Policy: Accidents and First Aid

In this article, we look at our policy regarding accidents, injuries, when to administer first aid and when we call emergency services for support...

Accidents and First Aid

At Hatching Dragons  we aim to protect children at all times. We recognise that accidents or incidents may sometimes occur. We follow this policy and procedure to ensure all parties are supported and cared for when accidents or incidents happen; and that the circumstances of the accident or incident are reviewed with a view to minimising any future risks.

The following procedure will be carried out in dealing with the situation:

• The child will be comforted and reassured, the child will be checked for a period of 10 minutes by staff.
• The extent of the injury will be assessed and if necessary, call for medical support/ambulance
• The first aid procedures will be carried out, if necessary, by a trained first aider
• Once the child is more settled, the parent/carer will be contacted and informed of the accident and if necessary, to ask you to return to care for your child/meet me at the hospital.
• A phone call to the parents or carers will always be made following a head injury.

Accidents

• The person responsible for reporting accidents, incidents or near misses is the member of staff who saw the incident or was first to find the child where there are no witnesses. They must record it on an Accident Form on EY Log and report it to the nursery manager - take a photo of the signed form and send via Slack / Google photo unless the nursery management software has in built reporting protocols for this need.
• Other staff who have witnessed the accident may also be required to countersign a statement of fact to support the form, if online, and if in hard copy, a countersignature section will be provided in the form. In more serious cases, Witnesses will be required to provide a formal statement. This should be done as soon as the accident is dealt with, whilst the details are still clearly remembered and our incident procedures will be followed. 
• Parents must be shown the Accident Report, informed of any first aid treatment given and asked to sign it on the same day, or as soon as reasonably practicable after
• The nursery manager reviews the accident forms at least monthly/ for patterns, e.g. one child having a repeated number of accidents, a particular area in the nursery or a particular time of the day when most accidents happen. Any patterns will be investigated by the nursery manager and all necessary steps to reduce risks are put in place
• The nursery manager will report serious accidents to the registered person for investigation for further action to be taken (i.e. a full risk assessment or report under Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR))

• Where medical attention is required, a senior member of staff will notify the parent(s) as soon as possible whilst caring for the child appropriately
• Where medical treatment is required the nursery manager will follow the insurance company procedures, which may involve informing them in writing of the accident
• The nursery manager/registered provider will report any accidents of a serious nature to Ofsted and the local authority children’s social care team (as the local child protection agency), where necessary. Where relevant such accidents will also be reported to the local authority environmental health department or the Health and Safety Executive and their advice followed. Notification must be made as soon as is reasonably practical, but in any event within 14 days of the incident occurring.
• Accident of a serious nature which are reportable to Ofsted  are as follows:
  

  Serious injuries, accidents and illnesses

  • anything that requires resuscitation
  • admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours
  • a broken bone or fracture
  • dislocation of any major joint, such as the shoulder, knee, hip or elbow
  • any loss of consciousness
  • severe breathing difficulties, including asphyxia
  • anything leading to hypothermia or heat-induced illness

  Minor injuries

  You do not need to tell Ofsted about minor injuries, even if treated at a hospital (for less than 24 hours). These include:

  • animal and insect bites, such as a bee sting that doesn’t cause an allergic reaction
  • sprains, strains and bruising, for example if a child sprains their wrist tripping over their shoelaces
  • cuts and grazes
  • minor burns and scalds
  • dislocation of minor joints, such as a finger or toe
  • wound infections

  Eyes

  You must report to Ofsted if a child suffers any loss of sight, whether it is temporary or permanent. You must also tell us about any:

  • penetrating injury to the child’s eye
  • chemical or hot metal burn to the child’s eye

  Substances and electricity

  If a child in your care suffers any injury from, or requires medical treatment for, any of the following situations you must tell Ofsted:

  • from absorption of any substance:
    • by inhalation
    • by ingestion
    • through the skin
  • from an electric shock or electrical burn
  • where there is reason to believe it resulted from exposure to:
    • a harmful substance
    • a biological agent
    • a toxin
    • an infected material
   

Head injuries

If a child has a head injury in the setting then we will follow the following procedure:

• Calm the child
• Assess the child’s condition to ascertain if a hospital or ambulance is required. We will follow our procedure for this if this is required (see below)
• If the skin is not broken we will administer a cold compress for short periods of time, repeated until the parent arrives to collect their child
• If the skin is broken then we will follow our first aid training and stem the bleeding
• Call the parent and make them aware of the injury
• Complete the accident form
• Keep the child in a calm and quiet area whilst awaiting collection
• We will follow the advice on the NHS website as per all head injuries https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/minor-head-injury/
• For major head injuries we will follow our first aid training.

Transporting children to hospital procedure

The nursery manager/staff member must:

• Call for an ambulance immediately if the injury is severe. DO NOT attempt to transport the sick child in your own vehicle
• Whilst waiting for the ambulance, contact the parent(s) and arrange to meet them at the hospital
• Arrange for the most appropriate member of staff to accompany the child taking with them any relevant information such as registration forms, relevant medication sheets, medication and the child’s comforter
• Redeploy staff if necessary to ensure there is adequate staff deployment to care for the remaining children. This may mean temporarily grouping the children together
• Inform a member of the management team immediately
• Remain calm at all times. Children who witness an incident may well be affected by it and may need lots of cuddles and reassurance. Staff may also require additional support following the accident.

First aid

• The first aid boxes are located in each nursery room and in the evacuation bags
• These are accessible at all times with appropriate content for use with children.
• The nursery manager for first aid checks the contents of the boxes regularly every month and replaces items that have been used or are out of date.
• The staff first aid box is kept in the nursery manager’s office. This is kept out of reach of the children.
• First aid boxes should only contain items permitted by the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations Act 1981, such as sterile dressings, bandages and eye pads. No other medical items, such as paracetamol should be kept in them.

Managers must undertake a regular review of the First Aid Services Monitoring Form to check facilities 

Nominated Person & PFA Training

• The appointed person(s) responsible for first aid is the nursery manager
• Most of the staff are trained in paediatric first aid and this training is updated every three years.
• All first aid trained staff are listed in every room. When children are taken on an outing away from our nursery, we will always ensure they are accompanied by at least one member of staff who is trained in first aid. A first aid box is taken on all outings.

Food Safety and play  

Children are supervised during meal times and food is adequately cut up to reduce choking. The use of food as a play material is discouraged. However, as we understand that learning experiences are provided through exploring different malleable materials the following may be used. These are risk assessed and presented differently to the way it would be presented for eating e.g. in trays,

• Playdough
• Cornflour
• Dried pasta, rice and pulses.

Food items may also be incorporated into the role play area to enrich the learning experiences for children, e.g. Fruits and Vegetables. Children will be supervised during these activities.

Personal protective equipment (PPE)

The nursery provides staff with PPE according to the need of the task or activity. Staff must wear PPE to protect themselves and the children during tasks that involve contact with bodily fluids. PPE is also provided for domestic tasks. Staff are consulted when choosing PPE to ensure all allergies and individual needs are supported and this is evaluated on an ongoing basis.

Dealing with blood

We may not be aware that any child attending the nursery has a condition that may be transmitted via blood. Any staff member dealing with blood must:

• Always take precautions when cleaning wounds as some conditions such as hepatitis or the HIV virus can be transmitted via blood.
• Wear disposable gloves and wipe up any blood spillage with disposable cloths, neat sterilising fluid or freshly diluted bleach (one part diluted with 10 parts water). Such solutions must be carefully disposed of immediately after use.

Needle punctures and sharps injury

We recognise that injuries from needles, broken glass and so on may result in blood-borne infections and that staff must take great care in the collection and disposal of this type of material. For the safety and well-being of the employees, any staff member dealing with needles, broken glass etc. must treat them as contaminated waste. If a needle is found the local authority must be contacted to deal with its disposal.

At hatching Dragons we treat our responsibilities and obligations in respect of health and safety as a priority and we provide ongoing training to all members of staff which reflects best practice and is in line with current health and safety legislation.

Injuries arising from incorrectly administered medicine

EYFS 3.26 ensure staff summon emergency help and understand instructions such as those for the safety of medicines, in particular what action to take if medicine is accidentally administered.

This welfare requirement in the EYFS specifically speaks to what procedures must be followed in the event that a child mistakenly injects, or is injured by a syringe or other form of medication mistakenly or incorrectly administered:

• Call 999 immediately (before the manager)
• Send someone to inform the manager
• Call the parents to notify them of the incident
• Follow medical advice and first aid policy if required
• Should the child require to go to hospital, follow the hospitalisation procedure