Covid-19 Policy
Policy Statement
The coronavirus is a new hazard that will require the implementation of new risk control measures for the foreseeable future and will be described as the "new normal". Our aim is to return colleagues, children and parents to our settings to as normal a life as possible for as many people as possible, but in doing so ensuring another epidemic is avoided. In returning we want to be able to give as much confidence as we can by detailing our control measures to reduce the transition and spread of infection as low as reasonably practical to make it safe for children to attend and our colleagues to work in
We recognise that the control of COVID-19 is an occupational health and safety matter. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has stated that "the law requires all employers to assess the risk of returning to work while the coronavirus outbreak is ongoing and to put steps in place to manage that risk". We want to give assurance that we have and will continue to keep abreast of published guidance from the government, Department for Education (DfE), The Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC), Public Health England (PHE), the NHS and World Health Organisation (WHO). In addition, we will also review any variances to advice through the government websites for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
All of our settings, and Central Support, will operate differently on re-opening and we have put in place measures, first and foremost to protect health and lives but that are realistic, honest, achievable in childcare and have been written with integrity.
It is estimated that these measures are likely to last months, with some suggesting a period of 18 months (before the coronavirus disappears, herd immunity is achieved or a successful vaccine is rolled out).
For us it's important to work closely with our colleagues, parents and clients to ensure that we open our settings with the very best endeavour.
Our Duties
- Take reasonable steps to protect the health and safety of our colleagues, preventing exposure to unnecessary risk and ensuring protective measures are in place where we are operational for key workers and vulnerable children.
- Ensure colleagues are physically fit and mentally well to return to work.
- To continue to ensure the safety measures are effective and practiced by all colleagues when returning to work, post furlough / opening of a setting.
- Be prepared to act quickly to deal with colleagues who may have been exposed to the virus to help contain the virus in your workplace as much as possible
- Ensure that one person is responsible for keeping abreast of developments from the <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019">World Health Organization</a>, the<a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public#number-of-cases">UK Government</a> and the <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/">NHS</a>.
- Ensure hygiene and infection control measures are revised to try and avoid any child or colleague entering a setting with 'symptoms' of Covid-19 in attempts to avoid transmission and spread of the disease. Our Exclusion policy.
- Ensure we train all colleagues on their return to work in our new safety measures and hygiene practices to reduce the spread of infection.
- Ensure we communicate our safety measures to parents so they can make an informed decision if to leave their child in care and equally on doing so, are clear what our policies and procedures are, including but not exclusive to our exclusion policy and self-isolation periods.
- Ensure we keep up to date with the latest government legislation regarding Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) around Coronavirus, self-isolation and sick pay.
- Ensure that we have clear sickness and absence management policies that are fit for purpose under the present circumstance. Ensure our colleagues are aware of them and where to find them (form part of the colleague's handbook on SharePoint and accessible to all), and ensure effective management of sickness absence, to ensure continuity and stability, and the smooth running of the organisation.
- Review our safeguarding and whistleblowing policy to ensure it safeguards children and colleagues during the pandemic and colleagues know how to report any Covid-19 related incidents, such as violence, breach of social distancing, not following policy.
The UK health and safety risk management regime is based upon the principle of reducing risks to "as low as reasonably practicable" (ALARP), with risk assessment at the core of the regime.
In summary, risk assessments for a re-opening of the workplace or a return to work must:
- meet the "suitable and sufficient" criteria in that they identify foreseeable hazards, evaluate risks and implement the risk control measures that reduce risks to the ALARP criteria by following best practice
- be completed by competent persons (i.e. those with the skills, knowledge and experience to do so) but with input from others familiar with the working environment including setting managers
- communicate outcomes to colleagues and others in terms of residual risks and risk control measures to be adopted
- be reviewed where there is "significant change" in matters to which the risk assessment relates or where it is suspected the risk assessment is no longer valid.
Colleagues Duties
- Take reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of other people who may be affected by their work. This means reporting any signs of Covid-19 to their line manager / person in charge immediately, in line with our sickness and absence policy and self-isolate.
- Remain up to date on latest guidance from the government on symptoms
- Declare on returning to work whether you have displayed symptoms or been exposed to Covid-19 within your household. This is declared on returning to work and it is all colleagues responsibility to notify us if circumstances change, through your manager / person in charge and updated on Dayforce
- On returning to work take time to understand the 'new normal' and ensure you follow all procedures in place. This includes but not exclusive to your social responsibility when travelling to work, touchpoint cleaning hourly and keeping up to date on latest guidance and applying it, and continuing to socially distance outside of work, until the government notify us of a change.
Statutory Requirement
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework, revised in April 2017; Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and any other health and safety legislation and codes of practice remain in force.
Our Procedure
Focus | Area of consideration | Action steps |
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People | Symptoms of Covid-19 | At the time of writing (24.05.20) the NHS recognise the main symptoms of coronavirus as: • fever and high temperature - people will feel "hot to touch" on their chest or back (37.8 degrees Celsius or above) • new, continuous dry cough - the NHS define this as coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (someone with an existing cough may find that it is worse than usual) • loss or change to the sense of smell or taste - the NHS defines this as someone noticing that they cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal Most people with coronavirus have at least one of these symptoms. Other less common symptoms include aches and pains, nasal congestion, headache, conjunctivitis, sore throat, diarrhoea, or a skin rash or discoloration of fingers or toes. Symptoms begin gradually and are usually mild. Most people (about 80%) recover from the disease without needing special treatment. A small percentage can become seriously ill and develop difficulty breathing. This is particularly dangerous for people with weakened immune systems, for older people, and for those with long-term conditions such as diabetes, cancer and chronic lung disease. |
Protecting yourself | In addition to our usual infection control measures detailed in our Hygiene & Infection Control policy, Public Health England (PHE) recommends that the following general "handwashing and respiratory hygiene" precautions are taken to help prevent spreading coronavirus:
In addition, the Government is asking people to "self-isolate" if they have symptoms of COVID-19, to stay at home whenever possible and to "socially distance" themselves. | |
Self-Isolate | Colleagues who think they may have coronavirus symptoms should stay at home as follows: • if you have symptoms of infection and live alone, you should self-isolate by staying at home and not leaving the house for 10 days from when the symptoms started • if you live with others and one person has symptoms, you should self-isolate as a household for 10 days from the day when the first person in the house became ill (if anyone else in the household starts displaying symptoms, they need to stay at home for 10 days from when the symptom appeared, regardless of what day they are on in the original isolation period) Those who are symptomatic are advised to: • stay at least 2 metres (about 3 steps) away from other people in the home whenever possible • sleep alone, if possible • wash hands regularly for 20 seconds, each time using soap and water • stay away from vulnerable individuals such as the elderly and those with underlying health conditions as much as possible • keep hydrated and use over the counter medications, such as paracetamol, to help with the symptoms. If symptoms worsen during home isolation, or if they are no better after 10 days, they should contact NHS 111 online or call NHS 111. For a medical emergency they should dial 999. Colleagues who are worried about their symptoms should avoid going directly to their GP, to a pharmacy or to a hospital. Testing for coronavirus is not needed for people self-isolating and staying at home. Self-isolating is designed to slow down the spread of the virus and protect others in the community whilst someone is infectious. It is understood that most people will no longer be likely to transmit the virus 10 days after the onset of symptoms. In a household situation it is likely that people will infect each other. This is the reason for the 10 day self-isolation. | |
Social Distancing | To help reduce the transmission of coronavirus (covid-19) we will: • Ask colleagues and children to remain at home if they are displaying symptoms - high temperature, a new and continuous cough, loss of smell and taste. • In England and ROI and Belfast we take both colleagues and children's temperature on entering care and exclude anyone immediately if their temperature is above 37.8 and require, them to self-isolate for 10 days or until a negative test result has been received. In Scotland we take colleagues' temperature only. • Review with colleagues their route to work to try to avoid non-essential use of public transports and encourage our parents to do the same. • Enable those, who can, to continue to work from home. • Request that colleagues avoid large and small gatherings over 6 people outside of work, in line with government guidelines • Maintain social distancing within settings as much as possible by ensuring the following measures are in place: • Reduce where possible the number of children in the setting at any one time - our ratios still apply • Colleagues working with the same people each day (working within a bubble) • Stagger start times of colleagues and children to avoid rush on transport & within our reception areas • Re-design our work / play space to allow for as much distancing as possible • Look at flow of traffic and where possible have 1-way traffic - mark the corridor and queuing areas where needed • Ensure breaks are staggered and suitable break areas are identified • Where 1 meter plus distancing is not possible review transmission risk - barriers, 'bubbles', PPE • Display posters reminding everyone of their responsibility in social distancing Page 6 of 20 • Restrict visitors & maintenance by appointment only (where possible) Where possible anyone wishing to view one of our nurseries, we will aim to do this out of hours or at quiet times. All visitors will be required to wear a mask. | |
PPE | • Government guidance is that PPE is not required for general use in early years settings to protect against COVID- 19 transmission. PPE should continue to be worn as normal for nappy changing, administration of first aid and during food preparation and serving. • We do have an emergency PPE box, this contains, gloves, anti-bacterial gel, aprons, face masks to IIR standard and visors to be used should a child or colleague, starts to show symptoms and to be worn by the first aider caring for the child. On collection the colleague is to strip off all PPE items and these are to be placed in a bag and sealed and not to be touched for 42 hours - see Responding to a suspected case below. • PPE stocks are to be recorded daily and orders should be placed (at least 6 weeks) in advance due to supply and demand. Orders are to be made through Consortium or Gompels and our Operations Director informed immediately if you're notified of a delay so we source an additional supplier. • Alcohol sanitiser will be available throughout all settings where the use of soap and water is not possible. • Everyone entering the setting should use the hand sanitiser before entering and before going to wash their hands. All visitors to the nursery will be required to wear a mask and parents are required to wear face coverings at drop off and collection • Colleagues travelling on public transport will be provided with two washable masks (and filters) and asked to remove them and store them in a sealed bag before entering the setting. (the fitting of masks will be covered in Zoom training for all colleagues) • Face coverings must be worn when in communal areas, these should be removed when re-entering the area with the children and places in a named Ziplock bag. These must be stored out of the reach of children. • Face shields will be provided for colleagues working in our settings, only to be worn when working on the front desk in our creches and by greeter and runners in our nurseries. | |
Management | Infection prevention | In addition to our normal infection control measures (detailed in our Hygiene & infection Control policy and in line with the social distancing measures in this document, we have done the following to support infection prevention: • Reviewed our opening and closing safety and cleanliness checklist, toy cleaning and introduced hourly 'touchpoint' cleaning document to directly address the risks associated with Covid-19, that are both realistic and sensible measures to protect colleagues and children. • Removed unnecessary furniture and soft furnishings, including some toys which are deemed unsuitable during the outbreak. • Where parents are required to sign in there will be a pot of clean pens and a pot for dirty pens. All used pens must be placed in the dirty pot post use and cleaned between session • All paper documents parents are required to sign will be placed on a clip board that colleagues will place down for parents to then sign, this reduces the sharing of paper between colleagues and parents. • Reviewed working practices where possible to create 'bubbles' and reduce potential transmission by reducing the contact between children as far as possible (during the day) Children will be grouped in a bubble with the same children and team members each day for track and trace purpose. • Reduced the number of children attending a setting where possible to enable social distancing - ratios still apply • Revised timetables and lesson plans, where possible, to deliver care as much as we can outside • Staggered lunch and breaks Page 8 of 20 • Relaxed our uniform policy to enable clean clothing every day. This includes the ability to wear any form of trousers, washing of uniform on site (where the setting has the facilities to do so), the wearing of non-work top (providing a name badge is worn at all times). This is a safety measure and will revert back to full uniform post the outbreak. • Introduced "Fogging Machines" in to our nursery setting. Sterilisation takes place at the end of each day. Written to all parents to confirm measures we would like them to abide to in all our settings. This includes but not exclusive to social distancing, children not bringing in items from home (nursery will accept a small bag and 'essential' items) - in creches we would like parents to take coats etc as much as possible. |
Illness on site | In line with our Exclusion policy, if anyone becomes unwell with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature (above 37.8), or has a loss of, or change in, their normal sense of taste of smell (anosmia), they must be sent home and advised to follow the COVID-19: guidance for households with possible coronavirus infection guidance. If a child is awaiting collection, colleagues should follow our normal Exclusion Policy - 'The sick child' guidelines, however additional measures include: • Whilst waiting for the child to be collected they should be isolated from others in a previously identified room (where possible and weather permitting this should be outside) If inside and where possible, a window should be opened for ventilation. Specific space will be shared with you for your setting. • The colleague responsible for the child during this time should be a colleague from their 'bubble' (and first aid trained, although someone from the buddle supersedes first aid. The first aider however must be made aware and available). The colleague will wear items from the emergency PPE box - gloves, apron, mask and visor. • If they need the toilet during this period, they should be escorted to a separate toilet (where possible) and aim to avoid them touching any surfaces along the way. The toilet should then be cleaned and disinfected using standard cleaning products before being used by someone else. • We must follow up to see how they are and if symptoms continued (ensuring they are self-isolating for 10 days, and that their fellow household members are self-isolating) In an emergency, call 999 if they are seriously ill or their life is at risk. First aid should be delivered with reference to the latest safeguards from the Resuscitation Council UK. | |
Deep clean after Covid-19 case | The below guidelines should be followed and updated for any changes checked on the government website.
Waste should be stored safely and kept away from children. You should not put your waste in communal waste areas until negative test results are known or the waste has been stored for at least 72 hours. | |
Confirmed case of Covid-19 in the setting | Following the above 'Illness on site' the children/colleague in question should self-isolate. All colleagues and children who were in attendance when the person was sent home will be sent home and advised to self-isolate for 14 days. All colleagues will have access to a test if they display symptoms of coronavirus, and are encouraged to get tested in this scenario.
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RIDDOR reporting of Covid-19 | We must report under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) when:
In all events we would report under RIDDOR online via the HSE website. | |
EYFS |
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Safeguarding | The Department for Education has issued new guidance on the application of KCSIE (Keeping children safe in education) and whilst our safeguarding policy is still valid, there are some additional measure to be aware of in the current circumstance:
Our whistleblowing policy remains unchanged and available on the intranet for all colleagues | |
First Aid - our settings | Paediatric first aid certification requirements stay in place as set out in paragraph 3.25 and Annex A of the EYFS, with the stipulation that 'at least one person who has a current paediatric first aid (PFA) certificate must be on the premises and available at all times when children are present If first-aid cover in settings is reduced because of the coronavirus we must have the following in place as a minimum.
For First Aid at Work (FAW) and Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) we will share resource with our clients and use their first aiders should a colleague need attention. We will ensure that they:
We are following the HSE First Aid guidance and will continually review for Scotland and Ireland as additional advice becomes available | |
First Aid - Central Office | For First Aid at Work (FAW) and Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) we will use Regus first aider should a colleague need attention and if not available agree shared resource with another office. We will ensure that they:
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Communication | Colleagues: Throughout the period we have used carrying communication styles (whilst respecting Furlough guidance)
Team not furloughed
Parents - Nursery
Parents - Creches
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Returning to Work | Colleagues will be phased back to work (from Furlough) with the following consideration/measures in place: Our matrix for returning colleagues to work includes a review of Underlying health conditions (for the colleague and household)
Measures we may be able to offer those not ready to return included (not exclusive to or guaranteed):
IIn the case where we cannot agree, on fair terms, for a colleague to return we will default to relevant policies in our colleague's handbook to resolve the matter. Wellbeing prior to coming off of furlough:
Training prior to entering the workplace:
On site our safety measure for colleague's wellbeing include:
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Home Workers | We have the same health and safety responsibilities for home workers as other colleagues. Measures in place to support our colleagues include:
During this time all Central Support colleagues to work from home as much as possible and attend all meetings via video through Teams / Zoom. Colleague to flag any issues, relating to health and safety to Directors for a review of working conditions | |
| Office Working |
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Buildings | Safety compliance checks | Building checks need to be conducted due to the period of close down. This includes: Water checks to avoid legionella disease:
Other:
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Associated Policies
Hygiene & Infection Control - Operations Manual
Exclusion Policy - Operations Manual
Sickness Policy & Reporting Absence - Colleague Handbook
Associated Policies
Manual | Version Control | Date, | Comment to Change |
Operations - all | V1 | May 20 - NEW | New policy due to pandemic |
| V2 | June 20 - reviewed | Update information on collection of demographic and ethnicity information (Communication) Inclusion of audit checks post return. (Returning to work) Update social distancing to represent the 1 metre plus guidance (Social distancing) Clarity on mixing of Milton solution on cleaning of isolations area. (Deep clean after Covid 19 case) |
| V3 | July 20 - reviewed | Added the wearing of masks for visitors to our settings (Social distancing) Updated wording on bubbles to cover all setting (social distancing) Included the use of pens and sharing of paper (infection prevention) Updated colleagues testing if confirmed case of Covid-19 to show we would test post 7th day of isolation unless symptoms appear (self-isolation) Addition of face shield use in retail setting (PPE) |
| V4 | September - reviewed in line with updated guidance 7/8/2020 | Added informing regulatory body of confirmed cases Added that all parents will be ask on every visit that circumstance have not changed. Face covering to be worn by parents at drop off and collection. Face shields to be worn in nursery by greeters and runners Updating temperature checks (specific by country) Face covering to be worn in communal space Added keeping Dayforce up to date with Covid status changes Updated children showing high temperature to state they must self-isolate for 10 days or until they received a negative test result. Updated colleagues traveling to work together by car to say they must be in same bubble, wear face covering and Managers and Deputies cannot share car lifts |
| V5 | December 22/12/2020 | Included change in face asks required in the isolation area (these must be IIR standard) |
| V6 | 1st February 2021 | Added the use of fogging machines in nursery |
Policy Review
This policy will be reviewed and updated annually.
Name: Louise Williams
Date: 1st February 2021
Policy review date: 1st March 2021