Critical Incident Manual - Ministry of Education

Guidelines for Developing a Critical Incident Management Plan for a Safe School EnvironmentIncident: Staff-Student FightPotential OutcomesPhysical injury or death.Pre-plan Action• Establish and maintain zero tolerance for fights within the school setting.• Create a culture of respect.• Establish and maintain zero tolerance f violent play within the school setting.• Conduct frequent, spontaneous searches among students for weapons or otherinstruments that could become weapons.• Confiscate all tools that could become instruments for inflicting wounds.• Do annual review of school rules.• Implement a violence prevention programme, for teachers and students, students andparents.Immediate Action• Alert CIMT.• CIMT to intervene. If this fails, contact the police or other security personnel.• Try to de-escalate the situation verbally.• Students to leave the class in an orderly fashion and convene in a safe area.• Allow the CIMT to apply physical restraint if it appears safe to do so.• Remove any instrument that could be used to cause harm.• Isolate member of staff and student and allow a cooling-down period.• Seek medical attention for the injured persons.Follow-up Action• Convene a meeting of the CIMT in-order to debrief the handling of the incident.• Determine appropriate disciplinary or legal actions to be taken, in accordance topolicies and regulations.• Communicate with relevant stakeholders.• Traumatised individuals should be seen by school counsellor or other serviceprovider.Ministry of Education 2007 / 52