Summary:

Effective: August 17, 2026

Last Updated: October 2026

On August 17, 2026, amendments to two Massachusetts regulations took effect: 603 CMR 46.00 (Prevention of Physical Restraint and Requirements If Used) and 603 CMR 18.00 (Program and Safety Standards for Approved Public or Private Day and Residential Special Education School Programs). The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education adopted the amendments in June 2025. They set standards for time-out spaces, allow seclusion only as an emergency last resort under strict conditions, add new review and reporting requirements, and require approved special education schools to follow the updated restraint regulation during the school day. Below is a summary of the key requirements and how Safety-Care can help schools meet them.

How Safety-Care aligns: School districts throughout the United States and Canada rely on QBS and Safety-Care training to give staff the skills they need to keep learning environments safe and healthy. Safety-Care provides a comprehensive, supportive approach to incident prevention, de-escalation, and management. Staff learn practical strategies grounded in evidence-based practices consistent with PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) and ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis).

Safety-Care can help schools meet the requirements of 603 CMR 46.00 and 603 CMR 18.00 in the following ways:

Restraint as a last resort (603 CMR 46.03). Massachusetts places strict limits on restraint and seclusion in public education programs:

(1)(a) Mechanical restraint, medication restraint, and seclusion shall be prohibited in public education programs.
(1)(c) Physical restraint, including prone restraint where permitted, shall be considered an emergency procedure of last resort and shall be prohibited in public education programs except when a student’s behavior poses a threat of assault, or imminent, serious, physical harm to self or others and the student is not responsive to directives or other lawful and less intrusive behavior interventions, or such interventions are deemed to be inappropriate under the circumstances.

How Safety-Care aligns: Safety-Care’s focus is prevention and de-escalation, with physical safety procedures reserved for emergencies. Our approach is grounded in Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), which prevents and manages challenging behavior. Safety-Care certified staff learn Help, Prompt, and Wait strategies as early interventions that de-escalate potential crises before any physical management is needed.

Staff training (603 CMR 46.04). Every program must train all staff each year, and designated staff must complete in-depth training in restraint:

(2) Each principal or director shall determine a time and method to provide all program staff with training regarding the program’s restraint prevention and behavior support policy and requirements when restraint is used. Such training shall occur within the first month of each school year and, for employees hired after the school year begins, within a month of their employment.
(3) [...] Such staff shall participate in in-depth training in the use of physical restraint. The Department recommends that such training be competency-based and be at least sixteen (16) hours in length with at least one refresher training occurring annually thereafter.
(4) In-depth training in the proper administration of physical restraint shall include, but not be limited to: (a) Appropriate procedures for preventing the use of physical restraint, including the de-escalation of problematic behavior, relationship building and the use of alternatives to restraint; [...] (e) Demonstration by participants of proficiency in administering physical restraint.

How Safety-Care aligns: Safety-Care uses a Train the Trainer model, so each district develops its own certified trainers. Those trainers can deliver the required all-staff training in the first month of school and train new hires as they join. Safety-Care training is competency-based: participants build fluency through an errorless teaching methodology and must demonstrate competency to certify. Training covers prevention, de-escalation, risk assessment, and safe physical management. Our Master Trainers can have up to ten (10) staff ready to train in as little as three days.

Time-out and emergency seclusion (603 CMR 46.07). Time-out spaces must meet new safety standards, and seclusion is prohibited except as an emergency last resort for an individual student when a long list of conditions is met. Those conditions include:

(2)(g) Any individual using it has received training about alternative behavior interventions and management techniques;
(2)(i) At all times during the emergency, a staff member is continuously and actively monitoring and observing the student and is immediately available to the student;
(2)(k) The staff member is continuing to use de-escalation and calming strategies with the student unless it is unsafe or counterproductive for the purposes of calming the student;

How Safety-Care aligns: Alternative behavior interventions and de-escalation are the core of Safety-Care. Staff learn to recognize early signs of escalation, respond with the least intrusive effective strategy, and keep using calming strategies throughout an incident. Training is trauma-informed and gives every staff member the same response system, so the whole team responds consistently.

Review, reporting, and reduction (603 CMR 46.07(3)). Any program that uses emergency seclusion must adopt and follow procedures for:

(d) conducting a weekly review of the data to identify students with whom such an emergency intervention has been used multiple times during the week [...];
(e) conducting a monthly review of school-wide data relating to use of such an emergency intervention [...];
(f) examining and adopting alternatives and strategies for reducing and eliminating its use no later than 3 years from the date of effectiveness [...]; and
(g) reporting such use to the Department in a manner, form, and with frequency specified by the Department.

How Safety-Care aligns: Safety-Care requires all trainees to follow state and agency reporting and debriefing requirements, and the Safety-Care Trainer Connect program can be used to record incidents. Safety-Care’s prevention tools, including antecedent analysis, proactive environmental management, and reinforcement procedures, give schools concrete alternatives to build into their plans to reduce and eliminate seclusion.

Approved special education schools (603 CMR 18.00). The 603 CMR 18.00 amendments require approved special education day programs, including the day component of residential programs, to follow the updated 603 CMR 46.00 and align their documentation with it. Under 603 CMR 18.05(5)(h):

Residential educational programs approved under 603 CMR 28.09 shall comply with the requirements contained in 102 CMR 3.00 except for the school day, during which the requirements of 603 CMR 46.00 shall apply for students enrolled in such programs.

How Safety-Care aligns: Safety-Care applies across a wide range of settings, including day schools and residential programs. An approved special education school can train teachers, aides, and residential staff on one system, so students experience the same procedures and language during the school day and after it.