Small Daycare Safety
Safety issues in smaller daycare centers
In my article, Safety in the Daycare, general strategies were covered for helping smaller centers utilize some of the same safety strategies that larger centers with less limited funds.
This article will discuss practical strategies on a smaller scale that can be adapted from larger schools such as arranging a meeting place in case of emergency.
Presently, many schools have instituted regular lockdown drills. In this drill, teachers lock the doors to their rooms, have students sit against a wall that is out of sight of the windows and doors. The teachers turn off the lights and slip one of three cards under the door to inform school officials and rescue personnel as to the presence and status of students in the room. A green card states that all of those in the room are safe and have no or minimal injuries. A yellow card shows that there are some injured people in the room, but nothing that is life-threatening. A red card, on the other hand, shows that people in the room have either severe injuries, or that the person or persons who are inflicting the injuries are in the room. If no one places a card outside of the door, it is assumed that this is done because no one could place it outside.
The cost of this safety strategy is not prohibitive, however in many smaller centers there are either no locks on doors, or there are no doors defining different areas. To adapt this strategy for smaller centers it is important to look at the purpose behind the individual aspects, rather than the actions themselves. Even if your school does not have locks on individual areas, you can designate one safe area. This will likely be apart from the bathrooms that are typically used for tornados and other natural disasters, due to the fact that these areas typically do not have locks. This could be an office, a storage room or other area that is large enough for all students to enter and be comfortable. A note of caution- be sure that it is not against your area’s code for your children to be in it. (Another perspective is that in a true emergency of this nature, wherever your children will be safest is the best place.)
The card system is a good idea, but also affected by the fact that in many smaller centers, all children would be in the same location because there would be only one place suitable as a “safe place.” Also, it would be ill-advised to display to any suspicious person where you and the children are located. In larger schools, it can be assumed that students would be located in many rooms of the school, but smaller daycare centers have the chance to be completely hidden.
Other articles in this series:
Look back in the near future for more practical ideas and information to increase safety in the small daycare setting.
Visit my blog for another perspective on this issue.
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