Safeguarding and Welfare Requirement: Safety and Suitability of Premises, Environment and Equipment

Providers must have a clear and well-understood policy, and procedures for assessing any risks to children’s safety, and review risk assessments regularly.

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BCC – The Ark Preschool and Daycare

 

SAFETY AND SUITABILITY OF PREMISES, ENVIRONMENT AND EQUIPMENT

 

8.4 Risk assessment 

 

Policy statement

 

Our setting believes that the health and safety of children is of paramount importance. We make our setting a safe and healthy place for children, parents, staff and volunteers by assessing and minimising the hazards and risks to enable the children to thrive in a healthy and safe environment.

 

This policy is based on the Pre-school Learning Alliance risk assessment processes, which follow five steps as follows:

• Identification of a risk: Where is it and what is it?

• Who is at risk: Childcare staff, children, parents, cooks, cleaners etc?

• Assessment as to whether the level of a risk is high, medium, low. This takes into account both the likelihood of it happening, as well as the possible impact if it did.

• Control measures to reduce/eliminate risk: What will you need to do, or ensure others will do, in order to reduce that risk?

• Monitoring and review: How do you know if what you have said is working, or is thorough enough? If it is not working, it will need to be amended, or maybe there is a better solution.

 

Procedures

• Our risk assessment process covers adults and children and includes:

• determining where it is helpful to make some written risk assessments in relation to specific issues, to inform staff practice, and to demonstrate how we are managing risks if asked by parents and/or carers and inspectors;

• checking for and noting hazards and risks indoors and outside, in relation to our premises and activities;

• assessing the level of risk and who might be affected;

• deciding which areas need attention; and

• Developing an action plan that specifies the action required, the time-scales for action, the person responsible for the action and any funding required.

• Where more than five staff and volunteers are employed, the risk assessment is written and is reviewed regularly.

• We maintain lists of health and safety issues, which are checked daily before the session begins, as well as those that are checked on a weekly and termly basis when a full risk assessment is carried out.

 

Legal framework

 

• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (1999)

 

Further guidance

 

• Five Steps to Risk Assessment (HSE 2011)

• Risk assessment A brief guide to controlling risks in the workplace HSE (2014)

• Children’s Play and Leisure – Promoting A Balanced Approach HSE (2012) 

 

Other useful Pre-school Learning Alliance publications

 

• Managing Risk (2009)

• Dynamic Risk Management in the Early Years (2017)

 

This policy was adopted at a meeting of BCC – The Ark Preschool & Daycare

Held on April 2024

Date to be reviewed March 2025

 

Signed on behalf of the provider

Name of signatory Arzu Subasi

Role of signatory (e.g. chair, director or owner) Manager