Daily Health & Safety Checks
What will we find today?
Daily Health and Safety Check
PRIOR to the start of every session an allocated person completes the Daily Health and Safety Check. This checklist is designed to help this person scan the indoor and outdoor areas for any hazards and risks that could harm either the tamariki attending the session or their attending parents or whānau.
Why do the Check?
Completing forms daily allow centres to identify trends and address any long-term issues. This is significant when hazards are linked to an injury or illness. Having a Hazard and Risk Register on display also ensures everyone at the centre (including visitors and contactors) are aware of these identified hazards and risks.
Why daily?
Some hazards appear overnight like mushrooms, animal droppings or acts of vandalism and so need to be identified and eliminated before the session begins. Hazards can also be missed from the previous session or appear after session due to maintenance being done on the property.
Vigilance throughout the session
Creating a safe play environment shouldn’t stop at the Daily Health and Safety Checklist. Staff, parents and caregivers need to continue their vigilance throughout the session so that hazards that appear in real time can be identified and eliminated.
Here are a few examples from our own incident records:
- Forgotten hazard revealed after moving furniture.
- Fingers in door hinges.
- Falling over footwear, toy equipment or chairs left in high traffic areas like doorways.
- Hit by moving swings.
- Falls due to uneven, wet or slippery floors (indoors and outside).
- Loss of footing when climbing on furniture or chairs.
- Choking on hard food.
- Tripping up or down steps.
- Slipping off chairs when eating kai.
References
9.6 Hazard and Risk Management Procedure
Playcentre Aotearoa’s Daily Health and Safety Checklist
If you need further information or you have query about this Safety Alert, then please contact [email protected]
About: Safety Alerts are released to alert all Playcentre whānau, employees and contractors to a hazard or fault that could result in a serious injury or fatality – so that immediate remedial action can be taken.
GOSH Update
Since its relaunch in March, 127 Centres are now using GOSH to report child incidents.
A big Thank You to everyone who have sent in feedback to make GOSH easier to use.
Also based on your feedback, here are two new resources to help with GOSH reporting.