There are numerous factors to consider for the indoor and outdoor environment

There are numerous factors to consider for the indoor and outdoor environment. Firstly, we need to think of the children’s individual needs, age and what they can do. Resources should be appropriate for the intended use of the age. Equipment should be checked daily for any breakages. You would also need to look at how you would differentiate the environment for children that may be less able or who have sight or hearing disabilities or learning disabilities. In this case you could have posters for the hearing impairment and making sure there are not any trip hazards for sight impairment children. Risk assessments should be done daily to make sure there are no risks in the environment to both children, parents and carers and staff. In my setting we do it at the start of the day and at the end of the day. Throughout the day we are continually risk assessing the area we are in. If there is a pregnant staff member then that member of staff should have a separate risk assessment as there may be some things in the environment that may put them at risk for example if a child is on a climbing frame and they needed support to jump down then the pregnant member of staff would not do this as they could be at risk of falling as they support the child or the child may panic and jump onto them. Another example would be the chemicals that are used to clean need to be checked to make sure there are not harmful. This is done under The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH). http://www.hse.gov.uk/nanotechnology/coshh.htm [Accessed 8/7/2019]Employers have a responsibility to protect the health and safety of their employees and visitors. If there are more than five employees there must be a health and safety policy.Employees have a responsibility to keep themselves and those around them safe. We also have a duty to report any safety issues. This could be any equipment that does not work or a bike that’s wheel is loose http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/37/contents [Accessed 8/7/2019]Working in partnership with parents and carers are important. By finding out if the parent or carer have a physical disability or learning disability, you can arrange the environment so they feel welcome to come in or you can arrange meetings to discuss things further, so they understand about health and safety. If English is not the child or parent/carers first language, we can organise a translator and get a list of common words from them that can be used to communicate. Information can be sent home in their home language to make it easier to get the important information across. We need to make sure that the environment is used for the correct function and purpose. You would not have scooters and bikes indoors as this would be unsafe, instead they would be outdoors where you can make sure there is enough space to use them. We have a duty of care which is a legal obligation to make sure the children in our care are safe from harm. Not only do we have a duty of care toward children we also have a duty of care towards the adult we work with too. For example, the cleaning cupboard is locked, and the key is out of reach of children. If a staff member went into it and saw there was a loose shelf and it could fall at any time, the adult would not leave it like that as the contents could fall on the next adult to go into the cupboard. Instead the adult would make it safe and report it the health and safety officer.Children’s Learning and Development, Early Years Educator Book, Pearson (2014) pg157Explain how health and safety is monitored and maintained and the source of support for health and safety inside and outside of your settingHealth and safety is monitored and maintained daily. We risk assess the room twice a day and at the end of the week the risk assessment sheets per room are given to the Health and safety officer. We make sure children’s record are kept up to date on a regular basis making sure we get the parents to let us know of any allergies their child may have. If they have been off poorly and been to the doctor, we ask what was wrong to make sure they do not have contagious condition. If they are on antibiotics, we make sure the child has been on them for 48 hours so the parent can monitor whether they have a reaction to it. Once they can come back, we get the parent or carer to fill out a medication form with all the details of the medication and how much and when to administer it. We always have two people checking when administering medication to a child. If a child has an accident or an adult, we have an accident form that gets filled in. We firstly show it to a member of management so they can sign it. We then get the parent to read it and sign it as soon as possible. The form then gets given to management. We also have a form for the parents to fill in if the child is dropped off and we notice a bruise or cut. Most of the time the child has fallen over on the way to nursery or bumped themselves at home. The parent or carer needs to document this when they arrive. This is a good way of seeing if there are any patterns of children coming in with bruises. It can also frustrate the parents, as they may be in a rush and now must stay a few extra minutes to fill out the form. All accident forms are given to the Health and Safety officer at the end of the day for her to review and see if there are any patterns such as a lot of children are falling on the logs. She will then have to check to see what we can do to change it and make it safer. It is the settings responsibility to report any serious accidents or illnesses to RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Disease and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995) http://www.hse.gov.uk/riddor/ [Accessed 8/7/2019]First aid boxes must be provided in each room. There must always be first aiders in the setting with and up to date paediatric first aid qualification. We have first aid boxes in each room. The boxes are easily accessible so first aid can be administered straight away. Having first aiders in the setting helps to deal with an accident there and then and if its serious the first aider can help instantly while waiting for the ambulance. http://www.hse.gov.uk/firstaid/legislation.htm [8/7/2019]All fire exits in our setting are kept clear and this is doubled checked on our risk assessment for the room. We also practice fire evacuation on a regular basis. As beneficial as this is sometimes it can be hard in the baby room as we may have just put the babies to sleep and then we have a mock evacuation, so we must pick the babies up and follow our evacuation procedure. Putting the babies back to sleep can be quite tricky afterwards but we understand we need to practice in all circumstances. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/15111/guidance1enforcement2005.pdf [Accessed 8/7/19]We are trained in how-to pick-up children correctly without injury. Also, if there is certain equipment that we need to use on a child with special needs we are trained on using it correctly and for the intended purposes. We have a few different heavy items that the children use for example the tyres or bags of sand to fill the sand pit. We plan first on how we are going to move and make sure it’s done safely. A risk assessment is carried out on any new activity we would have to do i.e. move a heavy object or if a member of staff is pregnant a risk assessment would be done on that person. http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l23.pdf [Accessed 8/7/19]