Children of any age are susceptible to all kinds of slips, trips and safety hazards and therefore Risk Assessment in Childcare is important. What is Risk Assessment all about?. It is all about anticipating what could happen and how to prevent and also how to provide risk free environment. It is always a must to be aware of the potential risks to provide safety before something happens.
We hear news from all over the world about children getting affected to reasons like
- Falling from balconies of high-rise buildings
- Overrun by drivers (even parents) by mistake while reversing a car
- Of Electrical Shock hazards from open terminals and circuits
- Children un-attended at home, endangering their life
- Getting trapped inside the refrigerator
- Falling from staircase
- Getting missed in the crowd and shopping malls
- Gulping pins, coins and other stuff
- Playing with knives and other dangerous weapons
- Children getting drowned in the Swimming Pool
The list goes on and on. But who should be blamed for all these? – primarily parents and then the caretakers and others. Working parents do not have much options for providing proper care for their children while they are away on work. Hence they resort to leaving children in the day-care facility. Negligence is mostly what is the root cause for child hazards.
Our responsibility
It is a must for parents having small children to ensure that their children are safe at all times whether at home, school or in the day-care facility. So, proper consideration should be done on selecting the place of living, facilities in the school or day-care before hand. Health and Safety standards must be well maintained in schools and day-care facilities.
Balconies, windows and doors must be well protected and secured from accidents. The toys and other gadgets the children use to play with must have no rough or sharp edges. Children of small ages who are unaware of many things should not be given toys or stuff which they can accidentally put in their mouth and thus be harmful. There are many such things that we as parents and adults should be aware of and taken care of.
We must decide upon the control measures that will protect our children from various hazards. Keep a note of what risk assessment you have done so that you can share it to others. Reviewing of Risk Assessment periodically is a must.
Happy Children, Happy Life – Take care and stay safe.
