Safety at school context: Making injuries and non-events visible with a digital application

Abstract

Safety and security have for decades remained basic values in the Finnish society. Extreme violence and unintentional injuries at schools have raised the need of more developed measures to analyze the potential risks. The Green Cross application is seen as an example of how to prevent accidents and how to make the non-events visible for the individuals who work at school. The study explores the usability and usefulness of Green Cross injury reporting application. The data is qualitative, based on 10 (n = 10) end-user interviews representing school and day-care staff. Based on this study the school risks were unpredictable, connected to human factor issues or persons acting against regulations. It looks clear that Green Cross software works quite well for solving physical or structural risks at the school context. However, the software was not very useful when reporting repeatedly happening cases, like aggressive behavior.