topic 2 coordinate the response to accidents & emergencies

8/22/2019 Topic 2 Coordinate the Response to Accidents & Emergencies

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Coordinate The

Response toAccidents &

Emergencies


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IntroductionIn this section, you will look at:

emergencies that might occur in a childrens service

emergency procedures that need to be written and practised

meeting the needs of children, parents and staff in an emergency

reviewing, updating, and implementing the Services Policies andProcedures.

On completion of this section, you should know how to identify possibleemergencies, write contingency plans and emergency procedures, updatepolicies and keep accurate records.


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Emergencies That Occur

There are many emergency situations that can occur in our lives.

Being prepared, and knowing what to do in any emergency, is the keyto surviving. Emergencies could include a medical problem, a situation

of threat or danger such as a chemical spill outside a service, a fire in

the kitchen of a service, a severe storm or a parent becoming violent

when asked to leave.


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Most emergencies can be categorised into one of four types:

Medical - Any medical problem that might occur where you

will need to use your First Aid skills and, possibly, an

organised Emergency Plan.

Internal Any problem that could occur within the buildingthat will cause harm to the occupants of the building.

External Any problem that could occur outside the service

and have impact on the occupants of the building.

EnvironmentalAny act of nature that could occur around

the building and cause harm to the occupants of the

building.


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Activity List as many actual emergencies as you can think of

in the table below, next to the Emergency Type.Emergency Type Actual Emergency

Medical:(Any medical problem that might

occur where you will need to use yourFirst Aid skills and, possibly, anorganised Emergency Plan)

Internal:(Any problem that could occur withinthe centre that will cause harm to theoccupants of the building)

External:(Any problem that could occur outsidethe centre and have impact on theoccupants of the building)

Environmental:(Any act of nature that could occuraround the centre and cause harm tothe occupants of the building)


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Planning ForEmergencies

To assist in planning for emergencies, the following list ofquestions may be useful as a base for your discussions.

What is the possible emergency?

What is the likely outcome? Is there potential for injury? How serious?

What tasks will the Person in Charge be responsible for?

What tasks will Group Leaders/supervisors be responsiblefor?

What tasks will other staff be responsible for?

How will parents be informed?

What preparations should be made in advance?


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Meeting ChildrensNeeds

Within a childrens service, there may be children aged from 6 weeks to

12 years. These children come to services from a variety of

backgrounds, with differing skills and knowledge. Part of our

emergency planning must be to consider how the children will react in

any given situation. How are you going to prepare and support children

through a traumatic incident?

Children like routine. When an emergency occurs, it is usually loud,

intrusive, busy and scary. Children will become upset, cry, scream or

hide. Staff can also become agitated, upset and possibly frozen. It

can be very difficult to calm children and staff while also trying to move

everyone to a safe area. Added to this, there may be children and staff

who are injured.


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The key is to practise the evacuation scenarios and

talk to older children about what they need to do.Have the evacuation alarm ringing so that children,

staff and visitors know what to do when they hear that

loud noise. Talk to children about their feelings it is

OK to be scared, but they must follow the adults and

leave the areas together (not hide away).

The practices will assist staff to identify the children

(and adults) who may react badly in a real situation.

Being forewarned, staff can give additional assistanceand reassurance to these children and adults.


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You must consider childrens emotional needs when

writing your Emergency Procedures. Often, childrenwho are hurried become more distressed, so, the

evacuation should be calm and steady, not rushed.

Having identified the children that may become very

frightened when the alarm sounds, make sure a staff

member is assigned to that child to take their hand,talk calmly to them and walk with them.

Remember that younger children are more likely to

become upset, so direct any extra staff (eg. the

cook) to younger groups to hold and comfortchildren, as they are walked to safety.


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Involving & InformingParents

We work in partnership with parents. Ask parents to be involved inplanning the emergency procedures for your service. Parents have awide range of skills and knowledge that we can tap into, if weencourage their participation. It is also important to prepare parents foremergency situations. This could be done by having parents

represented on your OHS Committee, putting draft plans up on noticeboards for parents to comment on and sending a copy of the draftevacuation plans home to every family and asking for their feedback.Identify all the possible emergencies that might occur at the service andinform families about them. Ask families for information on how theywould like to be informed of an incident? This feedback could help your

service to sensitively deal with a parents thoughts and emotions; forexample, ring parents as soon as possible after an incident andreassure them about the safety of their child, or organise de-briefingsessions by professional counsellors after a major incident.


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Writing emergency procedures includes:

consideration of how to inform parents of an event

sensitively

how to access contact numbers for

parents/guardians

keeping sensitive information confidential

accurate documentation of events

individual plans for specific children

(custody/medical conditions).


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Writing EmergencyProcedures

The first step to writing or re-writing emergency procedures is to set

up a small committee to review the necessary information and write

the procedures. This can be a combination of staff, parents and

community members who have the necessary skills and experience

to be able to compile your Emergency Procedures.

Within a Family Day Care Scheme, procedures may be written by

consulting with Scheme Managers and other providers in your area.

Your scheme may have some basic plans that you could

individualise for your home. Ask your parents to assist in writing the

plans for your home.


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Your Emergency Evacuation Plan:

The number of Safety Wardens you appoint will depend on the

size of your building and staff. A Safety Warden could be the

person in charge of a group of children. This person would then

be responsible for ensuring all children, staff and volunteers within

their room were safely evacuated (count heads and mark

everyone off on the Sign In sheet for that group). Everyone

remains in the safety area until the all clear is given.

The Evacuation Plan should be on A3 paper, show the layout of

the whole building and have the escape routes highlighted,

specific to each area. This means that the Evacuation Plan for

the babies room only shows their evacuation route and meeting

point, the toddlers shows the toddlers route and meeting pointetc.


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In case of Fire, staff can follow theRACE process. This is:

RESCUE: Rescue children andadults in your vicinity, withoutendangering yourself. Never uselifts.

ALARM: Use break glass alarmsor call out to notify other staff.

CONFINE: If you are able to do sosafely, close all doors andwindows as you go.

EVACUATE Assist all children,staff and visitors to safely exit thebuilding and meet at thedesignated safe place. Seekmedical aid if required.


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For some of the risks, evacuation of the building is not an

option (cyclone, hold up, aggressive parent). Sometimes, the

plan calls for a Lockdown within the building to ensureeveryones safety. This drill needs to be practiced in the

same way as the evacuation process.

A lockdown process may include:

the person in charge of the service calls for

emergency assistance (dial 000)

a pre-arranged lockdown signal will be given to

other staff

staff will lock all doors and windows and keep

children, staff and volunteers inside the building

doors will not be opened until the person in charge

gives the all clear signal.

U d ti P li i &


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Updating Policies &Procedures

Your service should update their Emergency Procedures:

when a new child is enrolled who requires special consideration because of adisability, family situation or medical problem

when you evaluate an evacuation practice and need to improve the plan

annually, as part of your services review process

after extensions to the building or re-arrangement of rooms

following a parent concern or suggestion

when new legislation is introduced.

Remember that the review, evaluation and updating process involves consultationwith staff and families and consultation with outside specialty services, such as yourlicensing department and fire department.


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Training Staff

Not only must a service provide regular training for staff, but they need

to be able to show the content of the training, who attended, and thatstaff understood the instructions which must be followed. Initial training

should form part of the Orientation process for new staff to your service.


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Staff need to be thoroughly trained in:

how to report an emergency (codes to indicate

problems)

the emergency evacuation process

how to check the building and be alert for danger in

a fire situation (hot doors, smoke)

the lockdown process

their responsibilities in every emergency situation

the location of fire fighting equipment

how to use basic fire fighting equipment.


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Basic fire fighting information and a review of the emergency

plans and each persons responsibilities should occur, at least

annually, at a formal training session with staff. A copy of the

content of the training session must be kept, along with thesigned staff attendance sheets. Keep these records in a fire-

proof location.

R l E ti


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Regular EvacuationPractice

We have already discussed the importance of regular practice both for thestaff and the children. The more the processes are practised, the more theywill become second nature during a real emergency.

Check your state regulations to see what the legislative compliance mightbe. Are you required to hold monthly practices or three monthly practices?

Apart from the legislative requirements, what are your duty of careobligations? Surely, more frequent practices are better.

Sometimes, the best practice is one that occurs with no prior warning tostaff. The emergency co-ordinator chooses a time and sets off the practicealarm. A red box could be placed somewhere within the building to showthe fire location. If a different location is used at each practice, staff will

build up knowledge about using alternative processes.

Evacuation practices should occur on different days, and at different timesof the day, to ensure all children and staff have an opportunity to participate.


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Keeping Records

We have talked about the records and documentation that

we need to be kept for emergency procedures,evacuations, training and communicating with families. This

documentation becomes part of Quality Assurance. It also

shows that we have fulfilled our duty of care obligations to

children, families and staff.


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Evaluation & ReviewAfter every evacuation practice you must evaluate the success of the plan.

Was the plan followed?

Were all children, staff and visitors safely evacuated?

Were the windows and doors closed?

Were all areas checked?

Did staff take the daily attendance sheet, emergency parent numbers,portable phone, eg, out of the building?

Was the evacuation accomplished in a reasonable time frame?


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As well as evaluating specific procedures as they are

practised, it is crucial to also look at the big picture. Inorder to know whether your plans and policies are effective

and meeting the needs of your service and families, every

service must undertake a self-evaluation. All stakeholders

at your service should participate in this review families,

other professionals, staff and management.

Your service should use a planning cycle, similar to that

used for planning programmes for children observation,

planning, implementation and evaluation. This becomes a

continuous process of ongoing service improvement.


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Every Policy and Procedure within the service must bereviewed, at least annually, through consultation with all your

stakeholders staff, management, families and any external

professionals involved in the procedures, as industry experts.

Other emergency procedures can be evaluated after theyhave been practised, using similar questioning.

The evaluation is like the observation phase. It assesses

strengths and needs. Those areas that are well-covered

remain and the weak links are revised, implemented and

tested. So, the cycle begins again.


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Summary Emergencies can be medical, internal, external or environmental.

You must consider all emergencies that might arise under each area

and work out contingency plans, in consultation with families, staff

and community.

All emergency procedures must be in written form and practised

regularly. Evacuation Plans must be visible in each area of your

service.

If there is a fire, follow the RACE process Rescue, Alarm, Confine,Evacuate.


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As with all Policies and Procedures, the emergency plans

and processes must be evaluated and updated annually, in

consultation with families, staff and community experts.

Staff training is a key element in being prepared for the

unexpected. Your service must keep records of staff training

that include content and attendance.

Emergencies occur without warning. If we practice different

scenarios for emergencies that MAY occur and undertake

training, we should be prepared to act quickly, in the event of

a true emergency.

topic 2 coordinate the response to accidents & emergencies

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