FEATURE
PUTTING CHILD SAFETY FIRST
Fay Gibbin, Training Manager at Busy Bees Training sheds light on the ‘Child Safety First’ campaign their partnership with Ronald McDonald and basic paediatric first aid.
Most employees will have received some sort of adult first aid training as part of their duties, particularly those that work in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. However, outside of the childcare sector, many do not have the necessary skills required to deal with an emergency involving a child.
Busy Bees Early Years Training Academy, part of the Busy Bees childcare group, has teamed up with national independent charity Ronald McDonald House Charities, to launch ‘Child Safety First’, a campaign designed to raise awareness of the importance of Paediatric First Aid training for anyone that may be around children under five, whether that is a worker, parent in the home or a childcare professional in a nursery setting.
As part of the campaign, Busy Bees Training has been working with employees and various organisations to raise awareness of the importance of paediatric first aid training. Although some staff may rarely, if at all, come into contact with children in the workplace, there are particular industries that require sufficient knowledge of paediatric first aid.
For example, those that work within a busy shopping centre, food court or hotel will deal with families on a regular basis and more staff need to be prepared should they be required to deal with an emergency involving a child.
Of course, we hope that no one will ever find themselves in a situation where they need to administer first aid, but, figures from St John’s Ambulance put the importance of first aid provision into context; 140,000 lives are lost each year that could have been saved by basic first aid training.
www.tomorrowshs.com
“140,000 LIVES ARE LOST EACH
YEAR THAT COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED BY BASIC FIRST AID TRAINING.”
And it’s not only in the workplace that first aid knowledge may come into play, which is why we believe that individuals should at least be given the opportunity to have some form of paediatric first aid training. The first few minutes of an incident is often the most critical period, and is the point when a child’s life could be saved. For example, if a child becomes unconscious, a simple tilt of the head can help to prevent them from choking and blocking their airways.
There’s no doubt that paediatric first aid is an invaluable skill, particularly for those in the childcare sector. The ‘Child Safety First’ campaign is also helping to raise awareness of new laws due to come into effect in September 2016, meaning that all new recruits who hold a Level 2 or Level 3 qualification in Childcare must present an Emergency Paediatric First Aid or a full Paediatric First Aid certificate if they are to count towards the staff/qualification ratios under the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).
For many business leaders and health and safety staff working at senior level, it’s important to plan ahead
for the potential accidents that might occur within their workplace, and this should look beyond accidents only involving adults.
Health and safety measures are about creating adequate provision and mitigating risk, so having one or several members of staff sufficiently trained in paediatric first aid could not only help save a child’s life, but will also position the brand as a responsible and credible one.
There are always going to be opportunities where injuries occur, but if employers can ensure that their workforce is adequately prepared to deal with those injuries then, as a nation, we can start to put children’s safety first.
www.busybeestraining.co.uk 19
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