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#1 Posted : 23 April 2003 15:08:00(UTC)
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Posted By Edel Breslin Has anyone got systems in place for children attending 3rd level. Yound children attend our school of music and the some safety issues to be dealt with are as follows: parents use this as a babysitting service - it is a busy area with lack of carparking so they drop off the children to find their own way into the college and often are late in picking them up. there is no supervision of the children outside class hours, as there is no area for this, and lecturers are paid to lecturer and not supervise out of class times. the porters of the buildings are often male and hence there are issues re: children left alone with them in the evening while they wait for their parents. children must use the same toliets as adult staff and students one to one teaching takes place which may cause problems with regard to assault / molest etc. has anyone encountered this before If so I would be delighted to hear from you
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#2 Posted : 24 April 2003 09:24:00(UTC)
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Posted By Ken Taylor You seem to have a host of potential risks here - both for the children and the organisation. Whenever nursery or pre-prep age children attend our senior schools they are always supervised until discharged to their parents. School children should not be using the same toilets as staff (with a very few recognised exceptions). You really need some written procedures in place that incorporate control measures based upon the various risks present. These are likely to be along the lines of the standard practices of nursery and primary level schools (both for normal in-school activity and visits) and your local education authority advisers should be able to point you to the relevant guidance.
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#3 Posted : 24 April 2003 10:10:00(UTC)
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Posted By Mike MacLaurin Your establishment management appears to have overlooked some major and fundamental issues of childcare responsibilities that place you in a highly vulnerable situation.Are you registered with your local Social Services Dept Child care Registration Unit. Apparently not otherwise the issues you cite would have had to have been properly addressed.I suggest you contact them urgently for their guidance.
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#4 Posted : 24 April 2003 11:45:00(UTC)
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Posted By Graham Bullough In addition to the responses already made, I would advise that the college/institution involved checks the design of the balustrades for its stairways and landings - assuming it occupies more than a ground floor. In the past I have had to advise some colleges and secondary schools that their balustrades were blatantly unsafe for young children because they incorporated significant gaps. This was because the balustrades consisted of simple uprights beneath each handrail spaced at 10 inches/25cms or even more apart with no infill. Presumably this design was cheap and the architects involved never envisaged that young children would enter such buildings for all sorts of reasons, e.g. accompanying parents on open days, being brought to creches or just meeting, waiting for or accompanying parents who are members of staff. Don't forget the cleaners before or after normal college hours, especially those who are single parents who can't afford or can't always arrange for a friend or relative to look after their children. Therefore, some cleaners regularly or occasionally bring their children to work, and inevitably cannot always keep an eye on them. Fortunately the poor balustrade designs I have encountered have not been involved in serious injury to children, but there may be other readers of this forum who do know of such incidents. If any readers are involved with premises which have such balustrades, the remedy is to have suitably robust panels fitted to the uprights so as to close most of the space beneath the handrails. Don't have horizontal or inclined bars because these form step features which children can use to climb on the balustrades.
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#5 Posted : 24 April 2003 13:51:00(UTC)
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Posted By Bob Youel I agree with the other opinions posted. However do not forget that women as as likely to be a hazard to children as men. In many cases they are more of a hazard - Figures can be obtained from the appropriate sources police and social security etc.
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