Transforming Health and Safety with The Anywhere Classroom

By David Wain, National Practice Manager – Education, Data^#3 Limited

[Reading time: 2:55 mins]

Managing Health and Safety with The Anywhere Classroom.

The Anywhere Classroom is a concept based around mobility technology that opens up new opportunities for teaching and learning. However, the benefits go further than just personalising education and redefining collaborative project work; The Anywhere Classroom has the potential to redefine how schools approach their duty of care to students.

Know what to do in an emergency

You might run regular emergency drills, but how do you absolutely ensure teachers and carers know what to do in an emergency?

Teachers work in an environment where five percent of students have food allergies, and up to twenty percent have asthma* and a range of other health issues. A medical incident could occur anywhere, at any time, and carers are expected to respond quickly and appropriately. Unfortunately, paper-based medical and emergency information is often locked away in filing cabinets or posted on sickbay walls – not easily accessible in classrooms, playgrounds or on field trips.

Today, schools are dramatically improving incident management (and overall risk) by giving authorised carers instant access to important medical and emergency contact details through mobile devices. With access to the latest information and action plans, carers now know exactly what to do, who to call and what to tell an ambulance paramedic in an emergency.

At the same time, they are reducing the administrative overhead of managing this information and providing an enhanced digital experience to parents.

Eliminate paper forms

Paper-based medical, permission and consent forms can be difficult for everyone to manage. Parents are expected to constantly complete them, students are expected to carry them back and forth and teachers and administrators are required to constantly chase down students and parents to collect missing forms. It’s not fun for anyone.

Digital forms are faster and easier to send as they bypass students and get delivered directly to parents. Schools can start collecting responses in minutes, rather than the next day. Best of all, digital forms can be set to automatically follow-up with parents who have not yet completed them, saving teachers and administrators the hard work and frustration of doing it themselves.

Digital forms can also integrate directly into the school information system, reducing data entry errors and the time taken to manually enter the data.

Mobile payments

Digital forms can also be extended to collect payments for extracurricular activities such as excursions. While this can be easier for a lot of parents, it also saves organisers the hassle of cross-checking bank statements with spreadsheets to see who has paid. You also have the option for outstanding fee reminders to be automatically sent.

Mobile incident reporting

Rather than relying on memory, teachers and carers can now log incidents that happen at school or during excursions and camps immediately on their mobile device. It’s easy to add additional context such as photos, and the information goes immediately into the school information system. The resulting incident database helps schools analyse how and why incidents occur, and forms part of a School’s overall risk management system.

Are the carers at your school ready for any emergency?

As part of The Anywhere Classroom, Data^#3 can enable your school to better manage the duty of care for students. Data^#3 is a strategic partner of CareMonkey, an award-winning health and safety solution that eliminates paper forms and automatically keeps medical and emergency details up-to-date and accessible for carers in an emergency. CareMonkey has more than 1 million users around the world, and is used by over 300 schools in Australia.

Learn more about CareMonkey with this video or visit The Anywhere Classroom.

*Source: http://www.allergycapital.com.au/allergycapital/allergies_in_australia.html