Lightning: A Deadly Hazard to Outdoor Events

Lightening is the MOST UNDERRATED Weather Threat. As of 2001, it  has killed more people that hurricanes & tornadoes combined....


WE HAVE ALL BEEN OUTDOORS AT SOME EVENT, AND HEARD THUNDER AND SEEN LIGHTNING OFF IN THE DISTANCE. WE ALL HOPE THAT IT WILL AVOID WHERE WE ARE AT, BUT IF WE TRULY KNEW THE THREAT OF LIGHTNING WE WOULD AVOID IT AS IF OUR LIVES DEPENDED ON IT. 

Lightening Strike During a Men's Soccer Match: Recently in northern part of Houston, Texas during a soccer game two adult men were killed and a third injured after lightning struck a tree under which they had been seeking shelter from the rain during a soccer match according to law enforcement. A men's league soccer club game was being played when it began to rain around 12:10 pm. A group of players took shelter under a tree. Lighting struck the tree, killing one man at the scene according to Deputy Sheriff Thomas Gilliland. Two other men were transported by ambulance to a hospital. One was pronounced dead on arrival and the other was in stable condition, according to police. There were more people who took refuge under the trees during the storm (which is a dangerous mistake), but fortunately weren't injured.  According to the National Weather Service (NWS), nine people have been killed in eight states so far this year due to lightning. 


Here is a great resource for Principals, Athletic Directors, Coaches, Teachers, Athletes, and Parents to review:


Safer Design for Safer Play with the threat of Lightning  (Check this website out)


Points for Consideration:

• As parents, teachers, coaches, and spectators; what are the safety guidelines when it comes to thunder and lightning? (Check out the above website)
• How often do educational or athletic leaders take a look at inclement weather, and determine a bad weather decision point to cancel or reschedule an event?
• Lightning during an outdoor school event (graduation, sports game, gym class or even a school trip) can lead to a calamity, it the right decisions are not made in a timely fashion. Hundreds of people sitting outside in metal bleachers...
• If an event is ongoing and bad weather (thunder & lightening in the distance) occurs, there is a tendency to try and "gut it out" in the hopes it will "blow over" so we can finish the event. 
• What is more of a distraction? Stopping an event and transitioning it indoors, if possible OR gambling with the safety of everyone and risking their lives? 
• Mass Casualty, Loss of Life, Investigations, Law Suits, Memorial Services.... 
• While weather is often predictable, it is not always accurate, but the consequences of disregarding lightning can be fatal. 
• A lightening strike during a large event can cause a mass casualty event with numerous people having to be resuscitated often at the same time. Do you have a mass casualty plan other than calling 911?

Our goal is educating ourselves to prevent a hazardous incident from occurring. A key element to that is preparation by learning as much as possible about the threat of lightning in the first place, check out the above website.  

Effects of Winter & Cold Weather on Schools

SEVERE AND / OR EXTENDED COLD WEATHER CREATES UNIQUE HAZARDS

Being in the Northeast, we certainly get snow in the winter but this year it has been worse than ever in the volume and duration of snow and extremely low temperatures. Extreme temperatures, heavy volumes of snow, ice, melting & re-freezing have an effect on school operations, students and faculty, the facility, and the school incident management process. For example, an evacuation for a fire in freezing temperatures can cause cold weather injuries on students within a very short amount of time.

Here are some observations or points for discussion concerning adverse effects of cold weather:

• The freezing, melting, and refreezing caused the earth under the concrete to swell not allowing three external doors to open which would be used in an evacuation.
• This was forwarded to school safety committee and adjustments to evacuation were made until the ground thaws in warmer temperatures.
• Melting snow and the ensuing drainage becomes new ice the following day following evening low temperatures.
• Uncleared sidewalks or narrowly cleared sidewalks (due to weeks of snow) resulted in students walking in the road to and from school.
• Tall snowdrifts create dangerous blindspots in parking lots, entrances and exits to schools, and on numerous street corners, coupled with pedestrians walking in the roads is a bad combination.
• Heavy accumulations of snow on roofs can cause damage or even a roof collapse.
• Melting and falling Ice bridges and large icicles from roof can injure people.
• A school evacuation (fire, bomb, etc) = relocation to another school ASAP (As Soon As Possible).
• Using school buses as warming shelters until students are relocated is an improvised option, if you can initiate this fairly rapidly.
• Budget cuts affected the number of available snow plow drivers or overtime permitting school parking lots to be cleared to support school operations resulting in some school closures.

Risk Management & the Injured Cheerleader's Lawsuit

YOU CAN'T MANAGE RISK IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON IN YOUR SCHOOL OR DURING SCHOOL SPONSORED ACTIVITIES...???

 

Background. In Feb 2011 at Bridgeport, CT, the family of a 12 year old Wilton girl who suffered permanent injuries in March 2009 during cheerleading practice has filed a negligence suit against her coach and a youth football league. The lawsuit alleges that the cheerleading coach and the Wilton Youth Football league permitted her and her teammates to engage in a manuever beyond their capabilities. While their is no present indication the lawsuit is being filed against the school or school district, it none-the-less brings up natural questions for school leadership, athletic directors, coaches, after school club supervisors, and anyone affiliated with extra-curricular activities.

 

 

 

Discussion.  Quality Supervision, Safety Awareness, and Technical Competence are dangerous capabilities for school leaders and parents to ASSUME. Even with the best of intentions on the part of school leaders and parents who are part of the supervisory process and the adults who teach, coach, or mentor these extracurricular activities, activity risk management (RM) must be a part of the process. Using the military template of Operational Risk Management (ORM) provides a quick template.

1. Identify the Risks in the Activities That Take Place.
2. Rate the Risks (Low, Medium, High)
3. Identify the Steps To Take to Mitigate the Risks

Points for Consideration:

• Many school leaders do not know what activities are taking place at their school on a daily basis?
• The don't possess a tool (detailed school calendar with activities & events) to manage the information.
• This tool allows them to prioritize their supervisory focus for selected activities.
• Many school leaders and extracurricular adult supervisors have not analyzed the RISKs associated with the school or school sponsored activities that they will be held liable for.
• If they haven't analyzed the Activity RISKs then they haven't synthesized steps to MITIGATE those RISKs. 
• If you think your school has a handle on managing RISK, here are a few sample questions you may wan't to ask:
• Who specifically checks to ensure the sports physicals and or health risk screening forms are complete and read by coaches, and medical professionals?
• Just because a student has a sports physical doesn't mean the coaches know what is on it in the way of possible medical issues.
• Is there a list of the daily medications required to be taken by the students in your school?
• Who is tracking to ensure these medications are being taken?
• Who tracks the weather during football summer workouts at the school, before school starts?
• What are the guidelines for duration of practice and cooling off players during hot weather workouts?
• What is the concussion policy in regards to sports? Are coaches, players, and parents educated about this?
• Does your band Color Guard or JROTC spin or throw and catch drill rifles?
• Has their been an act of violence at the school you are visiting for a sporting event?
• Are their cheerleading or dance team manuevers which are not recommended? 
• Who is monitoring the weight room during off season and season workouts?
• Does your school have an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) available?

YOU "MAKE YOUR LUCK" BY BEING CONCERNED ABOUT SCHOOL SAFETY AND SECURITY, BEING AWARE OF WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE ASSOCIATED RISKS AT SCHOOL, AND CREATING A MINDSET IN EVERYONE (School Leaders, Athletic Directors, School Nurse, Parents, Students, Coaches, and Club Supervisors) TO MITIGATE THOSE RISKS.

EDUCATIONAL LEADER'S CRITICAL INFORMATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

DETERMINING WHAT INFO YOU NEED TO KNOW & ENSURING THE PEOPLE IN YOUR SCHOOL KNOW TO KEEP YOU INFORMED IS CRITICAL TO RUNNING A SAFE & PREPARED SCHOOL.

AS AN EDUCATIONAL LEADER (PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE, SUPERINTENDENT, PRINCIPAL), When it comes to Critical Information these are some key questions you may want to ask yourself:

• WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?
• WHO KNOWS IT?
• HAVE THEY TOLD YOU YET?

CRITICAL INFORMATION CATEGORIES:

• Death, Injury, Accident, Threat, Crime or Harassment, Bullying of a Student or School Employee
• Dangerous or Poor Weather (Wind, Rain, Storm, Lightening, Ice, Snow, Heat, Tornado, Hurricane)
• Information about the School Facility / Plant (Loss of Heat, A/C, Electricity, Water, Sewage, Air Quality, Virus/MRSA, etc.)

Situation: PRINCIPAL IN THE DARK: A Principal returned to school after a weekend and started his typical Monday morning. Over the weekend a number of things had occurred that the Principal was unaware. A number of individuals within the school community were aware of the negative events which occurred but had not shared with the Principal. A well known & beloved out-in-town after-school community program counselor (who had helped generations of students) had died of a heart attack and a former student had been stabbed out in town by a member of a different racial group. The injured student was dating another student in school as well.

• Some teachers were aware of the student's attack and the community counselor's death, but did not discuss with school leadership. They assumed they knew about it.
• School Resource Officer was on vacation as was not made aware of the act of violence and the police did not communicate this with the school leadership. Principal assumed the police would keep her informed if an act of violence pertaining to a student occurred even if it was out in town. 

The Principal discovered this when the Guidance Department reported a large volume of despondent students reporting to see their guidance counselors about the community counselor's death. The girlfriend of the attacked student was generating drama about what had happened and there were some discussions about concerns about the possibility about retribution. This all made for a tense and frustrating Monday morning leaving the Principal feeling like he was the last one to know about what was going on.

As the Educational Leader of your institution to not be kept informed of important information will cause you to REACT to events instead of PREVENT or be able to shape and influence incidents that ocur and the negative information associated with it.

High Wind Gusts can create Natural Hazards that can Kill or Injure

HIGH WINDS CAN INJURE AN KILL, NOT JUST HURRICANES AND TORNADOES!!!!

High wind gusts knock over hydraulic lift and kill a student taping a college football practice.
A 20 yr old college student (Declan Sullivan) who was videotaping a Notre Dame football practice was killed when high winds knocked over the hydraulic scissor lift he was standing upon. The lift was used as a platform to provide an overhead vantage point to film the practice. According to sources, the directions that came with the lift warned against its use during high winds. The wind gusts caused towels and a Gatorade cooler to fly into the air as well as the netting on the goal post to bend. Sullivan even tweeted that it was "terrifying" during the 51 mph wind gusts before he was killed. Sullivan died en route to the hospital in South Bend Indiana.

Strong winds knock over a 10 foot high brick wall at a school killing a construction worker.
In July 2010, a storm in the small town of Edgerton, Ohio destroyed a small town and damaged homes. In August 2010, a construction worker was killed at a northwest Ohio school construction site when a brick wall fell on him following some strong winds that blew through the area. It was undetermined if the previous storm weakened the wall or if it was strong winds that day caused it to collapse.


 Commentary:

• Unless we receive a dangerous weather warning, we typically don't pay much heed to bad weather. It is important for all school personnel to develop an ALL HAZARD MINDSET to identify what CAN or MIGHT cause injury, damage, or death to people in our school community. While not being paranoid, it is important to THINK and PLAN WORST CASE SCENARIO when it comes to school preparedness. 
• Hope for the best, PLAN for the Worst, and you will be READY for anything in between.
• Following the storm in Ohio, was their a structural safety assessment conducted at the school / construction site to identify hazards? 
• The RECOVERY PHASE of an incident (June storm) can often get overlooked, but the inability to recover from an incident can create conditions for another hazardous incident.
• The GIFT of FEAR: Imagine if Declan Sullivan listened to his inner voice that caused him to tweet he was terrified and he got down from the hydraulic lift instead of tweeting his concern. Often times we can only lessen the hazards (seen and unseen) by degrees, but that might make all of the difference. In the preparedness business, it is often said, "you make your luck" .

WEATHER CAN KILL, IF YOU DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO IT.

Middletown CT Middle School Evacuated due to Fire

Points To Consider:

• Plans are important, but Drills build capability and can save lives.
• Smoke kills more people than fire.
• Thinking about a full school evacuation to a fire on a Friday morning is the last thing you would expect.
• Incidents occur when you least expect them 
• Did an evacuation relocation plan for student reunification with parents exist?
• How were student relocated to the reunification site? Walk? Bus?

• How would have this evacuation and relocation have been different if it was in February?  

What happend: An electrical room fire which generated smoke forced the evacuation and closure of Woodrow Wilson Middle School. Two custodians were sent to the hospital with minor smoke inhalation. The fire started at 8:15 am Friday morning which sent smoke throughout the building.The school staff and around 700 students evacuated the building without incident. The school remained closed for the remainder of the day while officials evaluated damage (smoke damage). The fire was limited to the electrical room and is under investigation.

FIRE DRILLS ARE NO JOKE, AND CONTINUE TO ENSURE OUR STUDENTS AND STAFF ARE PREPARED FOR A NO-NOTICE LIFE THREATENING INCIDENT.

A TORNADO? Why worry, I don't live in Kansas?

Tornadoes don’t only happen out west or in Kansas. However unlikely for your area, they can occur almost anywhere. This is exactly why school’s need to take an ALL HAZARD approach to school preparedness.

Sept 16, 2010: An east coast storm that generates two tornadoes and a micro-burst wind storm struck in the New York City region and generated 125 mph winds in the surrounding areas on Thursday evening during rush hour. The storm traveled across the high population dense urban areas in Brooklyn and Queens toppling trees and power lines, crushing cars, peeled away roofs, and unfortunately killed a woman sitting in her car alongside her husband. One of the tornadoes hit the NYC area at 5:33 pm with winds up to 80 mph and the other tornado hit the NYC area at 5:42 pm with winds up to 100 mph traveling in a path of four miles through the city. It was the micro-burst (an intense gust of wind that pours down from a storm) that generated 125 mph winds that covered an area 8 miles long by 5 miles causing considerable storm damage and loss of power. Residents and commuters were stunned and many people came close to injury and death as it occurred during rush hours including parents picking children up from after-school activities. There were 60 reports of buildings with possible structural damage.

Points to Ponder:

• A dangerous weather incident can occur at any time, in this real world weather emergency this storm could have affected your school's:
• Faculty, staff, and student families returning home from school.
• Teams and fans traveling to and from an away game school sporting event
• A Thursday night school home sporting event you are hosting, band competition, or play.
• Students being released from an after-school program for working parents or sports practice.
• How does your school track and monitor weather? How does school leadership use this weather tracking method to develop decision points (postpone, cancel, or continue) scheduled school events that maybe effected by weather? How are weather announcements made for school events?
• Following this storm, HOW do you check and WHO checks for structural damage in your school and school facilities?
• Your school may be fine but an adjacent one may be damaged and may require the temporary or short term use of your facilities? Do you have a plan for this? Have you coordinated with adjacent school for this type of event?
• If your school is damaged do you have a school continuity of operations plan (COOP)?

In March of 2010, there was a severe storm to the Northeast and our school in Connecticut was not damaged, save for an outside scoreboard. However, due to downed trees and associated power-lines throughout the city it created unsafe conditions for school children in their neighborhoods; we couldn’t open the school up for five school days.

DANGEROUS WEATHER CAN OCCUR ANYWHERE AND AT ANY TIME, SO ENSURE YOUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY IS PREPARED FOR IT. 

Sudden Dangerous Weather Puts High School Sports Events at Risk

Bad Weather can occur at any time. Remember lightening kills and if you can see it, it is in range to kill you. In Connecticut, each school is suppose to have a NOAA Emergency Weather Radio.

Questions to ask:

• Does your school have these radios?
• Where is the radio and Who monitors the radio?
• Does someone monitor it after school when you have outdoor extracurricular activities?
• What is the procedures for dangerous weather? Who makes the call? Who is notified?

On May 5, 2010 in Northwest Connecticut, a burst of violent weather generated winds and thunderstorms that severely impacted this region. Trees and power lines were knocked down and power was lost in many areas.  In New Hartford, heavy winds affected a high school (Lewis S. Mills H.S.) crew team event causing a number of crew boats to be blown beyond the team rescue boat. A few boats were capsized. The water temperature was cold so based on safety protocols, nine members were transported for a nearby hospital for hypothermia evaluation and released without incident.  Thomaston High School had to cancel a track and field meet due to these sudden bad weather which included high winds and lightning.

Sudden Dangerous Weather should be of an Incident Action Plan (IAP) within your school's Safety Plan.