Health and Safety

Over the last few weeks, it seems like everyone is talking about vaccines. "Have you gotten it?" "Are you a 1a or a 1b?" "How do I get my shot?"

Last week, the Governor announced that the Interim Director of the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) would be issuing an order permitting all sports practices and competitions.

The Ohio Departments of Health (ODH) and Education (ODE) have prepared guidance documents for school districts to use as they plan for the 2020-21 school year. One question that has been raised about the documents is whether school districts are required to implement the elements discussed or whether they are merely recommendations.

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) has announced a new program called Protecting Ohio’s Workforce – We’ve Got You Covered. BWC’s program is providing face coverings free of charge to public employers who are in good standing and report payroll to BWC.

The Public Employment Risk Reduction Program (PERRP) recently adopted revisions to a number of rules, some of which directly impact public school districts. The 14 revisions become effective Jan. 1, 2019. While some of the changes are minor, a couple may directly impact district obligations.

In early April, the division of legal services posted about OSBA’s participation in the Ohio Attorney General-led opioid epidemic meeting

On March 27, OSBA participated in the Ohio Attorney General’s meeting Ideas for Our Future: Addressing childhood trauma to create positive outcomes. This was the fifth Attorney General-led meeting addressing the opioid epidemic in Ohio, but the first directly focusing on the epidemic’s impact on children and families.

A recent employee fatality in a school district highlighted an important, but often overlooked requirement by the Bureau of Workers Compensation (BWC): reporting. BWC/PERRP requires that all employee fatalities resulting from a work-related incident must be reported and recorded within eight hours, including inpatient hospitalization of three or more employees from a single work-related incident. The eight-hour reporting requirement starts when the accident takes place or as soon as the district becomes aware of the death or multiple hospitalizations.

Today, all schools may choose to make automatic electronic defibrillators (AEDs) readily available, but what are the legal risks involved in using the devices? Should a school district be prepared to respond to legal challenges if its employees use the AEDs?

House Bill (HB) 359, Ohio’s new Safe at Home program, became effective yesterday, Sept. 8. The HB 359 bill analysis is available here. The program creates a system of address confidentiality implemented through the secretary of state’s (SOS) office.