Safety

Indiana House Democrats sent a letter to the governor’s office asking the state to better protect the safety of essential workers.The state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has seen thousands of non-formal COVID-19 complaints related to various safety issues in the past month.

A bill that would require schools to test for lead in drinking water passed the state House on Thursday. The measure was originally aimed at Lake County schools, but it was recently amended by Rep. Sue Errington (D-Muncie) to include all Indiana schools. 

Kids who get exposed to lead can have trouble learning, behavioral issues, and poor kidney function. The bill would require all schools that haven’t tested for lead at least once since 2016 to do so within the next two years.

More districts are hiring law enforcement to increase security in schools and can use state funding to do so, but lawmakers are debating what sort of training officers need before working around students. 

Indiana requires school resource officers (SROs), to have 40 hours of specific training, but director of the Indiana School Resource Officers Association, Chase Lyday, says not every law enforcement officer in schools has had it. 

Two years ago, a worker at an Amazon facility in Plainfield, Indiana died after a 1,200 pound forklift crushed him.

After a state safety inspector found it might have happened due to a lack of training, he says Governor Eric Holcomb and other state officials worked to shift blame away from Amazon, hoping to avoid bad press while the state competed to host the company's new headquarters. Holcomb says it didn't happen.

The South Bend School Corporation hosted a panel of students  and officials from throughout the district Thursday at John Adams High School to talk about school safety.

At the panel, held the day after nationwide student walkouts against gun violence, students from different high schools told school officials how they felt in their respective buildings.

The South Bend School Corporation hosted a panel of students  and officials from throughout the district Thursday at John Adams High School to talk about school safety.

At the panel, held the day after nationwide student walkouts against gun violence, students from different high schools told school officials how they felt in their respective buildings.