Health & Safety concerns facing nurseries

According to our latest survey of nurseries, the top 5 Health & Safety issues facing childcare providers are:

1. Workplace Health, Safety and Workfare
2. Risk Assessments
3. First Aid
4. Fire Safety
5. Food Hygiene

Safeguarding

Whilst the confidence in dealing with Safeguarding issues was relatively high, at 87%, over 10% of respondents admitted they did not even have a Safeguarding policy in place.

Time well spent?

Our research has shown that over 30% of respondents spend more than 3 hours a week addressing Health & Safety tasks, while 10% spend more than 5 hours a week.

With 20% of respondents admitting they have no support in place at all for Health & Safety, could outsourcing their Health & Safety responsibilities save them both time and money?

The NDNA‘s Annual Survey 2015 has shown that although two thirds of nurseries have been inspected by Ofsted since 2012 only 24% have been rated ‘Outstanding’, while 11% require improvement.

This highlights that although nursery owners are putting in a considerable amount of time and effort, their lack of experience in Health & Safety procedures and legislation is hampering their ratings.

And with 85% of nurseries considering raising their fees in 2015, improved ratings will give any nursery a competitive advantage over their competition.

Here at Citation we have a range of expert consultants that can help your Nursery with all aspects of Health & Safety, and having been a partner with the NDNA for many years we understand the issues that you may face in your sector.

So, if you are a nursery owner and feel you are spending too long on Health & Safety, or you are looking to improve your Ofsted rating, get in touch now and find out how we can help improve your business.