Why K-12 Schools May Need A&H

About 56.4 million students are projected to attend elementary, middle, and high schools across the United States.1 Keeping them safe during that time is extremely important, but accidents happen. Your school can implement safety guidelines to try to reduce the risk of student injury and also help protect the school.

Common Injuries

Every hour 29 children in the United States are hospitalized and 1000 children visit the emergency room.2 The most common injuries are falls, being struck by or against a human or object, and bites or stings. The risk of these injuries could be significantly reduced if proper safety guidelines are considered.

Injury Prevention

Below are recommendations to help prevent unintentional injuries on your school property:

• Develop, teach and enforce safety rules for your school.
• Designate a person who is responsible for coordinating safety activities.
• Promote injury prevention through physical education and activity program participation.
• Make sure the physical spaces, both inside and outside the building, meet or exceed recommended safety standards. Ensure proper installation and maintenance of facilities.
• Train your staff in injury prevention, first aid, and CPR, and offer ongoing certification opportunities.
• Assess injury prevention strategies and policies at regular intervals.
• Create a culture of safety by infusing injury prevention into multiple school activities and classes.

How Can A&H Help You?

Lastly, having insurance coverage can also help protect the school. Accident & Health coverage can ensure student injuries don’t lead to unexpected costs. By paying for medical expenses of an injured student you may be able to avoid legal action, and the student can focus on their recovery. Accident and health insurance may also help parents who may have a gap in coverage and it could minimize high deductibles or out of pocket expenses.

References

1. National Center for Education Statistics. Fast Facts: Back to School Statistics (2020). https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372 (accessed 2-9-2021)
2. Dellinger, A. and Gilchrist, J. Leading Causes of Fatal and Nonfatal Unintentional Injury for Children and Teens and the Role of Lifestyle Clinicians. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2019 Jan-Feb; 13(1): 7–21.