⚠️ Risk assessments: when and how
What a risk assessment is, when one is needed, who writes it and who signs it off, and what it means for you in the room.
What a risk assessment is
Thinking through, in writing, what could hurt someone and what we do about it. Our policy:
Risk assessments document the hazards or aspects of the environment that need to be checked on a regular basis. These include who could be harmed, existing controls, the seriousness of the risk or possible injury, any further action needed to control the risk, who is responsible for what action, when and how often the action will be undertaken, and how this will be monitored, checked and by whom.From our Overall Approach to Risk Assessment policy
It is not the same as the daily checks on the tablet. Those check, every morning, that the controls in the risk assessment are actually there.
When one is needed
| When | What our policy says |
|---|---|
| 🏠 Every room and area, at least once a year | The nursery carries out written risk assessments regularly (at least annually).Overall Approach to Risk Assessment |
| 🧺 Something changes: new equipment, a new activity | When circumstances change in the nursery, e.g. a significant piece of equipment is introduced or new activity or experience is planned, we review our current risk assessment or conduct a new risk assessment dependent on the nature of this change.Overall Approach to Risk Assessment Appropriate risk assessments and checks on all resources and equipment before first useEquipment and Resources |
| 🚶 Every outing | A pre-visit checklist, full risk assessment and outings plan will always be carried out by a senior member of staff before the outingVisits and Outings |
| 🌳 Risky play outdoors | We take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of children through risk assessments whilst balancing the benefits to learning through providing an element of ‘risky play.’Outdoor Play |
| 🧒 A child with an allergy | Where a child has a known allergy, the nursery manager will carry out a full allergy risk assessment with the parent prior to the child starting the nurseryAllergies |
| 🧒 A behaviour support plan, or repeated biting | The manager’s risk assessment of triggers and warning signs (Positive Behaviour), and for a child who bites repeatedly (Biting). See Support plans. |
| 👤 A member of staff who is pregnant | Making sure staff do not change nappies whilst pregnant until a risk assessment has been discussed and conductedNappy Changing |
| 👤 Lifting, lone working, work-related stress |
Where manual handling tasks cannot be avoided, for example lifting children when changing nappies, we carry out a risk assessmentManual Handling Complete a written stress risk assessment to identify and manage work-related stress linked to demands, control, support, relationships, role and changeStaff Well-beingAnd the Lone Working and Young Workers policies. |
| ⚠️ After a serious incident | Post-incident risk assessments will be conducted following any incident of this nature to enable the chance of this reoccurring being reduced.Critical Incident, and the Missing Child procedures |
Who writes it, who signs it off
| Who | Their part |
|---|---|
| Room leaders or the manager, at a nursery with one room | Write the assessments for their room, their activities and outings. Keep the actions moving and tick them off when they’re done. |
| Deputies and managers | Write the ones about an individual child, a member of staff, or after an incident. Make sure reviews happen and actions get done. |
| Directors | Sign every assessment off, and see all of them across the three nurseries. Until then it is a draft. |
| Everyone | Knows the risk assessment for their room and follows what it says. Tells the room leader (or the manager, where there isn’t one) when something changes. |
All staff are trained in the risk assessment process to ensure understanding and compliance of how they manage risks.From our Overall Approach to Risk Assessment policy
How one is written
The portal follows the HSE’s five steps, which our policy points to:
- Find the hazards. Walk the room, or the route, or think through the activity. The portal suggests the usual ones, with what our policy says about each; remove what doesn’t apply and add what’s missing.
- Decide who could be harmed, and how. Children, staff, visitors, one child in particular.
- Write what is already in place, then judge how likely harm is with that in place, and how serious it would be. The portal works out low, medium or high.
- Anything more to do? Write it as an action, with a person and a date. It stays open until it’s ticked off.
- Sign off, and review. A director signs it off. It is reviewed at least annually, before every outing, and whenever something changes. A review where something has changed goes back for sign-off.
What it means for you
- Know your room’s risk assessment. Ask your room leader to go through it with you.
- Do what it says. The controls in it are what we have told Ofsted and parents happens.
- Tell your room leader when something changes: new equipment, a new activity, a planned outing, a hazard that wasn’t there before.
- Something unsafe right now? Make it safe or keep the children away, then mark it on the daily checks so the manager is told.
- About you: if you’re pregnant, have a health condition, or are finding the work too much, tell your manager in confidence, so a risk assessment can be done with you. These are seen by managers only.