Health and Safety in Early Years and Childcare. Bernadina Laverty
to Ofsted on request.
The Childcare Register stipulates that complaints records must be kept for three years.
Contact details for Ofsted must be made available within settings in order for parents and carers or other service users to escalate concerns they may have about the setting’s compliance with the EYFS. Notifications of Ofsted inspections (if known) and the final Ofsted report must be made available to parents and carers.
Childminders
The above guidance applies to childminders who also need to consider:
The EYFS states there is no requirement for childminders to have a written complaints procedure. However, if a childminder is registered on the Childcare Register, under CR 7.1 it outlines that ‘Childminders must have a written statement of procedures to be followed in relation to complaints which relate to the requirements of the Childcare Register and which a parent makes in writing or by email’. Therefore, if you are registered on the childcare register a robust, written complaints procedure is required.
Changes that must be notified to Ofsted
As a registered provider, you must inform Ofsted of changes that may affect your registration such as:
•change in address, including if you move premises or rooms to part of a building not previously registered
•change of hours; if you change your hours of operation, such as opening at 7am instead of 8am or if you decide to offer overnight care
•changes affecting space or quality. If you alter your building, such as adding an extension or erecting dividing walls in rooms, or if you relocate age groups of children to different locations (such as moving a baby room from downstairs to upstairs) then these types of changes may have implications for the numbers of children you may care for and the quality of the environment
•details of the provider, such as if the registered person moves house, changes to contact information, such as phone numbers.
•change of manager; if you have significant staff changes to the management team
•significant event; anything that would affect an individual’s suitability such as involvement with police or social services
•change to company or charity name or number, or any business changes such as re-naming or re-registering a business
•nominated person change; this includes individuals or changes within groups that are registered
•changes to partners, governing body such as new directors or new committee members must be notified.
(Ofsted factsheet: ‘Records, policies and notification requirements of the Early Years Register’, January 2013)
All relevant information must be provided to Ofsted. This includes any new names, former names, and any aliases, date of birth and home address details. You may be asked to produce evidence of your notifications to Ofsted, so ensure you keep records of phone calls, emails, letters and so on as if you cannot demonstrate that you have informed Ofsted of significant changes within 14 days, you may have committed an offence.
You must notify changes within 14 days. Failure to do so is an offence.
Employers’ duties to their employees
The Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974 places a general duty on an employer to ensure, so far is reasonably practicable, the health safety and welfare of their employees at work.
This very general duty divides into a number of more specific ones, which stipulate the principles of running a safe workplace:
•provide safe equipment and maintain it in a safe condition
•provide safe working procedures
•make arrangements to use, handle, store, move and transport articles and substances safely
•provide information, instruction training and supervision
•provide a safe place to work including access to and from the workplace
•provide a healthy environment, including arrangements for welfare facilities.
Do you have in place:
•a system to purchase, check and maintain equipment?
•well-understood and established safety procedures?
•trained staff who understand their job responsibilities and follow your safety procedures?
•a system for identifying, reporting and dealing with defects or problems in the workplace?
•welfare facilities, for example toilets, hot water, ventilation, lighting etc?
Childminders
Self-employed people also have a duty to themselves to conduct their business in such a manner that they do not expose themselves to risks to their own health and safety.
Employers’ duties to people not in their employment
It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.
The employer must consider other people who are not their employees but may be affected by the running of the business. Therefore, as an employer you must consider other people who are not your staff but who use, visit, or work in your establishment:
•children in your care
•your visitors, for example, parents, delivery drivers, registration officers
•contractors or workmen working at your premises, for example, window cleaner.
Ask yourself:
•have I considered these people in my safety procedures and risk assessments?
•how could these people get hurt?
•do I have any controls in place to prevent this from happening?
•are staff aware of these controls?
•do staff follow these controls in practice?
•is there anything else that I need to do?
‘So far as is reasonably practicable’ qualifies the health and safety