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Archive for the ‘Van Safety’ Category

Training New Staff is a Vital Part of Building a Safe Childcare Program

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On April 9, 2024, I received a newsletter from my insurance courier, Markel. The newsletter was all about the importance of training new hires in childcare. Moreover, the newsletter included the following statistic: The U. S. Bureau of Labor statistics, as many as 78,000 Americans were forced to stay home from work each month during 2023 because of childcare problems.

After reading the introduction of the newsletter mentioned above, I thought about the fact that I have noticed a decline in experienced childcare professionals and the training demand that it has placed on the management team at my facility.

In fact, many years ago, you could hire a teacher that had formal childcare education from a local college. Today, that seems to be very rare and Owners or forced to provide on the job training, then provide professional development assistance to further education.

Today, it is vital that Childcare Owners, assure that new staff are trained well to assure quality care. Moreover, when you hire staff that are not properly trained, here are some potential risks that come with hiring inexperienced and untrained staff:

  • Poor supervision in classrooms and on the playground
  • The inability to provide proper first aid.
  • Work injuries
  • Broken equipment
  • Unmet sanitation standards
  • Inappropriate disciplinary actions
  • Transporation problems, safe sleep issues, etc.

You can reduce your business risk and take steps to assure that new staff are properly trained to assure safe childcare. Here are seven things that you must do upon hiring new staff:

  1. Conduct background screenings on all new staff members.
  2. Be sure that all new staff members have first aid and CPR training.
  3. Host an onboarding orientation and review all of your center policies and procedures at the orientation.
  4. Hold a training on safety and supervision.
  5. Assign an experienced staff member to train, work with and mentor the new staff members.
  6. During the 1st 90-days of employment, provide ongoing training in the following areas: medication administration, emergency preparedness, indoor outdoor safety, child abuse & neglect and child development.
  7. Provide the new staff with weekly childcare articles or resources to empower the staff member.

I hope that you found this blog post to be helpful to you and to also reflect on how safety issues could even affect your insurance rate. The next time that you hire a new staff member, keep the safety of the children in mind.

Source: http://www.markel.com |The importance of training New Hires in Child Care

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Category:

child safety, Health/Safety, Van Safety

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Van Maintenance Tips!

I will be the first to admit that I am no expert when it comes to maintaining cars or vans. In fact, I call my husband when we have an issue with our childcare van.

Yesterday, I noticed that there was a nail in the rear tire of the van and seeing that nail in the tire reminded me that it is a good idea to conduct a safety inspection of the van before transporting the children.

I also noticed that the tread on the back tires were getting low, so I decided to just replace the rear tires and not worry about having a flat tire.

Today I want to inspire you to do a safety check on your vans, before transporting children in the vans. In fact, I believe that conducting a safety check will prevent an UN-expected inconvenience of a flat tire or from getting a traffic ticket because your blinker light is out.

Also, as the weather gets warmer, it is also a good idea to get your radiator checked and have all the fluids checked in your van.

Several, years ago, I received a phone call from my school-age teacher while she was on a field trip with the children and she said, “We have a flat tire.”  This is why it is vital that you have really good tires and that there are two teachers on the field trip, in the event of an emergency on the road.

To assure that you are prepared in the event of an emergency, have emergency back-up transportation in place; be sure that there is a spare tire in the van and that someone is able to help the staff in the event of a van emergency.

Moreover, be sure that there are books or materials on the van that will keep the children occupied until the van is running again or until back-up transportation arrives.

Have you had your van serviced lately? If not, today is a great day to get a maintenance check. Before you transport children, be sure to check to see that the horn, blinkers, lights, brakes and wipers are working.

As always, I look forward to your comments and thoughts about this post.

With Getting Prepared For a fun and Safe Summer in mind!

Shiketa Morgan

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Category:

Child Care Center, School-Age Program, Summer Program, Van Safety

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