE instructor. Second, safety planning should be a cooperative effort between the TE instructor, students, parents, and school administrators. TE instructors must incorporate safety instruction throughout the program, which includes initially writing safety instruction in lesson plans as a means to document safety protocol. Also, collecting proper documentation from students and parents through various forms--such as student medical information sheets, equipment and tool operation permission forms, safety training statement forms, student safety performance documentation records, accident report forms, and accident summary report forms (The Massachusetts Career and Technical Education Safety Guide, 2004)--provides a means of informing parents and students of the serious safety concerns in the TE classroom. The TE instructor should send these necessary forms, along with program descriptions, home with students to explain safety in the TE classroom and request signatures from parents to document receipt (Figure 1, pg. …