Keeping the children and yourself safe at childcare
Childcare centres must make sure children’s health and safety is their number one priority. Everything from their play-areas to their nap-areas should be designed and assessed to minimise risk and harm.
Educators must follow special rules and procedures to keep children and themselves safe.
The first step is to identify hazards.
Hazards are objects or situations that could cause harm. Centres should have a safety checklist to help educators identify hazards.
Here are hazards to look for:
Physical Hazards
Floors, steps, ladders, objects, slippery surfaces, lifting, carrying, working at low levels or moving objects. Check for things that can cause falls or educators to move the wrong way and hurt themselves.
Mechanical or Electrical Hazards
Machinery, equipment, washers, kitchen appliances. Check for frayed cords or power points that don't have a cover as these can lead to people getting electrocuted or the appliance catching fire.
Chemical Hazards
Substances, acids, poisons and cleaning agents. These should be locked away and kept away from heat as they can cause fire, explosions and poisoning.
Biological Hazards
Bacteria, viruses, mould, mildew, insects and animals. It is important to keep the centre clean. Personal hygiene like washing hands is also very important.
Psychosocial Hazards
Workplace stress; Bullying and harassment causing high levels of stress for educators that can lead to the children's education being not as good as it could be.
How to identify hazards in childcare centres?
· Daily checks of indoor and outdoor areas
· Reporting of any risks or accidents that may occur
· Safety audits
· Food safety plan
· Infection control policy and procedures
After identifying the hazards the next step is to control and manage the risks. Some ways educators can help control these risks include:
Eliminate: remove the hazard
eg: Remove clutter, tripping hazards and equipment that can cause injury
Modify: replace with something less dangerous
eg: Replace toxic chemicals with organic ones, any sharp objects with soft ones
Isolate: remove from contact with people/children
eg: Lock away medication and other chemicals that they should not be in contact with
Plan: redesign equipment and use safety guards
eg: Childproof locks, guards for power points etc.
Control: policies, procedures, training and supervision
eg: Staff induction, WH&S training and food safety programs
Equipment: barriers between hazards and people
eg: use of gloves, hairnets, aprons, sunscreen and sun hats
TASK: Identify Hazards at Home. Pretend your cousin Cara is coming to stay at your house for a few months. Go around the house with your mum or coach and write down any hazards you can see. How could you control or manage the risk of that hazard hurting someone?
TASK 2: Make a poster. With your coach look up on the internet some signs warning people of hazards in child care. What hazards are they warning you about? Print out pictures of the hazard signs and stick them on a cardboard to make a poster and write an explanation of the hazard on the poster next to each picture.
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