early years care and education level 2
Health and Safety
Example Risk Assessment for Child Care setting such as a nursery or child minder
Setting the scene
The manager carried out the risk assessment in this nursery, which is located on a suburban residential estate. It caters for 20 children aging from 6 months to 11 years of age. The manager is a full-time member of staff, as is the deputy manager who provides cover for the manager. Both the manager and the assistant manager are appointed persons for first aid.
There are ten other staff members, a mixture of part and full time staff and some students on work placement.
Most staff are carers however there is also a cook and a part-time caretaker.
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How was the risk assessment done?
The manager followed the guidance in Five steps to risk assessment (www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg163.pdf).
1. To identify the hazards, the manager:
•
looked at the
Council’s
website, www.preston.gov.uk/childcare to learn where hazards can occur, including the pages for child care
•
walked around the nursery and all other areas, noting things that might pose a risk and taking into consideration what they’d learnt from the websites. They also took occasional activities, such as changing displays or light bulbs, into account;
•
talked to members of staff to listen to their concerns and opinions about health and safety issues in the nursery; and • looked at the accident book, to understand what previous problems had occurred..
2. The manager then wrote down who could be harmed by the hazards and how.
3. For each hazard, the manager wrote down what controls, if any, were in place to manage these hazards. Where they didn’t consider existing controls good enough, the manager wrote down what else needed to be done to control the risk.
4. The manager discussed the findings with staff and pinned a copy of the risk assessment up in the staff room. They put the risk assessment into practice, making sure that each
Example Risk Assessment for Child Care setting such as a nursery or child minder
Setting the scene
The manager carried out the risk assessment in this nursery, which is located on a suburban residential estate. It caters for 20 children aging from 6 months to 11 years of age. The manager is a full-time member of staff, as is the deputy manager who provides cover for the manager. Both the manager and the assistant manager are appointed persons for first aid.
There are ten other staff members, a mixture of part and full time staff and some students on work placement.
Most staff are carers however there is also a cook and a part-time caretaker.
T
T
T
T
How was the risk assessment done?
The manager followed the guidance in Five steps to risk assessment (www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg163.pdf).
1. To identify the hazards, the manager:
•
looked at the
Council’s
website, www.preston.gov.uk/childcare to learn where hazards can occur, including the pages for child care
•
walked around the nursery and all other areas, noting things that might pose a risk and taking into consideration what they’d learnt from the websites. They also took occasional activities, such as changing displays or light bulbs, into account;
•
talked to members of staff to listen to their concerns and opinions about health and safety issues in the nursery; and • looked at the accident book, to understand what previous problems had occurred..
2. The manager then wrote down who could be harmed by the hazards and how.
3. For each hazard, the manager wrote down what controls, if any, were in place to manage these hazards. Where they didn’t consider existing controls good enough, the manager wrote down what else needed to be done to control the risk.
4. The manager discussed the findings with staff and pinned a copy of the risk assessment up in the staff room. They put the risk assessment into practice, making sure that each