Safety Solutions

So you are an educator and you have been looking forward to summer for sometime now.  You can see the finish line...you are almost there.  A few more weeks with the kids, clean up your room, finalize the grades and head for the beach.

Unfortunately every year this dream doesn't come completely true for a few educators.  Why you ask? Paper towel boxes and swivel desk chairs.  How could this be?

You need to pack up your room for the summer so you stop by the grocery store for boxes.  You decide that several large paper towel boxes will work just fine.  The next day you empty your book shelves and cabinets and fill each box to the rim.  Now the real problem begins.  Unlike dump trucks or utility trailers we people don't come with Gross Vehicle Weight stickers.  In other words the maximum load we can haul is not readily identified.  So we pick up that 100 lb box of books and quickly discover we have a 50 lb. maximum load on our back.  Now our summer at the beach has been replaced by a summer of physical therapy, sleepless nights and days pass in the fog of medication. 

Then there are the adventerous types.  These are the co-workers that do the zip-line in Costa Rica or para-sail in Mexico.  These are also the educators who when its time to disassemble their room don't bother to seek out a school provided step ladder.  No, no.  For these well balanced educator athletes they simply take their swivel desk chair and stand upon that.  Tragically every year a co-worker finds a few of these of  amazingly athletic educators sitting their classroom floors holding their heads and repeating "what happened?".  These educators summer has now been transformed to dimly lit rooms, no reading, no TV or music as they recover from their concussion or sit propped-up in a chair watching everyone in the pool while their broken leg mends.

Here's a simple solution.  Take your time closing your room.  Know your limit when it comes to lifting; get small boxes, find a co-worker to help carry larger items.  Borrow the school ladder and don't do the swivel chair. 

You are important people.  You work hard all year long.  Few people could spend 180 days with a bunch of kids in a classroom all day long.  You deserve your break.  Just be careful to not break something before your real break begins.  Enjoy the summer!

This is John Baker for safetysolutions4schools.com