In the wake of an assault that forced a teacher to be transported by ambulance to the hospital, the Standards, Equity, Health and Safety Commission (CNESST) reminds school service centers that they must “protect the health and ensure the safety and physical well-being” of school personnel.
In January, a student in a special class threw an hourglass at the head of a teacher at the Center de services scolaire des Portages-de-l’Outaouais (CSSPO).
In its report, the CNESST summons this school service center to correct nine shortcomings which expose its workers “to the risk of aggression” or to “physical and psychological injuries”.
From the outset, the CNESST explained that it had difficulty getting in touch with the school service centre, which did not respond to its two telephone messages and which ultimately had to be notified of the inspector’s visit by e-mail.
The CNESST acknowledges, in the same report, that “it is impossible for schools to eliminate all types of violent behavior by students. On the other hand, means of control must be put in place to limit the risk of violence”.
However, in its inspection, the CNESST identified several shortcomings. Among other things: insufficient crisis management training for staff, unsafe work organization, deficient emergency procedures, incorrectly set up classrooms and an inadequate accident and incident investigation process.
For example, incidents or accidents are not always recorded in reports. In the specialized classes – thus welcoming in particular children with behavioral problems – there were still, during the inspector’s visit, a number of objects which, in her opinion, should not be in such a class and which could be used as projectiles.
“Breath of fresh air”
Nathalie Gauthier, president of the Syndicat de l’enseignement de l’Outaouais, hopes that this CNESST report will be founding and that it will serve “all Quebec school staff” regularly exposed to violence.
This report, she says, comes to order what her union has been asking the employer for many years. “It’s been years that nothing has been done about violence, that we tell teachers that they must find the means to protect themselves. »
That the CNESST comes to say black on white that the employer has the obligation to do everything possible to ensure the safety of school personnel, “it’s a breath of fresh air that goes in the direction of our demands”.
Éric Pronovost, President of the Fédération du personnel de soutien scolaire (FPSS-CSQ), for his part declared that “when we do not meet the training needs of school support personnel, we find ourselves in situations that put all staff and students.
By e-mail, the Portages-de-l’Outaouais School Service Center simply said that it was continuing “the implementation of the corrective measures requested by the CNESST at École du Lac-des-Fées as well as in the other educational establishments which require it”.