Confused about risk level

[Chell]

I'm sat here doing my risk assessments and am still confused about whether some of them are low, medium or high.

Eg, the risk of fire in the kitchen. I have a fire blanket on the wall, won't use a chip pan, etc. Is this medium or high risk?

Thanks,
Chell

[sarah707]

If there is a direct, imminent risk of death...

Child running into the road because you don't use reins / child climbing a tree and falling out / child putting metal coat hanger in an electric socket and you don't have a failsafe on your electricity board / child getting hold of your carrier bags and playing helmets with them / child jumping into your fire place because you haven't replaced the safety guard after the weekend / child eating rat poison or drinking out of the bleach bottle...

Those are high!

Most other things are medium or low. It's a fine line between them and I wouldn't worry so much... it's a personal perception of danger thing.

One childminder might say everything that might possibly hurt someone else's child is high risk... others might say we are being encouraged to challenge children's perception of risk so that they learn how to make their own mistakes... others might say it's a culture of suing for accidents and nothing is worth the risk...

You have to decide where you stand and justify it.

Have you seen the list in the Eyfs guidance? That will help you get started.

Hth :D

[Blackhorse]

here is a good link

http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/hsprograms/risk_assessment.html

[Chell]

Have you seen the list in the Eyfs guidance? That will help you get started.

Hth :D

Yes and the one from the Stoke on Trent site and Bromely childminder.

The form Northants Childminding isn't editable and the boxes are too tiny to write in. I'm not sure whether to create one in the same format in Word or use the Bromely one.

Off to have a fiddle and see which looks best.