Health and Safety in Early Years and Childcare. Bernadina Laverty
a self-employed person your home, or workplace, that you use for your business, may be subject to an inspection.
Enforcing authorities
In the United Kingdom, there are two bodies responsible for enforcing health and safety laws. They are:
•health and Safety Executive (HSE), a government-based organisation
•environmental health practitioners/officers/technical officers in local government organisations such as local councils and often called the local authority (LA).
There is a set of regulations that detail which enforcing authority deals with types of premises. In childcare responsibility is split.
Guidance can be obtained from HSE’s website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/internalops/fod/oc/100-199/124-11-appendix.htm.
If you are in any doubt which body is your ‘enforcing authority’, your local Environmental Health Department will help you.
Enforcement powers
Enforcement officers are available for advice and guidance. Officers will be appointed and may be authorised with powers such as:
•a right of entry at all reasonable times
•stopping activities if there is a risk of serious personal injury
•taking enforcement action, for example issuing letters, serving notices and initiating prosecution proceedings
•investigating the workplace, asking questions
•to inspect, seize and copy documents
•to dismantle and remove equipment
•to take photos and samples.
All inspectors will carry identification and authorisation that you can verify.
A leaflet explaining what to expect when an inspector visits your business is available from HSE’s website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hsc14.pdf.
Enforcement outcomes
Post inspection or investigation a variety of enforcement outcomes may be applied by an enforcement officer dependent upon the outcome of the inspection/visit and the nature of the health and safety breach. Major non-compliance with the laws are usually dealt with formally through the service of a statutory notice.
A statutory notice is a legal document, which specifies the law that has been breached, the officer’s opinion and reason for serving the notice. It tells you what needs to be done and gives a specific time limit to do the work. There are two types of statutory notice that can be served.
•improvement notice
This notice requires you to do the specified remedial work in a timescale that is at least 21 days. This type of notice could be served for a problem, such as an uneven floor covering providing a tripping hazard or the lack of a handrail on stairs.
•prohibition notice
This notice is served when there is a very serious breach that results, or could result, in a risk of serious personal injury. The notice will again specify what is wrong and what remedial action needs to be taken. The notice can stop any activity immediately or after a specified period of time. For example, a notice could be served if an external play area was contaminated with glass or if the equipment was dangerous.
In both of these cases you can appeal to an Employment Tribunal if you think the notice is unfair and details are given on the notice of how to do this. There is a strict time limit for appeal that will be detailed on the notice. You are committing an offence if you fail to comply with an improvement notice or a prohibition notice.
If you appeal against an improvement notice, the work required by the notice is suspended until the appeal is determined. However, you must comply with a prohibition notice even if you have appealed against it. The outcome will be determined at the appeal.
From October 2012, for those premises where HSE is the enforcing authority, a system of charges will be introduced for interventions by enforcement officers, which are a result of material breach of health and safety law(s). The scheme is called ‘Fee for intervention’ or ‘FFI’.
The duty holder will be charged for the time it takes the officer to identify and to help remedy the breach including visits, administration, paperwork and advice from a third party. There is more information about FFI on HSE’s website at http://www.hse.gov.uk.
•prosecution
This action is taken where there have been very serious breaches of health and safety laws. These may have resulted in a fatality or a serious injury. Companies and individuals, including employees, may be prosecuted under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. A prosecution can take place in addition to the service of enforcement notices.
In recent years, there have been a number of prosecutions taken against employers in the childcare sector for fatalities and serious injuries to children in their care. In certain exceptional circumstances, an alternative to prosecution can be the issue of a simple caution (previously known as a formal caution).
Strict criteria and guidance are in place and enforcement officers must consider these when deciding upon enforcement outcomes. This will be detailed in the enforcing authority’s enforcement policy and is available from the authority.
Both HSE and the local authorities have procedures in place for receiving and dealing with complaints. If you believe you have been treated unfairly or are dissatisfied with the inspection outcome, you can make a complaint to the authority.
2Employee responsibilities
The EYFS section of this chapter covers the organisation of childcare, managing children’s behaviour, equal opportunities. Managing behaviour sensitively, consistently and appropriately to children’s age and stage of development requires experience and training. Meeting children’s individual needs requires professional, dedicated staff who recognise children’s uniqueness and celebrates difference. Inclusion needs to underpin all aspects of practice in order for children to reach their full potential and feel valued.
There are clearly defined responsibilities for both employers and employees under the Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974. These duties include a responsibility on the employee to take reasonable care of their own health and safety and others affected by their actions and to cooperate with the employer on health and safety matters. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 also place an emphasis on training and instruction given to employees by their employer to enable them to fulfil their responsibilities.
Managing behaviour, policies and procedures
Staff must be conversant with policies and procedures relating to behaviour management. There must be a named person responsible for behaviour management. This person needs to be competent in dealing with different behaviours, liaising with children’s families and professionals. The named person needs to enable and support the staff team in dealing with challenging behaviour.
Be alert to influences in a child’s life that may have an impact on their behaviour such as:
•child’s