Child Care

Assessment task-CYP Core 3.4 Support children and Young people’s health and safety

Task 1
There are many regulations, laws and guidelines dealing with health and safety. The most relevant laws are relating to health and safeties in the child care setting are set out below:
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
Employers have a duty to: -make your workplace as safe as they are able -display a Health and Safety Law poster or supply employees with a leaflet with the same information (available from the Health and Safety Executive) -decide how to manage health and safety; if the business has five or more employees, this must appear on a written Health and Safety Policy. Policies of Fairfield Montessori School last updated on the 20.05.2009:
-Admission policy
-Anti-bullying policy
-Behaviour management
-Be healthy
-Child protection policy
-Complaints policy
-Curriculum planning policy
-Duty of care policy
-Emergency procedure policy re-closure of nursery
-Equality and Diversity in employment policy
-Equal opportunities policy
-Equality of opportunities
-Fees policy
-Fire risk assessment
-Fire evacuation procedures policy
-Food and drink policy
-Grievance procedure
-Health and Safety policy
-Lost children policy
-Non-collection of children policy
-Risk assessment policy
-Special Educational Needs policy statement
-Stay safe policy statement
-Intimate care policy It’s important to mention that when we plan healthy and safe indoor and outdoor activities we take into consideration different factors: - the individual needs, age and abilities of the children and young people - the duty of care - desired outcomes for the children and young people - lines of responsibility and accountability For example when we take the older children for a walk, we teach them how to walk in line, make sure they hold hands and they listen to us. One of the parents was concerned that her child will not listen and not hold hands and therefore we had to accommodate her wish and the child’s needs. We took him out in his pushchair and everybody was happy.

•Fairfield Montessori School believes that the health and safety of children is of paramount importance. We make our nursery a safe and healthy place for children, parents and staff. •We aim to make children, parents and staff aware of health and safety issues and to minimise the hazards and risks to enable children to thrive in a healthy and safe environment. Health and Safety is monitored and maintained by our people. •Members responsible for Health and Safety are Jon Roberts and Kate Ware-Dawn and Yasmin are particularly responsible for the area of food and hygiene. •We display the necessary health and safety poster. •Health and Safety issues are checked daily before each session begins, weekly and each term when a full risk assessment is carried out. •Induction for staff includes a clear explanation of Health and Safety issues-all adults able to adhere to our policy and understand their shared responsibility for health and safety. •Covers matters of employee well-being, including safe lifting and the storage of potentially dangerous substances. •Records are kept of these induction training sessions and new staff are asked to sign the records to confirm that they have taken part. •Health and Safety issues are explained to the parents of new children so that they understand the part they play in the daily life of the nursery. Health and Safety (First Aid) regulations 1981 •Employers should make sure that at least one person is always present who has an up-to-date first aid qualification and is appointed first-aider. At Fairfield Montessori there is at least one member of staff with a current first aid training certificate (relevant to infants and young children) is on the premises at any one time. •The first aid kits complies with the Health and Safety (First Aid)regulations 1981and there are 4 on the premises at Montessori. •Is regularly checked by a designated member of staff and re-stocked as necessary; •Is easily accessible to adults.
At the time of admission the Nursery parent’s written permission for emergency medical advice is sought. Parents sign and date their written approval.

TASK 2
Risk assessment is a method of preventing accidents and ill health by helping people to think about what could go wrong and devising ways to prevent problems. We must : •Record your findings •Look for the Hazards. Some areas and activities pose particular hazards. All staff will be aware of these. •Decide who might be harmed and how •Weigh up the risk-a risk is the likelihood that a hazard will cause harm •Decide whether existing precautions are sufficient •If they are not, decide what further precautions are needed to reduce risk •Children playing with or near water will be continuously supervised •There will be safe surfaces beneath and around all climbing equipment and such activities will be appropriately supervised. •All cooking activities involving the use of heat will be continuously supervised. Children will not be allowed in the kitchen for any other purpose •Access to dangerous areas such as stairways will be physically restricted and closely supervised •Systems will be in place to ensure that no child can leave the premises unattended. Babies are vulnerable to accidents because they have no awareness of danger and cannot control their environment. They are totally dependent on their parents or carers to make their world safe. Children need a safe environment so that they can explore and learn to grow. As they develop, older children need to learn how to tackle everyday dangers so that they can become safe adults. Children under 5 years of age tend to be absorbed in their play and focus on the ‘here and now’. However, young children do tend to avoid any hazard that has been identified for them. It sis important that safety issues are talked about at the setting and that learning opportunities are structured into the everyday curriculum. At Montessori we use unplanned opportunities that arise naturally, such an accident or a near miss that has happened to someone the children know. If children-even very young children-understand why the rules have been made, they will be more likely to abide to them.

At Montessori, in order to keep a high level of security we make sure that: •Times of children’s arrivals are recorded by the session supervisor. If the child leaves the sessions early with their parent, this is recorded immediately. •Children are only allowed to leave premises with adults who are authorised by the child’s parents to collect their child. •Our system prevents unauthorised access to our premises. •Windows above the ground floor are secured so that children cannot climb through them. •Doors –we take precautions to prevent children’s fingers from being trapped in doors. •Floors are checked daily to ensure they are clean and not uneven or damaged. •All surfaces are clean and non-porous.

COSHH Regulations 1994 •Cleaning materials and other dangerous materials including medicines and cleaning materials are stored out of children’s reach

•Electrical/gas equipment conforms to safety requirements and is checked regularly. •Boiler/electric meter cupboard is not accessible to the children. •Fires, heaters, electric sockets, wires, leads are properly guarded and the children are taught not to touch them. •Temperature of water is controlled to prevent scalds. •Lighting and ventilation is adequate in all areas including storage areas. •Outdoor area is checked each day before the children have access to it. •Sun policy-we ask parents to apply cream before their child attends nursery. Sun hats must be provided and named. The needs of children and their parents are at the hearts of child protection. We need to make sure that the parents and children views are heard in the planning and delivery of services that reflect the real needs of families and that’s why we need to consider taking a balanced approach to risk management by: •Taking into account child or young person’s age, needs and abilities; •Avoiding excessive risk taking; •Not being excessively risk averse; •Recognising the importance of risk and challenge to a child or young person’s development. Continuous risk assessment are carried out throughout the day in compliance with COSHH and CLEAPSS regulations to ensure that they are no hazards left unveiled and in reach of the children, however a risk assessment must be performed before the start of any school session as well as during and after. Any hazards such as chemicals, medication, broken toys or obstructions are continually moved. It is our role to carry out the risk assessment, indentify the hazards(for example: you find a scissors left out on the table) you remove the hazard where possible and review the changes, is it better or worse? Is now a safe place for the child to play and learn in? Children need and want to take risks when they play. We aim to respond to these needs and wishes by offering children stimulating, challenging environments for exploring and developing their abilities. In doing this we aim to manage the level of risk so that children are not exposed unacceptable levels of risk that could result in death or serious injury. BY involving children and young
TASK 3 In the UK in 2008, 239 children, aged under 15 died as the result of injury or poisoning. Accidental injury is one of the biggest single cause of death in the UK for children over the age of one. More children die each year as the result of accidents than from illnesses such as leukaemia or meningitis. Type of accidents children have at home: •Falls
The largest numbers of non-fatal injuries happen when children fall. In 2002 390.000 children aged under 15 were taken to hospital after a fall at home. Most falls are either slips or trips on the same level. •Burns and scalds
In 2002 almost 37.000 children aged under 15 were taken to hospital after an accident in the home resulting in a burn or scald. Scalds happen more often than burns and the most frequent cause of injuries are hot drinks.
House fires cause the most accidental deaths of children in the home. Eighteen children aged under 11 years died in house fires in 2005.Many of these deaths would have been caused by smoke inhalation.

At Montessori we have our Accident Book which is kept safely and accessibly. All staff know where it is kept and how to complete it and is reviewed at least half each term to identify any potential or actual hazards. •OFSTED is notified of any injury requiring treatment by a GP or hospital, or the death of a child or adult. •Any injury requiring General Practitioner or hospital treatment to a child, parent or visitor is reported to the local office of the Health and Safety Executive. • We meet our legal requirements for the safety of our employees by complying with RIDDOR (the reporting of injury, disease and dangerous occurrences regulation).We report to the local office of the Health and Safety Executive. INCIDENT PROCEDURE
In the event of an incident happening at school the following procedures must be followed: •Assess situation •If medical attention is needed then call Dr. or 999 if emergency. •Contact parents and inform of the situation. •When appropriate complete incident form, one for files, and one for parents to be dated and signed. •Write down times of event in detail. •Contact OFSTED-tel . [phone] Registration No.142806 Fairfield Montessori School 76 Benedict Street Glastonbury Somerset BA6 9EY 01458 834294 Contact RIDDOR-tel [phone] •Set up folder for each individual incident •Follow up later with a phone call to parents.

Daniela Partridge