Do you have a risk assessment for that?

Okay, we hear you. Risk assessments can sometimes feel onerous. There are a multitude of experiences, hazards and events that require risk assessing in our early education and care services and the paperwork can feel a little overwhelming at times. But, we want you to think about risk assessments as being a positive thing.

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Risk Assessing Hazards

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Doing your morning safety checklist, you discover that one of the trees in your outdoor area has begun to flower over the course of the weekend and is now attracting many bees. You are faced with a predicament. As a service that prides itself on its commitment to sustainability practice, you know that the bees are a vital part of the eco-system. Likewise, you are committed to providing an environment that keeps children same from harm and the idea of a child being stung by a bee is awful. Luckily for you, you've got Sprout. You record the hazard on the checklist feature - even snapping a few photographs to upload, so that your manager can see. Then, you assess the risk of the hazard. Everything is recorded clearly and you can work through the process to ensure the risk to children is minimised.

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Other Risk Assessment

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You might also complete risk assessments on other experiences, environmental factors, and events, such as:

• Children playing barefoot outdoors
• Using a slackline in the outdoor environment
• Using glass jars for paint
• Excursions
• Weather events
• Having a camp fire

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The list really could go on. So how do you decide what to risk assess? The Risk Assessment and Management Tool developed and distributed by ACECQA supports services to identify what hazards are in their service and how to complete appropriate risk assessments within their team.

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Using Risk Assessment to Support Practice

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A Nominated Supervisor we spoke with shared how their service used a risk assessment to support their practice during a compliance visit.

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Our service has a philosophy that embraces risky play. One day, a group of preschool aged children decided to construct their own swing using a plastic barrel and some ropes. They hung the swing from a tree with the help of an educator, and tested it with dolls before using it themselves. The swing was not situated over soft fall - in fact, it came out over the sandstone garden edging. Once the swing was constructed, the children and the educators developed a risk assessment. They talked about everything that could possibly go wrong - as well as all of the benefits of this type of play - and came up with strategies to ensure that children stayed safe while using the swing. They used witches hats to ensure that there was a clear zone (so children walking past weren't knocked over) for example. A few days later, we had a compliance visit. The compliance officer stood and watched the children on the swing - it was clear to see the joy that they were experiencing. She looked at me and asked "do you have a risk assessment for that?" I was pleased to be able to show it to her - alongside our service philosophy - and she read through it, then enjoyed watching for a few more moments before moving on to another part of the service.

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This just goes to show how Risk Assessments are not only vital for keeping children safe, but can help to support high quality practice in our services.

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