health services

Have all bus drivers and substitutes attend an annual anaphylaxis awareness training.
Only drivers transporting the students with life-threatening allergies will receive student specific ECP training.

Have all bus drivers trained on emergency preparedness planning and district specific policies and procedures. Such district policies and procedures would include some process and notification system for students who have a specific health requirement

Participate in emergency drills

Know local EMS procedures

Ensure the dispatcher has a list of all students with life-threatening food allergies by bus number/route and instructions for activating EMS

Ensure that provisions are made for the student’s epinephrine to be on the student’s person as well as a copy of the ECP. It is not safe to store epinephrine on the bus for a variety of reasons such as temperature variances and substitution buses.

Have a back up copy of the ECP on the bus

Have procedures for implementing ECPs that address:

• Calling 911
• Location of the epinephrine
• Contacting district administration and requesting administrator to contact school nurse and the parents. Buses used to transport teams to extracurricular and sports events may require some adaptation of this policy.

Ensure that there are trained staff on the bus that can assist students in the event of an anaphylactic emergency and carry out the ECP

Encourage cleaning of bus surfaces for children with contact anaphylaxis per district policy

Students with life-threatening food allergies may need to be seated at the front of the bus to permit the bus driver or assigned school staff to observe the student for development of symptoms

Have properly functioning communication equipment and a procedure for out of service areas

Inform bus driver that she/he is transporting a child with allergy and provide allergy alert plan

Provide functioning emergency communication devices (e.g. cell phones, two-way radios, etc.) on each bus

Maintain a policy of no eating on the bus