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Section 7. Health, Hygiene and Safety
This section explores health, safety and hygiene, both in and around a childminding setting. It will help you to provide a professional service and meet any Childminding Standards and legal obligations.
Contents
- Health
- Medicines
- Sick Children
- Accidents and Emergencies
- First Aid Kit
- Recognising Illness
- Exclusion Periods For Communicable Diseases
- Smoking
- Your Health
- Nutrition and Diet
- Special Dietary Requirements
- Hygiene
- Hand Washing
- Keeping the Kitchen Clean and Hygienic
- Storing Foods
- Food Preparation
- Nappies
- Medical Waste
- Fire Safety
- Hazards
- Safety Equipment
- Outdoor Play Areas
- Teaching Children to be Safe
- Risk Assessment
- Pets
Quotes from this Chapter:
Exclusion Periods For Communicable Diseases
Communicable diseases are infections or illnesses caused by microbiological agents comprising of bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites or prions which can be passed from person to person, both directly or indirectly. Some communicable diseases must be notified, in accordance with the Public Health Act of 1984, to the Consultant at the Communicable Disease Control Unit (CCDC). Each local Health Authority will have a consultant in communicable disease to whom you can talk concerns over with and to whom information should be supplied where a child's doctor has not already done so.
Examples of notifiable diseases are as follows: Anthrax, Cholera, Diphtheria, E. Coli, Food Poisoning, Hepatitis, Leprosy, Malaria, Measles, Meningitis, Mumps, Plague, Poliomyelitis, Rabies, Rubella (German Measles), Salmonella, Scarlet Fever, Shigella (Bacterial Dysentery),Tetanus, Tuberculosis, Typhoid/Paratyphoid Fever, Whooping Cough and Yellow Fever. Which diseases are considered notifiable can vary slightly according to region. For example, in Scotland and Northern Ireland Chicken Pox and Rabies are also notifiable. The following are exclusion periods for communicable diseases.
Risk Assessment
There are many areas in the home that contain potential risk of harm to the people in it. The aim of risk assessment is to consider the current steps in place to reduce these risks, and to address any areas which could be further improved. There are five steps, identifying possible dangers (the hazards), deciding who might be harmed and how, estimating the chance of an injury happening (the risk), deciding on any measures to prevent or reduce the risk and reviewing and updating regularly.
Do not over complicate your risk assessments, for many childminding scenario the risks are well known and the necessary control measures easy to apply. The table below demonstrates the thought process involved in assessing risks, writing out risk assessments for all hazards is not necessary, however it may help to keep a note of improvements that you are intending to make.
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