Contents

Home

Bus Safety, Behaviour, and Incidents

Ensuring the safety of students on the bus is a responsibility shared by the Ministry of Education (the Ministry), the transport service provider(s), and St Joseph's School.

• The Ministry ensures that their contracted transport service providers have robust health and safety plans in place, and monitors their contractual and legislative safety requirements once every two years. As part of the ongoing evaluation process, transport service providers must demonstrate clear and appropriate systems and standards for mitigating risks to health and safety.
• The transport service provider(s) give our school their contact information (including an emergency phone number and depot contact information) and are in regular contact with our school (at least once a term) to discuss any issues with service delivery, student behaviour, and changes in bus usage.
• Our school ensures that we meet our coordination and delivery responsibilities, our responsibilities as a PCBU (person conducting a business or undertaking) under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, and our responsibility to ensure student safety under the Children's Act 2014. See Daily School Bus. We also follow processes for risk management and safety checking, student behaviour, bus accidents and incidents, and concerns and complaints as outlined below.

  The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 defines and outlines the health and safety responsibilities of different types of duty holders within a workplace.

  A PCBU is a "person conducting a business or undertaking". At St Joseph's School, the whole board is the PCBU, including the principal. If events, activities, or services involve more than one PCBU, then PCBUs work together to establish responsibilities and actions for health and safety.

Risk management and safety checking

We consider potential hazards in relation to the Ministry-managed bus service and monitor these through our hazard and risk management processes. See Risk Management.

All new bus staff are safety checked and police vetted before appointment by our contracted transport service provider(s), and the Ministry verifies that all drivers:

• are licensed to carry passengers (i.e. have a "passenger endorsement")
• have passed a "fit and proper person check"
• have been vetted as required by the Children's Act 2014.

The school reports any concerns to the Ministry.

Student behaviour

Students must behave appropriately on the bus to ensure everyone's health and safety. Students and their parents/caregivers may be required to sign a code of conduct for bus use.

The transport service provider(s) may contact our bus controller about disruptive student behaviour or safety risks and the school takes appropriate steps. See Behaviour Management.

If a student is not meeting behaviour expectations on the bus, the bus driver cannot require the student to get off the bus. The driver must take all students to their usual stops. If the driver considers it is no longer safe to continue, they seek advice from the transport service provider.

If inappropriate or unsafe student behaviour is repeated and persistent, the transport service provider or our school may decide that the student should temporarily or permanently lose their place on the bus. If a student loses their place on school transport, they will lose any eligibility for a conveyance allowance. Parents/Caregivers are still responsible for ensuring that they are meeting their legal obligation to get their child to school. See Student Attendance.

Bus accidents and incidents

St Joseph's School works with the Ministry's contracted transport service provider(s) to manage bus accidents and incidents. Transport service providers agree to a reporting process when the Ministry contracts them.

Accidents and incidents that impact the delivery of the service may include:

• traffic accidents
• near misses
• inappropriate behaviour by passengers to the extent that the driver feels unsafe to continue
• students injured while on the bus service
• mechanical breakdowns causing a delay.

At the time of the accident or incident

At the time of an accident or incident that impacts the delivery of the service:

• the bus driver contacts the transport service provider, and the bus driver or transport service provider contacts emergency services if needed
• the transport service provider immediately contacts our school bus controller and the Ministry's allocated transport contract manager
• our bus controller informs relevant people (e.g. principal, board chair, other schools), and if necessary, organises alternative transport for students.

The police contact caregivers or next of kin in the case of a serious injury or death.

Any incident on the bus that causes harm, or has the potential to cause harm, must be reported by the transport service provider to our school bus controller and the transport contract manager as soon as possible.

After an accident or incident

As soon as possible after an accident or incident, the transport service provider reports event details to the transport contract manager. The transport service provider then investigates the accident/incident and writes a report on the findings, including any actions required. The transport contract manager ensures this is done. If the accident/incident is caused by a student, our school leads the investigation and reporting.

Our school:

• informs and involves the parents/caregivers of any students affected as soon as practicable
• implements our crisis management processes if any harm caused is severe
• liaises with the transport contract manager and the transport service provider as needed
• follows our Recording and Reporting Injuries and Illness policy and procedures, as appropriate, which may include:
  • recording all reported incidents in our injury and incident register

    Schools can choose how they record injuries and illness including accidents, near misses, and notifiable events (e.g. injury and incident form, first aid log, accident register, SMS).

    For good practice, schools should record:

    • all first aid administered
    • accidents and near misses
    • investigation of incidents
    • notifiable events.

    Records should outline:

    • the names of all involved
    • the date and time of the incident
    • the cause (if known)
    • school response (e.g. first aid treatment)
    • any damage to school property.

  • completing an accident investigation form if necessary
  • investigating as appropriate to help prevent similar incidents from occurring again
  • reporting to other agencies as needed (e.g. the police, WorkSafe, and/or the Ministry)
  • documenting any actions taken to prevent or reduce the possibility of recurrence
  • presenting incident reports and investigation reports, including documents and forms, to the board at its next meeting.

Concerns and complaints

St Joseph's School takes concerns and complaints about drivers, vehicles, student behaviour issues, and student safety on buses seriously. Anyone with concerns or complaints can raise these using our school concerns and complaints processes or child protection processes, as appropriate. See Concerns and Complaints Policy and Child Protection.

We ensure that the regional transport advisor is made aware of any complaints in a timely manner.

Related policies

• Behaviour Management
• Recording and Reporting Injuries and Illness
• Managing Traumatic Incidents

Legislation

• Children's Act 2014
• Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

Resources

• School bus code of conduct
• Ministry of Education | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga:
  • School responsibilities for bus safety and behaviour management
  • Safety and behaviour on school transport
  • Reporting accidents and incidents on school transport
• Waka Kotahi l NZ Transport Agency: School bus safety

Release history: Term 4 2023, Term 1 2019