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Injuries and Liabilities When Your School Lacks an Adequate Emergency Action Plan
An emergency action plan is your school's first line of defense
when a crisis hits the school. For example, a fire might break
out in the building and a school cannot adequately evacuate
because no emergency action plan exists. Or a sports contest will
injure a child who cannot receive adequate treatment because of
an inadequate or altogether missing emergency action plan.
Insufficient emergency action plans (EAPs) might open the school
up to liability when students are injured.
A Sample Sports Emergency Action Plan
Emergency action plans are vital for student-athletes. In 2013, 4
percent of those who died in sports-related deaths were younger
than 17, and more than 425 catastrophic injuries occurred to
student-athletes. To develop an adequate EAP for athletics,
school personnel should:
Develop their EAP in coordination with the local emergency
medical services (EMS) and on-site medical personnel
Create an EAP specific to the venue and include maps or
directions
Identify necessary onsite emergency equipment, such as
defibrillators, medical kits, and splint kits
Include contact information for EMS
Address how to transport injured student-athletes from the
sporting venue to medical facilities
Spell out how to document injuries
Identify the personnel responsible for providing medical care and
sketch out their chain of command
School personnel should review the EAP at least once a year and
update it if necessary. Furthermore, the coaching staff should
hold a CPR refresher each year so that they can help in
emergencies.
Serious Injuries
A student could sustain almost any injury when trying to flee
from the school in an emergency. For example, it is not unusual
for them to suffer:
Concussions
Broken bones
Cuts or scrapes
Spinal cord injuries
Burns
Student-athletes also suffer serious injuries on the playing
field, including:
Heat stroke
Head injuries
Asthma
Cardiac arrest
Anaphylaxis (acute allergic reaction)
Hyponatremia (low sodium level in blood)
Many injuries grow life-threatening without prompt medical
attention. But even a victim who survives could face months of
recovery time that can cause them to miss work or fall behind
with their schooling. Particularly serious injuries can also
cause emotional harm, such as depression or anxiety.
Holding the School Responsible
When a school lacks an adequate emergency action plan, you might
hold it responsible for the injuries you or your child sustained.
In particular, you might sue the school for negligence because it
did not run the school with adequate care. Although school
districts generally enjoy immunity from lawsuits, California law
makes an exception for negligence.
Generally, schools owe students a duty to exercise reasonable
care and to discharge that duty the school may need a detailed
EAP. Failing to develop an EAP-or having an inadequate one-might
constitute a breach of the school's duty, which could expose the
school to a lawsuit.
Contact a Los Angeles Premises Liability Attorney
Today
Parents entrust schools to take care of their children, and
schools should have to compensate you for your injuries when they
betray that trust. At Greene Broillet & Wheeler, we have sued
school districts for failing to keep everyone safe. Because of
the special administrative rules for suing a school district,
please call us as soon as possible for a free consultation at
(866) 224-6688 or fill out our online contact form.
