8.4 Risk Assessment
Policy Statement
Hanney Pre-School believes that the health and safety of children is of paramount importance. We make our setting a safe and healthy place for children, parents, staff and volunteers by assessing and minimising the hazards and risks to enable the children to thrive in a healthy and safe environment.
The basis of this policy is risk assessment. Pre-school Learning Alliance risk assessment processes follow five steps as follows:
- Identification of risk: Where is it and what is it?
- Who is at risk: Childcare staff, children, parents, cleaners etc?
- Assessment as to the level of risk as high, medium, low. This is both the risk of the likelihood of it happening, as well as the possible impact if it did.
- Control measures to reduce/eliminate risk: What will you need to do, or ensure others will do, in order to reduce that risk?
- Monitoring and review: How do you know if what you have said is working, or is thorough enough? If it is not working, it will need to be amended, or maybe there is a better solution.
Procedures
- Our risk assessment process covers adults and children and includes:
- determining where it is helpful to make some written risk assessments in relation to specific issues, to inform staff practice, and to demonstrate how they are managing risks if asked by parents and/or carers and inspectors;
- checking for and noting hazards and risks indoors and outside, and in our premises and for activities;
- assessing the level of risk and who might be affected;
- deciding which areas need attention; and
- developing an action plan that specifies the action required, the time-scales for action, the person responsible for the action and any funding required.
- Where more than five staff and volunteers are employed the risk assessment is written and is reviewed regularly.
- We maintain lists of health and safety issues, which are checked daily before the session begins as well as those that are checked on a weekly and termly basis when a full risk assessment is carried out.
Legal Framework
Further Guidance
- Five Steps to Risk Assessment (HSE 2006)
Other Useful Pre-school Learning Alliance Publications