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It is important that we look back at accidents and near miss accidents which happen in our provisions and think about how we can improve our risk assessments to prevent them happening again.
I hope you find this blog useful :D
Sarah's Blog: Risk assessments after an accident…
At the risk of being told....Sorry to ask about this but the post has truly confused me
We have to RA in order to minimise risks....we cannot prevent 'accidents' altogether.
Children do slip on grass and do fall ....but to replace the grass with something else is not required.
If there is a post in the garden the children are likely to bump into ...we encourage children to risk assess
That is what I have learnt from many training courses and reading Tim Gill too...and which Elizabeth Jarman herself endorses
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B1a_oUjIQAE8uPE.jpg:large
If I have misunderstood the OP then I apologise
Thanks Sarah, lots of ideas to reflect on.
Because of my background it is second nature to me to automatically think when an accident happens if it could have been prevented, mostly it is just an accident but sometimes you can evaluate and change e.g a LO slipped on my vinyl kitchen floor this week. She wasn't running or avoiding anything, she slipped as she was walking because she was in her stocking feet, she often is, no harm done at all but it has made me think about what the children wear on their feet. Carpets everywhere but kitchen so socks are fine everywhere else. As a short term measure I immediately took her socks off as the floor wasn't cold and then we continued with our baking ....but still reflecting on best way forward.
I record every little knock and bump so have continued my school system of doing an analysis termly to see if there are any patterns occurring that I should address. Where it happened, when, which children were together, activity they were doing, type of injury as headings, then just a tally. My first term showed that accidents were happening just before lunch when the children were tired. So my action was to reflect on whether they needed to sleep earlier, be vigilant about a clear floor, think about the activity we do and keep my eye on one particular LO who was more prone. Seems to have worked, doesn't show on 2nd terms analysis.
Really worth while mentioning Sarah, I will read your blog carefully later as I am thinking of altering my H&S accident system.
A colleague reported an incident that was (according to Ofsted's previous accident reporting factsheet currently removed from the Ofsted website) not actually reportable - but she wanted to make sure she was doing all the right things.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simona
The accident was not very serious and the child was absolutely fine.
Ofsted came out on a compliance inspection within 5 working days - even though, I say again, it was not actually a reportable accident and our colleague was just covering herself by ringing them in the first place.
Ofsted judged her very harshly and she now has actions which will be published on the Ofsted website.
She has actions because, although accidents do happen and she had done everything right as far as record keeping is concerned, she had failed to reflect on what happened and how she might improve her provision and ways of working as a result of the accident.
Perhaps if you are aware of the bigger picture you will see more clearly the message the blog is aiming to convey. Thank you :D
Quote:
Originally Posted by Simona
I don't think that was what Sarah was saying to be fair, she gave a few examples of what a minder 'might' think about doing:
• Children are slipping and falling on your grass -> cover the grass, re-seed, cordon the area off or take other steps to keep them safe.
The key word being OR
Reading further, my understanding is it's more about trying to identify 'why' an accident occurred and if there was something we could do to prevent it happening in future.
Having worked in a particularly accident prone environment, predominately because the guys always thought 'they knew best' or that the safety measures put in place 'didn't apply to them' some things just have to be taken out of the others hands to prevent a bigger incident.
I'll give you an example.
I worked in a training centre, training took place in a big warehouse with a skip outside for the rubbish. In the summer, we could leave the huge concertina warehouse sliding door open, in the winter though, that wasn't really an option, however, the guys (and girls rarely) that were being trained, needed easy access to the skip.
We (the staff) on the first day of induction stressed that if anyone wanted the warehouse door opening, they MUST ask a member of staff to open it, and explained it was to prevent slicing off fingers, or bits of fingers.
This statement always provided some hilarity, and lots of humoured comments, which helped in part to keep it fresh in their heads.
At the end of the induction, we did a quick Q&A, to ensure everyone had remembered about the warehouse door, amongst others, and every morning, did a recap briefing.
We're talking about adults here, not little children - although I did sometimes wonder how on earth some of them managed to get to the centre in one piece :laughing:
One month, we had 3 sliced fingers because 3 different people thought the rules didn't apply to them/thought it was quicker to do it themselves :panic:
We reviewed what we could do, even going so far as to contact HSE ourselves for guidance - we couldn't lock it as it was an escape route should there be a fire.
The solutions we arrived at were:
to move the skip inside, or
to leave the door open enough for the lads to get through, all winter
We opted to leave the door open and froze every year, all because some stupid blokes that should have known better, that were only with us for a few weeks anyway, couldn't be bothered to follow the rules in place for their safety.
We did wonder how long it would take before it was a whole finger, or a hand, but wasn't prepared to find out :rolleyes:
I view childminding as very similar to my previous workplace - some risks are acceptable to children, and to their parents, but as the person in charge/looking after a little person that has little or no common sense, that has to be taught to follow the rules, removing a potential risk or adapting it to make a lesser impact should an accident occur, makes much more sense to me :thumbsup:
My decking becomes very slippy in the winter - do I continue to let the children play out as it is and risk one of them potentially breaking a bone when they slip (and they will slip, repeatedly reminding 3 under 3's not to run isn't an option as they don't 'see' danger in advance like we do) or do I take action by
a. putting fake grass down
b. change the boards to the anti slip version
c. get rid of the decking
d. don't allow access in the winter
e. any other ideas welcomed ;)
I opted for the fake grass - it was the cheapest option where money was concerned, and not allowing access meant having to make time we don't always have due to nap times/feeding times/arrivals and departures to go to one of our local parks everyday.
the children don't slip as often, and are getting more 'self aware' when they do, but not at the higher risk of getting a broken bone
Isn't that what RA's all about?
my feeling Sarah is that it is impossible to ever deviate from advice given here....it is not accepted that some of us may have questions triggered by what is posted?Quote:
Originally Posted by sarah707
I do think I am aware of the bigger picture ...hence ...my reply
There will be lots of cms coming to defend your post but no one will acknowledge that Cms ...sometimes...differ in opinion....that is what being independent is all about
It would be great to feel treated equally here...I am sure cms will reflect on your advice as I have.
Thank you Sarah, and I think it does everyone good to stop and think about risk assessments and taking note after an accident or near miss.
However I do think that alot of people will do it automatically ...Maybe the idea to take on board is to write things down!
Without thinking very hard about current risks in my setting.... I have a runner ... they go on reins. I have a LO who goes head first down the slide ...I watch and stop/catch if big drop at the bottom as well as encouraging LO to come down feet first! I have wooden or tiled floors ... we have bare feet or slippers. The path is slippery ... it gets powerwashed etc. That's what my daily RA is for and conversation with parents.
Totally agree Loocyloo...reflection is part of our practice ...but...I also think it is good to involve children and let them reflect on dangers, risks, how to be safe or to tackle something without totally removing the riskQuote:
Originally Posted by loocyloo
That would really show their CoEL and engage their critical thinking while we use SST to support that....at least that is what I have learnt from people such as Tim Gill and Elizabeth Jarman and Ali McClure.
We hear we are becoming a 'risk avert' society...we wrap children in cotton wool and make everything so safe they are unable to assess a risk themselves
I also think many go beyond this because of Ofsted...'just in case'
My view of course ...and I am not advocating we are blasé about dangers! :thumbsup:
Now this I do agree with Simona, but by the same token, the blame game culture we now appear to live in makes our lives far more difficult than it should be.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simona
The risks I allow with minded children is far far less than the ones I allowed my own children to take at the same age, even though neither have ever had a broken bone to date, but that is definitely due to the concern that my reputation and future viability is potentially at risk should I have an incident - not necessarily ofsted related, more parents :thumbsup:
A great post Sarah :D and lots of help info although unfortunately along with everything else another reason why I'm not going to be doing this job much longer. Gone are the days where you could just let the children out in the garden without worrying about Ofsted coming down on you like a ton of bricks through a minor thing or a parent sueing through an accident that has occurred on your premises.
Although RA's are very important and we all do them in our sleep, all the RA's in the world cant keep a child 100% safe and to have the worry about being judged by Ofsted on something that couldn't have been helped is an awful thought. I had an 8yr old fall off a piece of play equipment at the park a few yrs ago and Ofsted were fine about it because he was over 8 and the equipment was age appropriate but if the child had been younger I wonder what would have happened. All my 2-3yr old mindees love climbing on the exact same piece of equipment.....but after an investigation who's to say its appropriate for a 2-3yr old? They love it, how can I say you're not allowed on it?
The 8yr old only fell a couple of feet but just landed on his arm unfortunately.
A childminder down the road was closed for a few weeks due to a mindee stumbling over a patio flag stone and hurting herself. My patio flag stones are uneven due to settlement/next doors bushes and there's no way I can afford to get a whole new patio done. To cover them with something would also be very expensive.
Sometimes this job doesn't pay enough to make major changes.
Sounds to me we need to point Ofsted to the EYFS on RA...they have obviously not read the requirements.