Inspirational and Empowering Child Care Business Owners To Build Successful Child Care Businesses

Posts tagged ‘van safety’

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

Be sure to get your copy of the Summer Camp Planning eGuide

Category:

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

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5 Very Important Van Safety Tips and Procedures to Follow

The summer time is a great time to take the children on fun field trips. In fact, the summertime is a very busy field trip season for childcare programs and with that in mind; you must be sure that you have field trip policies and safety procedures in place that will assure that child are safe while on field trips.

According to the Department of Geosciences, “In 2012, there was at least two deaths of children due to hyperthermia (heat stroke) after being in hot cars, trucks, vans and SUV’s.  In 2011 there were at least 33 juvenile vehicular hyperthermia fatalities.

Since 1998 there have been at least a total of 529 of these needless tragedies.  This study shows that these incidents can occur on days with relatively mild (i.e., ~ 70 degrees F) temperatures and that vehicles can reach life-threatening temperatures very rapidly.”

With those statistics in mind, here are five very important van safety Procedures to follow in your Child Care Business:

  1. Conduct a safety check on the van before allowing the children to enter the van.
  2. Conduct a face to name head counts before leaving the building
  3. When the children exit the van (s); check the van for children before locking the doors, then conduct head counts again!
  4. Require that at least 2 adults are on the van with the children to verify that all the children have entered and departed the van.
  5. Check the van for kids, before locking the Doors!!!

For more van safety procedures or to find out how to create a fun and safe Summer program, be sure to check out the Summer Camp Planning eGuide!

Also, be sure to check out this Fact Sheet about Hyperthemia Deaths, due to children being left in vans or cars. Click here

With Summer Fun and Safety in mind!

Shiketa Morgan

Download Your Copy Today!

Category:

Fieldtrips, School-Age Program, Summer Program

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