Our policy is to provide and maintain safe and healthy working conditions, equipment and systems of work for all our employees, and to provide such information, training and supervision as they need for this purpose. We wish to develop and promote a strong health and safety culture within the nursery for the benefit of all staff, children and parents. We also accept our responsibility for the health and safety of other people who may be affected by our activities.
The allocation of duties for safety matters and the particular arrangements which we will make to implement the policy are set out within this policy and sufficient resources will be made available to honour our commitment. The policy will be kept up to date and will be revised annually, or as and when necessary.
The aim of this policy statement is to ensure that all reasonably practical steps are taken to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all persons using the premises. To achieve this we will actively work towards the following objectives:
All employees have the responsibility to co-operate with senior staff and the manager to achieve a healthy and safe workplace and to take reasonable care of themselves and others. Neglect of health and safety regulations will be regarded as a disciplinary matter. Whenever a member of staff notices a health or safety problem, which they are not able to put right, they must immediately report to the appropriate person.
Daily contact, monthly staff/planning meetings and health and safety meetings provide consultation between management and employees.
Other health and safety areas are managed by:
All accidents must be reported immediately to the management. Accident(s) reports must be written correctly, signed by the witness, management, given to parents, and copied for the child’s file. Close supervision of children is the best anecdote to accidents. Use risk management to keep the environment safe and hazard free. Riverwood Nursery strives to provide the best in equipment, that is kept maintained, and in overall good working conditions, so all children will be safe in the classroom, outdoors, or playground areas. Safety is a joint effort of all staff and employees requiring all of us to become risk managers.
Location of accident files are in the children’s personal files in the filing cabinet.
The person responsible for reporting accidents, incidents or near misses is the member of staff who witnesses the incident. They must record it in the Incident Form and report it to the manager. This should be done as soon as the accident is dealt with, while the details are still clearly remembered. The parents must be shown the Incident Report and asked to sign it as soon as they collect their child. The nursery manager must report serious accidents to the registered person for investigation for further action to be taken.
Where medical attention is required the nursery manager should notify the parent as soon as possible whilst caring for the child appropriately.
Good Hygiene & Sanitation measures are therefore essential to protect both children and staff. This can only be achieved through education and awareness.
Children must be encouraged to wash their hands after every visit to the toilet and always prior to eating. Children should be supervised when washing their hands to ensure hands are thoroughly cleaned. Nursery staff also needs to be aware that contaminated hands are a potential source of spread of infection and in the importance of good hand hygiene procedures. It is important that regular education regarding hand hygiene is given to and available for children to follow, this may be in the form of posters on walls and especially above sinks.
Alcohol hand rubs or gels offer a practical and acceptable alternative to hand washing in most situations, as long as hands are not visibly dirty or have undertaken a dirty procedure e.g. nappy changing. Alcohol is useful for rapid hand decontamination between interaction with children, particularly where access to adequate hand washing facilities may be lacking e.g. in the play rooms. The buildup of emollients (used in the alcohol to moisturize and protect hands), however, means that hands need to be washed with soap and water after 2-3 applications of alcohol hand rub. It is important to note that alcohol is not a cleansing agent, to be used in place of hand washing, and thus visible dirt must be removed with soap and water. Alcohol does not have any lasting action and has limited activity against bacterial spores.
The nursery is committed to providing a safe, happy and healthy environment for children to play, grow and learn. Cleanliness is a vital step to ensure this. The nursery will be cleaned every evening and regular checks will be made in the bathrooms – these will be cleaned twice per day. The nappy changing facility will be cleaned after every use. Any mess caused throughout the day will be cleaned up as necessary to ensure that a hygienic environment is provided for the children in our care.
At Riverwood Nursery we like to promote healthy eating. We ask for parents to assist us in our efforts and request that they pack healthy snacks and lunches for their Children and no sweets, chocolates, crisps or cakes.
Refrigerated goods are kept in a fridge until ready to be served. All staff are required to wash their hands and wear disposable gloves prior to serving the students their food. Bibs are provided for those who require them. Items which are to be heated are done so in a microwave oven.
All food is served in the kitchen and on a plate. Children are encouraged to self-feed with the assistance of the Staff should it be required.
Certain foods i.e grapes should be cut in half prior to serving. Those foods which are discouraged from the Nursery will not be served.
The nursery is committed to providing a workplace, which supports and encourages a healthy staff team through sharing information, training and family friendly issues
To make children well protected, the parents and staff must be aware of security and safety issues and to minimize the hazards and risks to enable the children to thrive in a secure and safe environment.
To ensure that staff are aware that every child in attendance at Riverwood Nursery and must be supervised by a staff at all times.
All children who attend school, upon arrival or departure to school, must be marked in or out on the daily attendance, in addition to the recording of daily arrival and departure at the school.
Daily attendance sheets must also record all children that are absent, on vacation, or absent due to illness.
Attendance books are to be kept with each group of children at all times.
When beginning a shift staff must confirm verbally with the supervising staff on duty, the number of children in attendance and check this against the attendance clipboard.
This same procedure must be completed when leaving or returning from breaks, lunches, etc.
Head counts of children are to be completed on a frequent basis throughout the day, minimally 2 to 3 times per hour. Head counts are to be checked against the attendance book.
Head counts must be completed before and after a transition with a group of children from one activity area to another (e.g. Playroom to Playground).
In addition to headcount, when a group of children are in transition from one activity area to another, staff must retain close visual supervision of the children at all times during the transition (e.g. Children should not run ahead of the group). All completed attendance sheets must be kept on file.