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Why is Safety Checklist for Childcare Centers So Important?

Safety checklist for childcare centers is the most important task in the center to provide it with a safe environment for kids. This is because;

• Kids have no safety culture or behavior.
• Kids are so curious, this curiosity has no limits.
• Accidents in childcare centers can affect children’s mental health.
• Children’s body is weak, and any hazard can cause them serious injuries.
• As a manager or owner of a childcare center, you should make the safety of kids a priority number one. To keep your revenue up, no one will let his kid go to an unsafe childcare center.

That makes it important for me, as a father, to share with you my safety experience, as an engineer, in childcare centers.

Let’s discuss a checklist of some important things to maintain the safety standards for your childcare center. I will list the safety points and will discuss them one by one.

1. Staff training and responsibilities
2. Ensure kid’s Room Security
3. Make sure Kids are Safe in the Play Area
4. Furnishings and Fixtures Should be suitable for kids
5. Regularly Check Safety Equipment and Procedures
6. Your staff Should Take Their Responsibilities out of Kid’s Room
7. Make sure that bathroom is safe for children.

Staff Training and Responsibilities

Staff training is the most important thing that has a great impact on the safety of childcare centers. A slight mistake by any staff member can cause great problems with safety.

In your staff, at least one member should be present at all times in the safety center who has first aid training.

Keep your eyes open and give instructions to the staff to avoid interacting with each other and keep the focus on supervising the children. Give proper instructions and training to your staff regularly.

Always maintain the staff-to-child ratio. It is an important thing to consider, if the staff-to-child ratio is more than 1:12 then it is not a normal ratio. There will be more chances that a small number of members of staff will not take proper care of the children.

Train the staff to take proper care of mouth safety for young children especially. Draw the clear rule that non-food objects should be kept away from the mouth.

Teach the staff to keep away those toys that are not safe for children. Also, give them training about the proper use of toys such as playing with riding toys or toys of weapons, etc.

Staff should also have training on how to keep the children interacting with the class pets the right way.

Safe Children’s Rooms

The room should be safely locked so that children cannot leave the room without the supervision of staff.

Take care of this thing that the room or the place where the children are kept. Don’t have staircases. If there are staircases then make sure that they are closed. Blocking the staircases will prevent them from falling.

The room should be simple so that the supervisor can easily see all the sides of the room. The room should not have any hidden places where a child can hide out of the staff’s sight.

All hazardous equipment such as knives, scissors, or cleaning supplies must be kept away from the child.

Windows are secured by easy-to-open adult safety window guards. 

Play Area Safety Tips and Rules

• Children want to spend most of their time in the playing area. To make a good safe environment keep the playing area always clear.
• Take care of such things which can cause slips, falls, or other hygiene hazards.
• Toys and other things in the room should be in good condition. They should not have peeling paint.
• Broken toys can contain sharp edges which can greatly harm children.
• keep the toys clean and sanitize them daily. It will prevent them from viruses.
• The play area should be fenced.
• Playing material should be suitable for children’s ages.
• No sharp material, nails, bolts, or other items that could cause injury.
• Keep children always under supervision.

Infant Areas

Keep the infant area clear. Make sure that the furniture and other materials in the infant area are SIDS-proof.

There should be no loose blankets, bumpers, pillows, or other things that can make the infant’s breathing difficult. Keep sanitizing the furniture to protect the child from viruses. 

Furnishings and Fixtures

To maintain a good safe environment for the children cleaning is necessary. Make sure all the furniture and equipment are cleaned regularly. Take complete care of the furniture.

Make sure that all the furniture is fixed properly with the wall or on the floor. Furniture is climbed by the children therefore it should be strong and fixed. If the furniture is not fixed properly it can fall on the children.

Keep the hot equipment such as kettles, hot plates, or stoves out of the children’s reach. Children don’t know about hot things, they may touch them which can cause serious problems or injuries.

Make sure all the electrical outlets are out of the children’s reach. If they are reachable by the children then cover them with such material that a child can never open them or come in contact with electricity.

Safety Equipment and Procedures

Always take a first-aid kit at your child safety center with a well-trained member who knows the knowledge of first-aid kits. Also, keep checking if anything is missing in the first-aid kit or not.

Make sure that your first aid kit should always contain:

• a thermometer
• bandages
• gauze
• tweezers
• alcohol wipes.

These are the compulsory things of the first-aid kit. Remember that your first-aid thing should never miss these items.

Keep checking your safety center for the products or equipment that could cause a safety hazard. If you discovered that thing, replace it as early as possible without wasting the time.

Also, keep checking the normal working of the equipment. Make sure that safety equipment such as fire extinguishers and smoke detectors are not expired. make sure to check the smoke detectors monthly.

All staff should be aware of the emergency plan and know exactly how to perform it safely.

Staff Training and Responsibilities Out of Room

Staff should keep their eyes open all the time and keep observing the children when they are in the playground, they also should teach the children the right and safe method of playing.

Staff should always be active to keep the children safe. When the children are coming back to the room check for the presence of all the children. Attendance is a good strategy for this task.

Keep the eyes on the heads of the children. Head counting gives the position of all the children and also gives the total number of children. Staff should look after the actions of every child.

They should stop the children from the wrong use of playing equipment. They should teach the children not to jump from the slip and don’t climb from the wrong side.

Bathroom Safety

The bathroom should be safe for children’s use, for doing so the following tips are important:

• The bathroom door should not has a strong closing from the inside.
• In case of any emergency case adults should be able to open the door from the outside easily.
• Cleaning material should be kept away from the reach of children.
• Regular cleaning of the bathroom after each use.
• Using the bathroom should be under supervision.
• At the end of the day make sure no children are still inside the bathroom.
• Make sure the bathroom has good ventilation.
• Emergency lighting inside the bathroom for any power outage.
• The floor should be dry to prevent slipping

These are the important safety tips to be considered for the safety checklist for child care. If the child-care-centers take these precautions they can reduce the number of problems and it will keep the environment safe.