Health and Safety in Child Care

As a professional in the field of early childhood, you must consider all possible strategies for preventing injuries to children. The "ABCs of Childhood Injuries" is a conceptual tool described in your text (pp. 64–68) that can help you assess causal factors of injuries and assist you in taking steps to prevent them. Use this tool to analyze an example of a real-life injury that has occurred to a child in an early childhood setting. (If you do not know of a real-life example, imagine a hypothetical one.) Describe the accident in terms of its "accessories," "behaviors," and "conditions." What modifications in the conditions or behaviors could you apply to the situation in order to prevent this kind of injury from happening again?

            About five years ago, my neighbors child swallowed cleaning detergent, which he has taken for juice. In this incident, the child found the cleaning detergent in a locker that was not closed and the maid had gone out of the house before returning to find the child chocking from drinking the cleaning agent. The accessories that were present in this injury include physical or environmental and absence of safety devices. The physical or environmental hazard in this injury was the cleaning agent while lack of safety device was the cabinet that was left open. In terms of behavior, the action of the child to reach out and drink the cleaning detergent is related to his developmental level. As toddlers grow, they explore their environment, which makes them curious leading them to injuries (Salkind, 2002). The conditioning factor in this incident was inside the house after the maid left the house leaving the toddler to play unattended. This injury like many cases of indoor poisoning occurred while the child was inside the house that contained the cleaning detergent kept in the open locker. The time of the injury was in the morning after the maid had finished cleaning the house, but forgot to lock the cabinet that stored hazardous chemical.

            Modifications that I could apply to prevent this type of injury is to screen the household hazards such as the hazardous chemical, and ensuring that safety devices like lockable shelves or cabinets are effectively used to lock away these hazards out of children’s reach. In terms of behavior, I could modify the scenario through exhibiting preventive, protective, safe practices and teaching children against taking and eating anything not given by an adult (Robertson, 2013).

Locate and read through your state's licensing regulations on this page of the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education's Web site: http://nrckids.org/STATES/states.htm. Summarize your state's regulations on three important safety issues, such as medical records of children, records required for caregivers, or sanitation guidelines. (If you have a choice of regulations for different kinds of facilities, focus on the facility in which you would like to work.) In your view, are these regulations strict enough? Are they too strict? Explain your answer, citing specific examples to support your position.

            According to the Colorado Department of Human Services, rules that regulate child care centers apply to all centers that the division of child care in Colorado has licensed. According to regulations concerning child care equipment and materials, the state requires that child care centers ensure that both indoor and outdoor playing equipment and materials are appropriate according to a child’s size, age and activity. These equipment and materials must be appropriate for children’s developmental needs, and adapted for their use. When engaging in play activities such as rollerblading, riding a bicycle or skateboarding, child care should ensure that these children wear protective equipment such as helmets (Division of Child Care, 2012).

            Child safety regulations regarding fire safety requires child care centers to have sufficient exits that permits prompt escape of children in the event of a fire or any other emergency. The regulation states that no child will be allowed to be cared below or above the main exit floor unless the local fire department approves this request. Interior, exterior and every stairways used by the children should have handrails that are within reach of these children. Each building is further required to have a manual or automatic operated fire alarm to provide warning in the event of a fire occurrence. The Colorado regulations regarding provision of fire safety in child care facilities requires that each exit to be visible, marked and routes to reach the exits clearly indicated (Division of Child Care, 2012).

            The Colorado regulations regarding children’s records requires child care centers to maintain an updated record of every child that includes name, current address, contacts of the parents or guardians, details of person authorized to pick the child from the center, name and address of the child’s doctor and referral hospital, health information including medical problem history, and records of injuries or accidents that occurred during care that led to hospitalization of a child (Division of Child Care, 2012).

            These regulations are not strict, but important because a child’s safe environment is defined as one that is free from harm and provides the children with security as they play, learn and develop. It is the responsibility of caregivers to provide a safe environment for the children under their care. Prevention of injuries enhances safety, child protection and minimizes various safety risks. It is important that child care centers’ environment be designed in a manner that reduces risks, protect the children from any harm and continuously plans about future occurrence of injuries and how to protect these children (Robertson, 2013).

"Falls from playground equipment," writes Robertson, "are the leading cause of injury in early childhood education environments" (2013, p. 134). Review the SAFE concepts as described on pages 150–155 of your text, and summarize the components of a SAFE playground or outdoor play space. Think of playgrounds in any early childhood environment with which you are familiar. Identify at least two features of the playground area or equipment that are hazardous. How would you use the SAFE concepts to improve these conditions?

            There are four areas that comprise a safe playground or outdoor play space. These include adequate supervision, age-appropriate design, falling surfacing, and maintenance of equipment and surfacing (Robertson, 2013).  Adequate supervision ensures that supervisors observe children as they play and respond promptly when they have reason to believe the children are in danger of any safety risk (Kienitz & Kent, 1996). Designing a playground according to specific age groups ensures that children of a certain age group can find and use equipment according to their needs (Johnston & Better Homes and Gardens Books, 2006). Provisions of falling surfaces like rubber, sand or pea gravel at an adequate depth are important to ensure cushioning characteristic on the playground. Maintenance of these equipment and surfacing is important. For example, repairing spaces that can entrap or entangle children is important to prevent injuries at the playground (Robertson, 2013).

Reference

Division of Child Care (Colorado Department of Human Services). (2012). Rules regulating         child care centers (Less than 24-hour care). 1575 Sherman Street: Denver, Colorado. Accessed on March 5, 2014 from http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheadername1=Content-            Disposition&blobheadername2=Content-      Type&blobheadervalue1=inline%3B+filename%3D%227.702+Center.pdf%22&blobhea     dervalue2=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=12518    20002192&ssbinary=true  

Johnston, L., & Better Homes and Gardens Books (Firm). (2006). Playsets: Ideas and plans for    play structures. Des Moines, Iowa: Meredith Books. 

Kienitz, E. M., & Kent, R. L. J. (1996). Accessible & Safe Playgrounds into Every Town, U.S.A. 

Robertson, C. (2013). Safety, nutrition, and health in early education (5th ed.). Belmont, CA:             Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.       

Salkind, N. J. (2002). Child development. New York: Macmillan Reference USA.