BTEC Childcare Unit 2: Positive Environments

D1

Legislation, policies and procedures in a childcare setting are put in place to ensure the safety of all childcare workers, children, visitors and contractors in order to establish and maintain a healthy, safe and secure environment.

Legislation is put in place to inform and show all employers and employees what to do in the event of a casualty or dangerous occurrence and if it does happen, how to report and deal with it in the correct manner. The legislation also gives guidance as to how to prevent dangers occurring to anyone in the childcare setting. This keeps all members of staff, children, visitors and contractors safe and secure. The legislation sets a standard in all childcare settings so all dangerous occurrences will be dealt legally in the same way anywhere in the country.

Policies and Procedures are set in place in all settings to give all staff guidance as to what the rules are and what to do to implement those rules, as well as what they must do in any events to protect themselves as well as children in their care.

RIDDOR is important in childcare settings as in the event of an accident; the accident can be recorded and be used as evidence. It also keeps adults who are in contact with the child in the know about the accident that has happened. This leaves the childcare setting legally protected as for example, if a child has cut themselves and it is not reported and the cut becomes infected, the carer of the child can put the blame onto the childcare setting for not reporting the accident to the child’s carer.

COSHH is important in childcare settings as that in the event that a child may have a reaction to medicine, there is legal evidence written about who administered the medicine, how much and when.

HASAWA is important to childcare settings as that every adult is responsible in the setting for children as well as themselves. For example, if an incident occurs then it must be correctly reported to the appropriate authority and then it should be dealt with and so everyone in the childcare setting is safe and secure.

There must be a fire drill at least every term. This is to ensure that all fire bells and alarms are correctly working and to see whether the adults and pupils at the setting know what to do in the event of a fire. It is the adult’s responsibility to know the routes out of the school to the playground and know what to do in a fire drill. Registers are taken for all pupils, visitors and members of staff in order to keep everyone safe as the register will have documented who is in the setting at the time. If there is a fire in the setting and a person becomes missing, there can then be checks to see if there is anyone left behind in the building.

First aid regulations keep the setting legally safe because legally there must be at least one full time member of staff who can perform first aid in the setting. In some settings, all childcare workers whether it is a teacher, assistant or a child minder, will have a valid first aid certificate. There is usually a person who accidents are reported to and is then logged by this person.

There are legal documents approved by the government such as child protection and every child matters, which keeps all childcare settings legally safe and secure as well as giving the settings guidance for how to deal with certain cases. Confidentiality is vital as it keeps the setting safe because the information is only shared between the school and appropriate authority. This is because all children need to be safe and secure.

Electricity at work regulations keep the setting and the children safe as the childcare setting must, by law, have a yearly check on all electrical equipment. If equipment isn’t tested then the setting may be causing themselves a risk of causing an electrical fire or having someone electrocuted by the appliance. The engineer puts a sticker on each electrical appliance stating when it has been checked in order to keep the setting safe.

Bibliography:

Green S (2007) BTEC National Children’s Care, Learning + Development Book 1, Nelson Thornes:Cheltenham

Tassoni P, Bulman K, Beith K (2005) S/NVQ Level 3, Children’s Care, Learning + Development, Heinemann:Oxford

Squire G. (2007) BTEC National in Children’s Care, Learning + Development, Heinemann:Oxford