Health and Safety Policy

Health and Safety Policy

Ultimately the employer is accountable for health and safety and therefore cannot delegate health and safety duties. It can require staff to cooperate with them and to follow what they are told, but it cannot delegate a duty. There is no problem asking staff to do something e.g. a risk assessment, which is part of the policy, but it remains the employer’s duty to ensure it is done and that it is suitable and sufficient. It would not be a defence to a nursery if a member of staff did not undertake, for example, a risk assessment. The employer must therefore have a system in place to ensure such things are done.

At Rabbit Patch Day Nursery we provide and maintain safe and healthy working conditions, equipment and systems of work for all our employees and a safe early learning environment in which the children learn and are cared for. To develop and promote a strong health and safety culture within the nursery for the benefit of all staff, children, parents and any visitors, we provide information, training and supervision. 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 arrangement which we will make to implement our health and safety procedures are set out within this policy and we make sufficient resources available to provide a safe environment.

Legal Framework

We follow all relevant legislation and associated guidance relating to health and safety within the nursery including:

The requirements of the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundations Stage (September 2021)
The regulations of the Health and Safety at Work act 1974 and any other relevant legislation such as controls of substances hazardous to health regulation (COSHH)
Any guidance provided by Public Health England, the local health protection unit, the local authority environmental health department, Fire authority or the Health and Safety Executive.

Aims and objectives

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:

Establish and maintain a safe and healthy environment throughout the nursery including outdoor spaces.
Establish and maintain safe working practices amongst staff and children.
Make arrangements for ensuring safety and the minimising of risks to health in connection with the use, handling, storage

and transport of hazardous articles and substances.

Ensure the provision of sufficient information, instruction and supervision to enable all people working in or using the nursery to avoid hazards and contribute positively to their own health and safety and to ensure that staff have access to regular health and safety training.
Maintain a healthy and safe nursery with safe entry and exit routes.
Formulate effective procedures for use in case of fire and other emergencies and for evacuating the nursery premises.
Practice this procedure on a regular basis to enable the safe and speedy evacuation of everyone in the building.
Maintain a safe working environment for pregnant workers or for workers who have recently given birth, including undertaking appropriate risk assessments.
Maintain a safe environment for those with special educational needs and disabilities and ensure all area of the nursery are accessible (wherever practicable)
Provide a safe environment for students or trainees to learn in.
Encourage all staff, visitors and parents to report unsafe working practices or areas to ensure immediate response by the management.

We believe that the risks in our nursery environment is low but to maintain the maximum protection for children, staff, parents and visitors we must:

Ensure al entrances and exits from the building, including fire exits are clearly identifiable, free from obstruction and easily opened from the inside.
Regularly check the premises room by room for structural defects, worn fixtures and fittings or electrical equipment and take the necessary remedial action.
Ensure that all staff, visitors, parents and children are aware of the fire procedures and regular fire drills are carried out.
Has the appropriate fire detection and control equipment which is checked regularly to make sure it is in working order.
Ensures that all members of staff are aware of the procedures to follow in case of accidents to staff, visitors or children.
Ensure that all members of staff take all reasonable action to control the spread of infectious diseases and wear protective gloves and clothing where appropriate.
Prohibits smoking anywhere on the nursery premises except the 1 designated area by the staff room.
Prohibits any contractor from working on the premises without prior discussion with the officer in charge.
Encourages children to manage risks safely and prohibits running inside the premises unless in designated areas.
Risk assess all electrical sockets and take appropriate measures to reduce the risks where necessary and ensure no trailing wires are left around the nursery.
Ensures all cleaning materials are placed out of the reach of children and kept in their original containers.
Ensures staff wear protective clothing when cooking or serving foods.
Prohibits certain foods that may relate to children’s allergies e.g no nuts allowed into our nursery.
Follows the EU Food information for Food Consumers Regulations (EU FIC) by identifying the 14 allergens listed by EU law that we use as ingredients in any of the dishes we provide to children and ensure that all parents are informed.
Follows the allergies and allergic reactions procedure for children who have allergies or have a reaction at nursery.
Ensure risk assessments are undertaken on the storage and preparation of food produce within the nursery.
Familiarises all staff and visitors with the position of the first aid boxes and ensure all know who the appointed first aiders are.
Provides appropriately stocked first aid boxes and check their contents regularly.
Ensure children are supervised at all times.
Take all reasonable steps to prevent unauthorised persons entering the premises and have an agreed procedure for checking the identity of visitors
Ensures no student or volunteer is left unsupervised at any time.
Ensures staff paediatric first aid certificates or a list of staff who hold a current PFA certificate are locked away in a single file in the cabinet and made available to appropriate professionals.

Responsibilities

The designated Health and Safety officer: Chevelle White

Overall and final responsibility for this policy being carried out at Rabbit Patch Day Nursery: Douglas Lyons and Alexandra Tabor

The nursery manager/ deputy manager will be responsible in their absence: Chevelle White (M) and Benjamin Joseph (DM)

All employees have the responsibility to cooperate with senior members of staff and the management team to achieve a healthy and safe environment and to take reasonable care of themselves and others. Neglect of health and safety regulations/ duties will be regarded as a disciplinary matter (see separate policy on disciplinary procedures).

Whenever a member of staff notices a health or safety issue or problem which they are not able to rectify, they must immediately report it to the appropriate person named above. Parents and visitors are requested to report any concerns they may have to the senior member of staff in the area.

Daily contact and monthly staff meetings provide consultation between the management team and employees to discuss any health and safety matters that need attending to.

Person responsible for monitoring staff training: Chevelle White and Benjamin Joseph

Health and safety is covered in all induction training for new members of staff starting with us here at Rabbit Patch Day Nursery.

Training Table

Area	Training Required	Who	How Often
Paediatric first aid including administering medicine	Tigerlily Training	All staff	Every 3 Years
Dealing with Blood	Covered in P.F.A	All Staff	Every 3 years
Safeguarding/ Child Protection	High Speed Training	All Staff	Every 2 years
Care of babies	Online course (Noodle Now)	All staff working with children under 2 years	Annually
Risk Assessments	In house training	All Staff	Ongoing training
Fire Safety Training including fire extinguisher training	Fire risk UK	All Staff	Every 2 years
Food Hygiene and allergy awareness	Online Course (Noodle Now) and in house	All Staff	Every 2 years
Manual Handling	Online Course (Noodle Now)	All Staff	Annually
Stress awareness and management	Health Assured app and Online course (Noodle Now)	All Staff	Annually and ongoing if needed
Nappy Changing	In house training	All Staff	Induction and ongoing
SENCO	External course	SENCO	Every 2 years and ongoing
Supervisions and Appraisal	In House Training	All Management Team	Induction and ongoing reviews

Health and Safety Arrangements

All staff are responsible for general health and safety in the nursery
Risk assessments will be conducted on all areas of the nursery, including rooms, activities, outdoor areas (including woodland), resources, cleaning equipment and lone working.
All risk assessments are reviewed either annually or when arrangements change.
All equipment, rooms and outdoor areas are checked thoroughly by staff before children access them or the area. These checks are recorded and signed off by all staff responsible. Unsafe areas are made safe where possible or the area is not used to promote the safety of children. In these cases the manager will be notified immediately.
We provide appropriate facilities for all children, staff, parents and visitors to receive a warm welcome and provide for their basic care needs, e.g. easy access toilet area and fresh drinking water.
We adhere to the Control Of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) to ensure all staff, children, parents and visitors are safe in relation to any chemicals we may use on the premises.
We identify and assess and water sources at risk of legionella, and manage these risks including avoiding stagnant water.
All staff and students receive appropriate training in all areas of Health and Safety which includes risk assessments, manual handling, fire safety and emergency evacuation procedures.
We have a clear accident and first aid policy to follow in case of any injury happening on the nursery premises.
We review accident and incidents records to identify any patterns/ hazardous areas
All Health and Safety matters are reviewed informally on an ongoing basis and formally when their has been a change that triggers the need for review. Updates are then informed to the people who need to know the information.
This policy is kept up to date and reviewed annually or when the nursery requires it to be up dated.