School Worker Safety Stats and Facts

FACTS

  • School districts employ many employees who work in educational (e.g., teachers) or other support roles, including educational assistants, custodians, food service, bus drivers, and community and recreation workers.
  • When educating outside of the classroom, risk management reduces the likelihood and severity of harmful incidents.
  • School workers in the education sector navigate workplace hazards every day. Groundskeepers work in the elements, science teachers mix volatile chemicals, and trained maintenance personnel repair or replace faulty outlets and circuit breakers.
  • Accidents that seem minor can cause broken bones, sprains, strains, and damage to the head, neck, and back.
  • If an injured school worker misses time from work, employers often face a tough decision about substitutes or temporary school workers.

STATS

Workers’ compensation insurer reports from Texas the following school employee injuries.

  • Slips, trips, and falls account for about 37% of workplace injuries that cause employees to miss work, according to the Texas Department of Insurance.
  • 40% of workers’ compensation claims among school employees involve students.
  • The most common student-related injuries are due to students acting out (64% of injuries related to student interaction).
  • The most common causes of injuries to school employees are due to being struck (34%), slips/trips/falls (27%) or strains (23%).
  • The most common injuries to school employees are fractures/contusions (59%), sprains/strains (23%), and punctures/lacerations (11%).
  • At least 18% of school psychologists and social workers, 15% of school administrators, and 22% of other school staff reported at least one violent incident by a student.
  • One-third of surveyed teachers reported they experienced at least one incident of verbal and/or threatening violence from students (e.g., verbal threats, cyber bullying, intimidation, sexual harassment) and 29% reported at least one incident from a parent of a student. Fourteen percent of teachers said they had been victims of physical violence from students.
  • Roughly 126,000 employees in the education sector reported as suffering from a work-related illness each year.
  • Stress, depression and/or anxiety accounted for more than half of all work-related ill health reports (51%)