CU1521 Support Children and Young People’s Health and Safety
4.1 Explain the policies and procedures of the setting or service in response to accidents, incidents, emergencies and illness.
The nursery has a legal responsibility to keep all children and staff safe and healthy at all times whilst in the setting. The policies explains that the nursery will provide appropriate treatment and First Aid if an accident or emergency situation occurs or if a child is taken ill. The nursery will seek medical treatment if necessary. The nursery is also committed to protect the children from the spread of illness and infectious diseases.
As a registered setting, it is an OFSTED requirement that all staff hold an up to date Paediatric First Aid Certificate.
If a child in the nursery has an accident it is the staffs main responsibility to know what to do in an emergency and to carry out the required actions calmly and confidently so that we meet one of the prime aims of first aid, which is to preserve life and to prevent the effects of the injury becoming worse than necessary.
The correct actions after an accident can save life, ie. People have died unnecessarily as a result of a blocked airway that needed little skill to open. A valid paediatric first aid certificate is a requirement for many child care jobs, here are a few things to do when faced with an injury –
• Keep calm
• Assess the situation
• Airway – is it open?
• Breathing – are they breathing?
• Circulation – is there a pulse?
• Bleeding – check
• Call for help.
All children will have an emergency contact number but it may not be the child’s parents, because of work commitments may make it difficult for them to be contacted, it may be that the grandparents or auntie that is the emergency contact instead but these are all things that need to be checked at the time. All parents are be asked to sign an accident and emergency treatment consent form before any child is allowed to be left in the