5 point harness

Very random question.

As a bus driver we are required by my school board to put 4 & 5 year olds in 5 point harnesses. Now I know that it is very good to do this, I have the seat belt cutter as close to me as possible to get all 3 of these little ones from on my bus out if I ever get in a crash.

Now my question is; how do you get a child in a 5 point harness without touching them?? We are not allowed to touch students, teachers and parents are not allowed on the bus to buckle the kids in due to liability purposes, and all the kids are different sizes and they can't always remember what seats they were in. The 5 point harnesses we have buckle on either side of the child by the waist, they have buckled on either side of the neck, and a clip between the legs, you tighten it through the top tether strap. I'm hoping all of that makes sense.

My kids can not get all the buckles done up, or undone. I am allowed to tighten it but not allowed to make sure it is tight enough. Any suggestions on how to get them in??

I have been trying to get my own kids into the seats without putting even one finger on them and I definitely can't do it and my kids are all getting upset with me putting them in and taking them out of car seats. I need to talk to my supervisor soon with some sort of solution cause this isn't working for any people involved

TIA

Can you take a picture of what kind of harness systems are in your bus?

We have a few other bus drivers on the board who are also techs and might be able to give you some ideas. My best friend is one of them and she drives a bus that has integrated restraints. They are basically self tightening so there's no issue there - but I believe that it's the parents who are responsible for taking the kids on and off the bus in her case. (Sorry, it's been awhile since we've discussed specifics so my memory may not be perfect about what the loading/unloading procedure is when it comes to the restraints.)

I know on our bus, we (the parents) have to put them in and take them out. And at the school, it is the the vice principal as she is in charge of the busing.

The name of the restraint would help - or a picture (without a kid in it for privacy). Is it a BESI? That's the only one I'm familiar with. That sounds like a challenge, but good on your for trying to find a solution. Lucky kids you transport.

Lots of our buses do have the BESI in it but mine got the hand me downs. They replaced the restraints in some buses with the BESI because they have mostly 2-4 year olds on. I have the ones with space ships on I'll attach a picture from the website at the end. The entire front picture part detaches. I try to get them to slide that over their heads and then to try and buckle the rest of the buckles and then I just tighten it. My 3 are very good at trying to get them on but getting them off is a struggle. Those buttons are hard for a little 5 year old to get undone.



I like the fact that these restraints come out so easily. I do 4 different school runs with so many different kids on the bus I don't like my big kids sitting on the restraints.

Has anyone ever worked with these sort of restraints? I will be getting the BESI by next year in September but for the remaining of this year I really want them to be nice and safe!!

Any suggestions with that kind of harness??


Does anybody know if they have expiry dates on 5 point harnesses? Also in a collision does an unoccupied harness need to be replaced? I realize that in the event of a collision we are required to cut all children out of harnesses that are occupied. This would mean all the straps were cut on those occupied but I never saw anything about unoccupied harnesses not being able to be used again.