THUNDER BAY — The Lakehead District School Board saw an increase of over 40 per cent to the number of reportable injuries to staff over the course of the 2023-2024 school year compared to the year prior, according to a recent report, but the data also shows the board’s frequency for such injuries is still below the Ontario average.
Those findings and more are contained in a report prepared by the board’s health and safety program that was presented to the school board at its meeting on Tuesday. Overall, according to the report, there were 51 reportable injuries in the 2023-2024 school year, compared to 30 the previous year. The report stated that reportable injuries “are defined as incidents that required medical aid or resulted in lost time.”
While the jump in incidents between the two years is noticeable, Kyle Ulvang, the health and safety officer with Lakehead District School Board, said it’s hard to pinpoint a specific reason, but some of it may be clerical. “There has been some additions to workplace reporting, chronic mental illness, some other add-ons,” he said, adding that winter conditions also play a role, with one third of the reportable injuries being related to slips and falls.
“It's obviously in northern Ontario," he continued. “We do get a lot of ice and snow conditions, so hard to pinpoint anything exactly, but we are a board of about 2,000 employees, so 51 of the 2,000 employees had incidents.”
The report also found that 30 of the reportable incidents required medical care (up from 18 in the previous year) and 21 incidents led to lost work time (up from 12 the year prior). The Lakehead board’s reportable injury frequency rate was 4.30 claims per 100 staff, compared to the provincial average of 4.66.
Seven of the reportable injuries were classified as “aggression.” Ulvang said that specifically relates to incidents where a teacher or other staff member is struck by a student, causing injury. He added that that number tends to be relatively stable year over year, but it remains a concern.
“For sure, it's a very important one to us and it's been important obviously provincially as well,” he said. “There's been a lot of focus put on it.”
Ulvang said that there are safeguards in place, such as training in behaviour management systems—essentially learning how to spot triggers and understanding what’s happening with a student, and, if necessary, using non-physical intervention to deescalate the situation. Other safeguards, Ulvang said, include an online reporting system for violent incidents that allows senior management and union representatives to track data, provisions for personal protective equipment where necessary, and issuing communications devices like handheld radios and lanyard alarms to staff who may be working in a vulnerable situation.
“We've put a lot of safeguards in place for violent incidents,” he said.
The report stated that the board continues to bolster its training for staff as a way to decrease the injury rate, including instruction in first aid, joint health and safety committee certification, and online training in numerous areas for existing staff and new hires.
Equipment testing is also being carried out, the report said.
