Bus Security

Bus Security Every day in this country, school buses transport millions of students to and from school, athletic events and field trips. A violent incident transpiring on a school bus is a crisis scenario often overlooked by the majority of school districts. For too many schools, there’s the belief that an effective bus security plan just cannot be developed. The truth is simple — your school district must be proactive in your bus safety efforts by planning and practicing for the various emergencies that may occur on one of your school buses. Y N Bus Crisis Planning Develop bus crisis plans with school administration, your police and sheriffs departments, and local emergency medical responders. Your plan should address crises such as fires, weather emergencies, serious vehicle accidents, school evacuations, and hostage situations as well as terrorist activities. Your bus drivers, school administration, law enforcement, and emergency responders must train together. Everyone needs to know their role and how others will respond during a bus crisis. Ask your local law enforcement, SWAT teams, and emergency responders to periodically conduct emergency training exercises on your buses. Develop alternative bus evacuation routes from each of your schools, events, and facilities. Alternative evacuation routes may be used if roads are closed, blocked, damaged, or if there is a substantial amount of traffic congestion. Y N Bus Crisis Planning (continued) Make sure your district’s transportation manager, supervisors, and bus drivers are trained as to their role in your school district’s crisis prevention program. Be prepared to quickly mobilize your bus services for any incident when drivers are not normally scheduled. This may include a mid‐day school evacuation or a bus accident occurring late at night. Mutual aid agreements should be developed with nearby school districts if additional buses are needed for mass or rapid mobilization of your students and staff. Practice for a variety of ‘what if’ bus emergency scenarios. There are a multitude of emergencies that your bus drivers should be trained to recognize and address. Hold periodic meetings with school administration and your bus drivers to discuss problem students, discipline concerns, and other related issues. Additional Comments: Y N Driver/Bus Security Controls Maintain accurate and up‐to‐date passenger lists and route sheets for all your school buses. These lists should be maintained for all bus trips that take place before, during, and after school. Always forbid any unauthorized persons or strangers from entering or riding on your bus. If someone attempts to enter one of your buses, the driver must call the police (911) and your school administration immediately. Require all your bus drivers to possess photo identification cards. Parents may request identification from their child’s bus driver, especially if a new or substitute driver is used. Make certain background checks have been conducted on all your bus drivers and bus company employees. Develop a system for your bus drivers to report suspicious incidents or persons at the bus facility or on their route. Present basic self‐defense and security training for all your bus drivers. Y N Driver/Bus Security Controls (continued) Develop crisis codes that your bus drivers can use to alert dispatch that they may have a problem or need immediate assistance. Ask your bus drivers to inspect their bus for foreign objects, both inside and outside, any time it has been left unattended. This could be during an athletic event at another school district, a trip to a museum, etc. Ensure that each of your school’s bus pick‐up and drop‐off areas do not have other vehicular traffic present. Complex traffic patterns, where two different types of transportation (bus/car, bus/child, car/child) cross each other’s travel path, are the ‘hot spots’ where a serious accident could occur. The chance of a child darting out from behind a stopped bus into the path of another vehicle is very real. The best control is to designate your bus pick‐up and drop‐off areas for bus traffic and nothing else. Assess each of your school bus routes to identify any potential trouble spots. This may include bad neighborhoods, excessive shrubbery at drop off/pick up areas, poorly lit areas, dead end roads, etc. If a bus incident or accident occurs, have one specific person designated to communicate pertinent information to your other schools, parents, law enforcement, and the media. Y N Driver/Bus Security Controls (continued) Strictly control access to all bus keys. Ensure that all of your buses are equipped with two‐way communication. Ask your bus drivers to maintain ‘911’ on their cell phone speed dial. Install a “trouble indicator” light on each school bus that drivers can activate to alert others of possible troubles on the bus. Instruct your bus drivers to never leave their bus running when it is unattended. Tell them to turn off the engine and take the keys with them. Train your school bus drivers how to address on‐bus conflicts such as a fight between students that occurs on the bus. Bus drivers should also be trained on what to do when confronting angry parents, strangers, trespassers, and other threats of violence. Additional Comments: Y N Bus Facilities Occasionally perform a security risk assessment of your facilities, including bus storage yards, garages, etc. Your insurance company’s loss control department may be of great assistance in this area. Restrict the access to your bus parking areas to buses only. Don’t allow others to park near or walk among the school buses if at all possible. When possible, park your school buses in a fenced in, illuminated parking area. Whenever possible, allow access to your school bus parking area through one gate only. Ask your police and sheriff’s department to routinely patrol your bus parking areas. Advise school employees to report any suspicious people at the bus facility or on route. Keep up‐to‐date student rosters, emergency contact numbers, and a first aid kit on each bus. Place identifying numbers on the top of your school buses which could be seen from above during an emergency. Additional Comments: Preventing Stranded Students In northern climates, leaving a child on a school bus can be a life‐threatening situation, especially when temperatures drop during the winter months. A variety of electronic devices and signs are available to ensure the bus driver walks to the back of the bus after each route; however, the bus driver is still the most important control in preventing stranded students on your school buses. Y N Preventing Stranded Students At the conclusion of each bus trip, walking through the entire bus must become part of the regular routine of the bus driver. Develop a zero tolerance policy for drivers who leave a child stranded on a school bus. Bus drivers should not be given a second chance if a stranded student incident takes place. After one incident where the bus driver fails to check their bus and a student needs to be recovered, the driver should be terminated. New bus driver training is the time to discuss your driver’s post‐trip inspection. Educate drivers that termination will follow if a student is stranded and that there is no room for discussion if this occurs. Y N Preventing Stranded Students (continued) Require bus drivers to place an “Empty Bus” placard in the back of the bus each and every time the bus is used. This will help to reinforce the fact that the bus driver must walk to the back of the bus at the conclusion of each trip. The “Empty Bus” placard system is an easy way for your transportation manager to walk or drive your bus parking area to determine which buses have been walked through by observing the placards. Keep in mind this system is not fool‐proof; a bus driver could place the placard in the back of the bus and never visually check the bus. If the “Empty Bus” placard system is used, a bus that is missing the placard should be inspected immediately. The bus driver should also receive a stern warning about their actions. During bus evacuation drills, educate students about how to use the bus horn to get someone’s attention in case they are ever accidentally locked in on a school bus. Your bus transportation manager should frequently conduct spot checks of drivers when they complete their route to ensure drivers are looking for stranded students on their bus. During monthly bus safety meetings with drivers, always review the procedures for conducting their post trip inspection as well as all other emergency protocols. Additional Comments: Unfortunately no checking system is completely foolproof. If a student is scared or falls asleep, they may easily end up under the bus seat. Unless your bus drivers are always attentive, a child may be missed with potentially serious consequences. Y N Bus Drop‐Off Area Concerns The best control is to design your school’s bus pick up and drop off areas to permit only one way traffic by the school bus. Always attempt to segregate parents’ vehicle access from bus traffic. If your bus pick up or drop off area cannot be segregated from the parent/student pick up and drop off areas, the entrances and exits of these areas should be closed off to all pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Consider posting supervisors at the bus entrances to ensure parents and visitors do not drive into this area during designated times. Ensure supervisors wear highly reflective vests so they are clearly visible to students, parents, and visitors. Y N Bus Drop‐Off Area Concerns (continued) Ask your local law enforcement to park or patrol the area during drop off and pick up times.

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