Student-Inflicted Injuries to Staff in Schools: Comparing Risk Between Educators and Non-Educators

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ryan, Andrew D. ; Schofield KE ; Stroinski C
• Description:
  Objective: Student-inflicted injury to staff in the educational services sector is a growing concern. Studies on violence have focused on teachers as victims, but less is known about injuries to other employee groups, particularly educational assistants. Inequities may be present, as educational assistants and non-educators may not have the same wage, benefits, training and employment protections available to them as professional educators. We identified risk factors for student-related injury and their characteristics among employees in school districts. Methods: Workers' compensation data were used to identify incidence and severity of student-related injury. Rates were calculated using negative binomial regression; risk factors were identified using multivariate models to calculate rate ratios (RR) and 95% CIs. Results: Over 26% of all injuries were student-related; 8% resulted in lost work time. Special and general education assistants experienced significantly increased risk of injury (RR=6.0, CI 5.05 to 7.15; RR=2.07, CI 1.40 to 3.07) as compared with educators. Risk differed by age, gender and school district type. Text analyses categorised student-related injury. It revealed injury from students acting out occurred most frequently (45.4%), whereas injuries involving play with students resulted in the highest percentage of lost-time injuries (17.7%) compared with all interaction categories. Conclusion: Student-inflicted injury to staff occurs frequently and can be severe. Special education and general assistants bear the largest burden of injury compared with educators. A variety of prevention techniques to reduce injury risk and severity, including policy or environmental modifications, may be appropriate. Equal access to risk reduction methods for all staff should be prioritised. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Education Epidemiology Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Violence Workplace
• Keywords:
  Children Injuries Injury Prevention Lost Work Days Risk Factors Teaching Violence Prevention Workplace Violence
• ISSN:
  1353-8047
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Minnesota ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  116-122
• Volume:
  25
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20064529
• Citation:
  Inj Prev 2019 Apr; 25(2):116-122
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr Katherine E Schofield, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN 55812-3042, USA
• Email:
  kscho@d.umn.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• Performing Organization:
  University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Injury Prevention
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3b8c2aa197b562d0fea40960882ff9559fc91d71aea6326f69e10483daba59fed3e4089ef7b6a45eb84e91b19526036b04c0bdf1838ac76c3e7d8594fb076ad1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/222976/cdc_222976_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 227.94 KB ]