Chair Neron, members of the House Education Committee,
The Oregon Education Association represents over 40,000 educators and education service professionals across the state, from pre-k through our community colleges. Our members are teachers, bus drivers, custodians, teacher assistants, nutrition specialists, community college
faculty and staff, and more.
OEA supports HB 4077.
Increase to access to incident reports for educators is critical in the data collection process to understand how pervasive injuries are for school employees in schools. It increases access to incident forms by making an online form that school personnel can fill out on smartphones and computers. If passed, the bill codifies the 2023 Interim Incident Reporting Work Group.
It requires the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) and the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) to work with a group of stakeholders (including OSEA) to create a “method,” so that classified and licensed educators will have access to incident report forms.
Reporting is an important part of safety in the workplace as it drives a data driven process, with relying on anecdotal information. The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reporting process is triggered by employees reporting injuries. OSHA requires that an administrator add key information to the 300 logs within seven days, and that each entry of the log be reviewed to identify any mitigation of future injury in the required monthly safety committee meetings OSHA requires for each work site. So, no action to improve safety happens if the incident isn’t reported.
Please pass HB 4077 with a do-pass recommendation.
