Health and Safety

Ahliah strives to maintain health, safety and well-being of its community members by providing social, emotional, physical, and mental health support needed to achieve their full potential.

The school appoints a safety Committee to be in charge of following up on all safeguarding, risk assessment, and child protection related concerns. The committee members implement safety workshops and training such as first aid training, and fire training.

The Health and safety staff provides the following services:

• Ensuring all students get appropriate referrals to health care providers.
• Identifying and responding to detected communicable diseases by undertaking the appropriate measures to limit their spread through the school community.
• Providing education in a variety of health and wellness topics, such as awareness on hygiene (oral, skin, hands, body, and hair), on mental well-being, and on healthy lifestyles for students and staff.
• Managing chronic illnesses in the school setting such as asthma, diabetes, food allergies, heart diseases, and physical disabilities in collaboration with the student’s physician and family.
• Providing first aid for minor illnesses and injuries.
• Referring major accidents to the nearest hospital.
• Detecting eating disorders.
• Detecting signs of violence and child abuse.
• Administering medication for students following a medical prescription.
• Ensuring individual intervention and emotional support upon need.
• Ensuring the presence of an emergency kit on every floor of the school building and in the laboratories.
• Preparing a customized emergency outing kit to be sent with students on trips and outings.
• Ensuring the safety of school trips by reviewing the trips risk assessment and providing the needed training for faculty.

Ahliah School is prepared to respond to an emergency or disaster situation occurring during school hours. This includes annual staff training on First Aid and Fire preparedness procedures.

The decision to keep students at school will be determined upon whether the streets in the area are open and/or safe.

In the event that students will be kept at school for extended periods of time, procedures are in place to provide them with the needed requirements to keep them safe and comfortable.

In the event that a natural disaster (earthquakes, severe storm, flooding, etc.) occurs during commuting to/from school, drivers will make every attempt to return the students safely home. Should road conditions prevent the driver from dropping off students to their home or to school in the morning, the students will be taken to the nearest safe site authorized by the school.

Parents’ assistance and cooperation is important in contributing to a secure and safe environment at Ahliah, by adhering to the following procedures:

1. Do not the call the school when an emergency occurs. Parents will be notified by an SMS Message in the event of any changes to routine, telephone lines may be needed for Emergency Communication.
2. Update the section for authorized person to pick up the child. Please, be sure that you consider the following criteria when you authorize another person to pick up your child at school. The authorized person should be:

• • A responsible adult.
  • Usually home during the day. Could walk to school, if necessary. Is familiar to your child.
  • Aware of and able to assume this responsibility.

The update of this section is important because in the event of a serious emergency in the vicinity of the school, students will be kept at school. They are released only when it is determined to be safe, to either an individual who has a legal right to the child or someone whom the child’s parent(s) or guardian has previously authorized upon registration.

The Science Laboratories purpose is to ensure that students are provided with opportunities to better understand the scientific concepts, practice scientific process skills, and understand the nature of science in a safe environment.

In order to proceed effectively, safety measures have been put in place in order to provide a safe and healthy experience while students are in the science laboratories.

The following general safety practices apply to all laboratories at Ahliah School, regardless of the type of experiment performed :

• Laboratory Safety requirements are checked periodically.
• Health and safety procedures are enforced during orientation session including storage, handling and disposal procedures with proper reminder during every visit to the laboratory.
• All activities with the potential risk of releasing toxic fumes or gas will be demonstrated as virtual labs.
• Materials not intended for human consumption (i.e.  research) are labeled “Not for Human Consumption.”  Only  required  amounts  of  materials  for  specific  purposes  are  stored  in  the laboratory.
• Students  are  always  guided  and  supervised  in  the  laboratory to  support  student’s  learning  and safety and appropriate behavior is strictly enforced.

Responsibilities of Students

Students shall :

• Review the hazard information label on the container before using any material.
• Confine long hair and loose clothing and wear appropriate personal protective equipment when required.
• Keep their hands and other items away from their mouth and eyes, as well as ensure that any skin wounds are covered.
• Keep all work areas clean and uncluttered and aisles unobstructed.
• Exhibit appropriate behavior in the laboratory and restrict disruptive behavior.
• Wash hands using chemical and biological materials before leaving the laboratory  by following  the  procedure  of  the  hand  washing  poster  that  is  displayed  in  the laboratory.

Students will NOT:

• Smell or taste chemical or biological materials.
• Leave any container open (unsealed) when not in use.
• Bring food, drink, products, gum, medications or cosmetics in areas where lab materials are used or stored.