What covers you when a student is hurt in your lab or shop
Teacher Safety Protection Laws is a free online module for K-12 teachers who run hands-on classes: science labs, CTE and shop rooms, art, and family and consumer science. It answers the question a teacher asks when a student is hurt: am I covered?
It explains the four protections teachers hear about and mix up: save-harmless laws, immunity, the federal Coverdell Teacher Protection Act, and OSHA. Then it shows which of them reach you, state by state, with each state's law linked.
What you will learn
- What a save-harmless law pays for, and where it stops
- How immunity, the Coverdell Act and OSHA differ, and which question each one answers
- Which protections reach you, in your state, at a public or a private school
- How to judge, from real court cases, whether a teacher stayed inside their protection
- How to write a one-page protection check for your own room
What is included
- 7 short lessons
- A state-by-state table covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia
- Six scenarios from science labs and shops, with strong answers
- A fillable one-page Protection Check (PDF)
- A 9-question quiz, and the Science Safety Certificate on completion
The module explains the law so you can ask the right questions. It is not legal advice about your own case.
