Committee hears bill to create statewide school workplace safety reporting system

State Representative Courtney Neuron, chair of the House Committee on Education, opened a March 3 public hearing on House Bill 3,357, which would require the Oregon Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Consumer and Business Services, to create an online method for recording school workplace safety incidents involving school or education service district employees.

Supporters, led by educators and the Oregon School Employees Association, told the committee that current reporting is inconsistent, difficult to access and understates the frequency of staff injuries. Representative Leslie Munoz, a sponsor, said: “We cannot fix what we do not measure,” and described the measure as a “simple and necessary step” to give policymakers usable data.

The bill would specify the data to be collected, require the method to be easy to use and accessible in multiple formats and languages, minimize duplicative reporting, include safeguards against bias, and require local school…