Rank: Forum user
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Hi
I need to carry out a fire risk assessment for an on site nursery, with ages from 12 months to 5 years. Apart from the usual fire aspects? I also have to consider child protection issues so any help or guidance would be much appreciated.
Cheers
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Rank: New forum user
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are you the responsible person for the building, if not then its someone elses responsibility to do this. If so then you may have to undergo appropriate training to ensure competency to carry out the task. If you take on the task without the competency then GOOD LUCK.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Hospital boy - Not quite sure where you are coming from here? If you need to carry out a FRA and you are the competent person to do so - then go to it. Can't really see where child protection comes into the equation. You may need to evidence that you have had some child protection training, equally you may need to be CRB'd to get into the premises and I am sure you would discuss your assessment with the relevant managers (who will be fully conversant with child protection). Is there sleeping risk here? ages from 12 months to 5 years would suggest so.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Wow and the award for most un-helpful reply goes to ronniebrum...
Hospital Boy
If you do an internet search for Fire Risk Assessment in nursery's you will find quite a few examples, as mentioned above by Bilbo, child protection would not really be an issue or IMO not one that would be recorded on a fire risk assessment.
The biggest risk would be the age of the children and ratio of adult to child (would have to find out what the ratio should be) and getting them evacuated. My better half is a pre-school Manager so if you need any info let me know and I will find out what she has.
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Rank: Super forum user
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HB: What floor is the nursery on??? as if there are stairs involved, it can all get a little tricky.
When considering staff to kiddie ratio, don't forget that at least one member of staff will be needed to remain with the kids at the assembly point. Also, the assembly point should be located with weather cover in mind, and in an ideal world, be sited where no roads need to be crossed to access it.
I did a FRA at a central London nursery in a basement, with MOE's up 2 x tight narrow stone staircases. It had toddlers and sleeping babies and relied on itinerant nursery students for about 33% of it's staff, not to mention only a manual fire alarm system.
The assembly point was in a neighbouring business which closed two hours before the nursery, which meant the babies would be dumped on the pavement in the raid in their baby-grows (in the rain)!
Some mums and au pairs would leave their pushchairs & prams in the MOEs whilst they enjoyed a break at a nearby cafe whilst the toddler was at the nursery.
The job was a nightmare, which required lots of time, multiple meetings & substantial (reluctant) investment in a new afd system and additional fire separation to enable a progressive horizontal evacuation system to be instigated.
Good luck and make sure you are given plenty of time to do this one 101% properly. If it all goes terribly wrong later, parents will litigate if their most precious cargo is put at risk or God forbid, injured. I promised myself never to do another one!!!!
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Rank: Super forum user
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Hospital Boy,
I think I'd tend to treat this in a similar way to evacuating a post-op ward, elderly persons, hosipce and so on, with the difference that the vulnerable people are rather easier to carry. Staff rations are very important, but what we have rep[eatedly found in our residential services is that nobody would ever pay for enough workers to get everybody out quickly, especially at night, and that there would be a lot of staff standing around with nothing to do except wait for a fire. I think Messy is bang on the right lines, but do bear in mind that in the event of a fire any minor inconvenience (wet toddlers) will be outweighted by the lives you have undoubtedly saved,
John
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