Applying Safety Analysis Methods to Elementary Education

Abstract

System safety methods are traditionally used in manufacturing environments. Applying traditional safety analysis methods in a non-traditional way to the classroom environment were used to conduct a safety and ergonomic assessment at an elementary school located near the Virginia border in northeastern North Carolina. The purpose of the study was to use safety analysis methods to an elementary school environment. For this study, three safety analysis methods, an ergonomic checklist, a classroom ergonomic analysis, and a task analysis were used to determine whether teachers and students were practicing ergonomically safe methods. Twelve classrooms in grades kindergarten through fifth grade were evaluated. Based upon the evaluations, several classrooms utilized adjustable furniture to ”fit the task to the person,” but not all adjustable furniture was properly used. In a number of classrooms, children practiced bad posture which can lead to future musculoskeletal disorders.