Ensuring the safety of learners is paramount in schools, particularly in workshops where hands-on learning takes place. Mechanical Technology teachers bear the responsibility for ensuring learners safe participation in activities, guided by specific safety management elements that dictate their duty of care and legal obligations. This paper…

South Africa has an urgent need for qualified technical and mechanical people. Technical disciplines are encouraged in public schools to fulfil this requirement. Teachers are also in an environment that is becoming increasingly litigious. Technology teachers may be forced to pay greater attention to managing safety and security as legal liability…

This article will highlight the details of Colombo et al. v. Bombadier Recreational Products, Inc. et al. in the context of how the three defendants could have better managed the safety and risks to their customers and their own liability. These recommendations will illustrate issues around negligence, product liability, employee training,…

In December 2009, Janette Ferguson traveled to Corpus Christi, Texas, to participate in the Harbor Lights Festival boat parade. The day prior to the festival, Ferguson spent the night on her family's sailboat that was kept in a slip on the city marina's C pier. Upon waking the following morning, Ferguson walked to the marina's bathroom facility to…

In August 2012, Barbara Fakhouri visited Ober Gatlinburg, a ski resort located in eastern Tennessee to vacation with her family. Ms. Fakhouri used a wheelchair to ambulate. Despite the absence of snow on the ground, the resort operated year-round with many amenities such as an amusement park, restaurant, lounge, and shopping center to captivate…

Field trips offer inspiring opportunities for students to see theory in practice and participate in student organization competitions. They also include increased hazards and consequential risks that require special attention to safety planning and supervision. Teachers must be cognizant about strategies to mitigate these risks prior to planning a…

A strength of technology and engineering (T&E) education programs is that they provide a unique context for students with varying abilities to apply their knowledge and skills in nontraditional ways. These courses help prepare students with valuable skills needed for college and career readiness. Makerspaces, fab labs, and STEM labs often…

Physical education teachers are often focused on the many benefits of physical education to students, but there must also be a consideration of risk. How can the risks in physical education be minimized to maximize the benefits? One way to accomplish this goal is to increase physical educators' understanding of the legal risks related to…

Sport is an increasingly important area of society both inside and outside of the school environment although this has not always been the case. Greater interest in sports policy is also emerging at both a European and International level with the prospective of a "Rights" based approach developing. The safety of those playing sport is…

School districts and school bus contractors are entrusted with the most important of all road users--our nation's children. In the wake of recent newsworthy accidents and attention grabbing headlines regarding unfit bus drivers, claims premised upon school bus accidents have become increasingly tangential and, in turn, personal injury attorneys…

This article discusses where teachers stand from a legal point of view when pupils, who have been told to wear eye protection, take it off during the practical lesson, and an accident happens. It also discusses the disposal of dissection and other waste from animal parts used in school science. (Contains 1 footnote.)

Providing a safe classroom and laboratory environment should be the first priority of any career-technical and technology/engineering education instructor. Doing so not only increases the opportunity for student learning, but it also keeps instructors "out of hot water" with respect to legal issues of liability. In today's litigious…

This study examined reasoning about wrongdoing in people with Asperger's syndrome (AS) and matched healthy controls in relation to car accident scenarios. The two groups made similar judgments with respect to degree of driver negligence for both fines imposed and sympathy ratings. They also made similar judgments of fines in relation to the type…

The pole vault was considered the ultimate test of physical ability and daring before the advent of modern extreme sports such as skateboarding, snowboarding, and mountain biking. The inherent risks of the pole vault have been well documented. The National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research reported in 2007 that the catastrophic injury…

All laboratories, even modern high-tech ones, have some degree of hazard potential. It is the teacher's responsibility to make the lab as safe as possible and to do all that is reasonable and prudent to prevent accidents. The teacher's goal should be to insure the safety of every student. This goal is met best via well-planned instruction and…