Accidents and injuries
Clophill Preschool has a duty of care to all of the children and their families, to visitors to the setting and staff to prevent accidents where possible and to respond effectively to accidents and emergencies that occur there or while in our care e.g. during planned outings. This includes carrying out risk assessments, some paper, some verbal, and adequate and appropriate supervision of the children at all times.
Training
All staff are Paediatric First Aid trained. New staff without this qualification are required to complete it as soon as is possible. All Adventure Friday leaders have Outdoor First Aid on top of Paediatric.
We have additional annual top up first aid sessions from EMT Medical Training, we choose topics that are particularly relevant to the cohort of children.
Volunteers are not expected to have first aid training.
Legal framework
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 sets out the general duties which employers have towards employees and members of the public, and employees have to themselves and to each other.
As a setting we work to -
help to prevent accidents and injuries
ensure that in the event of accident, incident or injury, the necessary actions are taken to protect the safety, health and welfare of children, staff members or visitors
enable children so keep themselves safe and manage their own risk where possible
ensure appropriate induction training for all staff to know our policy and procedure for accidents and injuries
ensure all accidents/injuries and exiting injuries are recorded
keep a chronology of incidents to look for trends
ensure serious incidents are reported appropriately and in a timely manner to RIDDOR, OFSTED, police as required and that a record is kept of the incident
keep abreast of new developments in First Aid and oversee all staff training
teach children how to manage their own risks and to be aware of their environment
We have accident forms for when someone hurts themselves at a preschool session, to be completed by staff and existing injury forms for if someone comes in with an injury to be competed by whoever brings them in. All accident and existing injury forms are kept chronologically in the Medical and Safeguarding folder and reviewed regularly by a manager for patterns of concern.
We have 2 main first aid kits, the green bag in the setting and the red first aid rucksack for outside and Adventure Fridays, both kits are kept up to date by the person in charge of Health and Safety, Carol.
We have a defibrillator outside the building – staff are made aware of this and trained to use it, the code for this is on the sign in folder.
Permission is sought from parents at admission for staff to administer first aid and to use plasters on their children.
Staff must be First Aid certified to deal with any injury and are taught our procedure for dealing with accidents and existing injuries at induction.
Procedure
The majority of injuries at preschool will be minor however, staff must be prepared for all eventualities.
Accidents
Reassure the child, make them comfortable and remain calm at all times
Assess the injury – call another member of staff if you need a second opinion
The care plan should be followed if the incident or injury relates to the child’s existing injury/condition
Clean the wound if needed with water from the tap or use a saline tube
Splinters can be removed with tweezers
Cool packs are kept in the fridge and the rucksack
If the injury requires a plaster, check the child has permission
Complete an Accident form which should be signed by the first aider and a second member of staff and put it in the pink folder in the orange box for the parent/carer to sign at pick up ( this is then filed in the Medical and Safeguarding folder by a Carol)
If the child has bumped their head then a head bump letter should also go home
If the child is in need of immediate professional medical attention then an ambulance must be called and parents contacted
If calling an ambulance, anyone can call giving all relevant information
A staff member should be sent outside to flag down the ambulance
A staff member will accompany the child to hospital if need be
In the case of an incident relating to the child’s existing condition, their care plan should be retrieved from the wall pockets and handed to medical staff
Existing Injuries
If staff see an existing injury on a child when they enter preschool they need to:
Hand the person who brought the child in an Existing Injury form and ask them to complete it, if the person has already left or they were not present at the time of injury e.g. they have been brought in by a grandparent, then staff should seek out the parent to complete the form when they are next in or give them a call if deemed necessary
Check the form has been completed fully and signed and then sign themselves
File this in the pink folder
Make the manager and other staff aware of the injury
The form should be filed in the same manner as an Accident form.
Any serious injuries must be reported to OFSTED, please see list:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/childcare-reporting-childrens-accidents-and-injuries
Reporting is done online via:
https://www.report-childcare-incident.service.gov.uk/serious-incident/childcare/update-incident/
Feb 24