Every year, childcare providers in Oregon are required to take annual #health_and_safety training. This training is designed to help providers create a safe and healthy environment for the children in their care.
ChildCareEd offers a variety of courses that cover the topics required by the Oregon Center for Career Development in Childhood Care and Education (OCCD), as well as additional topics that are important for childcare providers to know.
Pillars of Health and Safety in Child Care
The following are the pillars of health and safety in child care:
- Infection prevention and control: This includes practices such as handwashing, cleaning and disinfecting surfaces, and preventing the spread of germs.
- Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and safe sleep practices: This includes ensuring that infants sleep on their backs, in a crib or bassinet, and without any soft objects or loose bedding in the crib.
- Administration of medication: This includes following the correct procedures for giving children medication, including the correct dosage, route of administration, and timing.
- Food allergies and anaphylaxis: This includes recognizing the signs and symptoms of food allergies and anaphylaxis, and knowing how to respond in an emergency.
- Building and physical premises safety: This includes ensuring that the child care setting is safe for children, including having safe playground equipment, fire alarms and extinguishers, and first aid kits.
- Emergency preparedness and response: This includes having a plan for responding to emergencies, such as fire, natural disasters, or medical emergencies.
- Handling and storage of hazardous materials: This includes ensuring that hazardous materials are properly labeled, stored, and disposed of.
- Appropriate precautions in transporting children: This includes using car seats and booster seats that are appropriate for the child's age and size, and following the correct procedures for transporting children in vehicles.
Preventative Health and Safety
Preventative health and safety is an important part of providing quality child care. By taking steps to prevent accidents and injuries, providers can create a safe and healthy environment for children.
Some of the things that providers can do to promote preventive health and safety include:
- Creating a safe physical environment: This includes having safe playground equipment, child-proofed cabinets and drawers, and a first aid kit.
- Teaching children about safety: This includes teaching children about fire safety, stranger danger, and how to stay safe in the water.
- Monitoring children closely: This means being aware of where children are at all times and intervening when necessary.
- Supervising children appropriately: This means having enough staff to supervise the number of children in care.
- Enforcing safety rules: This means setting clear rules and expectations for children and following through with consequences when rules are broken.
Health & Nutrition
Health and nutrition are also important aspects of child care. Providers should provide children with healthy food and snacks, and encourage children to drink plenty of water.
Providers should also be aware of the signs and symptoms of common childhood illnesses, and know how to prevent the spread of germs.
By taking steps to promote health and safety, providers can help ensure that children have a safe and healthy experience in child care.
Additional health and safety courses offered by ChildCareEd include:
ChildCareEd also offers a variety of other courses that are relevant to childcare providers, such as:
- Child Development
- Early Childhood Education
- Positive Discipline