SUPPORT CHILD AND YOUNG P HEALTH AND SAFETY

The are many factors to take into account when planning healthy and safe indoor and outdoor environments and services.The safety and welbeing of children should be of paramount importance to all practitioners. When providing environments for children you must comply with the laws and regulations relevant to your home country[1].

---

Read more
Settings have to comply with these laws and regulations. Among the main regulations and requirements that settings must meet are:

·         Health and safety at work Act 1974 and 1992

·         Health and safety (First Aid) Regulation 1981

·         Children Bill 2004

·         Children Act 1989

·         Every child matters.

Laws and regulations tell services what they must do and what standard they must meet. They don’t tell them how to do it. So it is up to the services to make sure that those regulations are followed and standards met.

When planning a healthy and safe indoor and outdoor environments and services the following factors have to be taken into account:

a)      Security.

Settings must have suitable security arrangements in the interests if the children’s safety. There should be clear procedures for children’s arrival at the setting, their departure from the setting and their security when on outings. Visitors to be registered onsite and information exchange for the protection of the visitors and others. Security arrangements are in place and visitors are supervised or monitored as appropriate[2].

b)      Supervision

It is also to take into consideration the importance of requirement of supervising the children and young people. So it important to make sure that the staffs to child ratio is sufficiently high to make the supervision that is necessary. Staff should be with acceptable qualification as specified by the Children Workforce Development Council[3].

c)       Work equipment

Training of staff to handle lifting and carrying equipment. Staff to be taught manual handling techniques to avoid injury. Manual handling legal requirements to be followed. The regulations require that manual handling operations which present a risk of injury are avoided and that where this is not possible, the risks are assessed and controlled. Information and training to be provided to staff[4].

Also one should take into consideration how safety of work equipment is to be adequately controlled, with risks to users and others who may be affected reduced as far as is reasonably practical[5].

d)      Risk assessments

There should be regular risk assessments to be carried out in the environments to make it a safer place for children. Regular assessments are necessary for there is no activity which can be completely safe. There is need to regular assess premises, both indoors and outdoors and also activities following these steps:

·         Identify hazards

·         Decide on the level of risk posed by the hazards, low medium or high

·         Evaluate the risks. Consider the benefits of activities against the potential for harm. Finally decide if the risk can be taken

·         If measures are to be taken to minimise or remove the risk, they should be carried out at this stage

·         Record the assessment

·         Review the risk assessment at a later date[6]

e)      Policies and procedures

The planning of outdoor and indoor environments and services should take into consideration of drawing up of policies and procedures. Appropriate policies and procedures should be in place to help ensure the quality treatment and services in accordance with statutory regulations and National minimum standards. Staff to follow these to ensure best practice[7].

f)       Use of space

The way a room is organised .This will depend on many factors including what is being used for, the ages of the children and the type of room. There are several basic principles that need to be thought about when planning a room. These include:

·         Making sure that all children can access everything; think about children with restricted mobility and limited vision

·         Making sure that doors and fire exits are unobstructed

·         Allowing sufficient space around the tables for children to move around safely[8].

g)      Stages of child development

Consider stages of child development. This will help in carrying out risk assessment and planning security arrangements. Consider how aware children are of danger at various ages, their skill levels and the things they are likely to do[9].

h)      Outdoor planning

In planning outdoor, the following should be taken into account:

·         Equipment to be placed outside should be bought new to be sure that they conform to the latest safety regulations. Second hand or older equipment needs to be carefully checked as some items can become less effective through wear and tear.

·         Outdoor areas should be fenced to prevent children from wondering away and also to make sure some strangers or animals do not have access

©2014 All rights Reserved

[1] M. Walker (2009),Children’s Care, Learning and Development,2^nd edition Nelson Thornes p.30
[2] Priory Group (2011) Health and safety policy (Visitors) 46 v4 p.1

[3] Walker (2009) p.35

[4] Priory Group Manual handling policy p.3

[5] Priory Group(2010) Health and safety policy 49 ,work equipment safety vol.4 p1

[6] Walker (2009)p.34

[7] Priory Group (2012) Developing policy OP01 P.1

[8] Walker (2009) p.35

[9] Walker (2009) p.35