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Fire safety is a major consideration when planning to open a day care facility. The safety of every individual who may enter your premises, staff, children, parents and visitors, is paramount and ultimately, your responsibility. It is vital therefore that you have an effective fire safety management policy as fire safety is achieved via this policy combined with adequate fire safety features in your premises. Simply, your goal is to effect whatever measure necessary to minimize the risk of a fire occurring and if a fire does breakout to ensure that staff and children are evacuated swiftly and safely.

You will need to put a fire safety program in place in order to realize this goal. Much of this is common sense and good housekeeping practice so should not cost much in terms of time or money. One member of staff should be assigned responsibility for the fire safety program and they should be involved in drawing up a brief written statement outlining the elements that constitute your program.

The fire safety program should detail what fire prevention measures are in place at your day care i.e. what steps are you taking to reduce or eliminate the risks of a fire occurring. These can include not storing flammable gases or liquids in the building, regular checks ensuring that all gas and electrical appliances are in safe working order, ensuring safe cooking practices in the kitchen, utilizing non combustible materials where possible.

In order that your staff know how to deal effectively and calmly with an emergency situation you should provide ongoing staff training. All staff should be aware of the location of fire exits, fire fighting equipment, fire protection equipment and fire detection facilities. All your training should cover the use of the above items plus exactly what to do during a fire drill. This training can be undertaken during staff induction however regular refreshers should occur annually.

In order that staff can react effectively in an emergency you should implement regular fire drills at your day care. Monthly emergency evacuations should be planned and occur without warning.These drills should take into consideration the following factors, how many people are on the premises, if any of them are disabled or sleeping as these individuals should be given high priority. All persons should be evacuated to a pre arranged assembly point where designated staff members should ensure everyone is present and accounted for. The roll book will have been evacuated also to accommodate the roll call. Every fire drill should be reviewed in the Fire Drill Report to identify any problems or cause for review.

It is important to keep fire safety records at your child care facility which detail all aspects of your fire safety procedures and should be kept up to date. This record should contain name of the preschool service, name of the person running the day care, address of the premises, name of person responsible for all aspects of fire safety, name of person responsible for calling the fire brigade, number of children catered for, a floor plan of the day care, staff training details, details of fire drills, list of fire fighting equipment, details of inspection and maintenance of same.

The fire safety features of your individual premises are your responsibility e.g. the building itself, doors, windows, appliances, equipment, furnishings and fittings. Your fire officer can help you ensure that everything is up to standard. Essentially, you cannot afford to leave anything to chance. Seek professional help if you have any doubts thus ensuring that your premises is as fire safe as possible from the get go.