Limiting the risk of injury through safety guidelines in a physical education setting

Physical activity involves risk and thus the physical education classroom requires safety standards to be established and maintained to ensure safety. The number of physical education related injuries in elementary, middle school, and high school increased 150% from 1997 to 2007 and they have continued to rise in the last decade as well. The classroom teacher must employ the highest level of organization and management in order to limit their risk. Working together with administration to establish policy and review safety standards ensures that multiple entities are involved in ensuring safety. Having safety guidelines within a physical education setting could potentially help protect the students from unnecessary injuries and may prevent the school district from legal action in the case of an injury.