Know the Health and Safety Policies and Procedures of the Work Setting Essay

CU1512 : Contribute to Children and Young People’s Health and Safety 1. Know the health and safety policies and procedures of the work setting 1.2 Identify the lines of responsibility and reporting for health and safety in the work setting. In my work setting the responsibility of ensuring that the health and safety is suitable is down to the manager mainly. Although all members of staff should always be aware and checking as well. If a member of staff does find something that is not complying to health and safety then said member of staff should then report this to the manager or the deputy manager/room leader if necessary. 1.3 Explain what risk assessment is and how this is managed in the work settings. A risk assessment is set in place for the protection of children, parents and staff from any hazards. Hazards can occur from equipment, any activities done in the nursery, material and going on trips from the nursery. Doing a risk assessment in the nursery setting minimizes the risk of hazards occurring. However, when doing a risk assessment you must also consider children’s development. You don’t want the environment to be overly safe because children need some level of risk but these level must be suitable for the child. There are many risks and hazards that can be found in a nursery setting. A risk is something that hasn’t yet happened but could potentially and then would become a hazard. A hazard is something that already exists and can already cause harm. In the risk assessment there is a list of things that need to be checked to see if they are hazardous or a risk. If they are, then further actions would need to be taken to prevent either the risk becoming a hazard or the hazard causing any harm. For an example, if it was a cold day and there is a drain pipe running next to an entrance/exit there is a risk of the water turning to ice therefore this is a risk and the wate r should either me redirected or a sign to acknowledge other people of the risk. Otherwise this could turn into a hazard. This would happen by the water actually turning into ice, therefore, there is a chance of someone slipping. If this was to happen then the area should be corned off and a notice put up to make sure people are aware of the situation. To help prevent harm, it is the employees of the work setting responsibility to complete a check list every morning. This could be anything from a broken toy, to a leak or loose flooring. If a hazard or a risk has been found, then the employee must follow the correct procedure to prevent anything happening anybody. Throughout the day, all employees must also continually make checks especially when going into another setting, such as a garden or leaving the building. If it is a risk or hazard that can’t be dealt with by the employee then it must be cornered off so it is restricted and then reported to the health and safety offic er.