Fire safety is a major consideration when planning to open a day care facility. You are ultimately responsible for the safety of every individual who enters your premises, staff, children, parents and visitors. 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. Your job, quite simply, is to take whatever steps necessary to minimize fire risk and should a fire occur you will have procedures in place to evacuate staff and children quickly.

In order to realize this goal you must have a fire safety program in place. This is not a costly venture as it should be incorporated into your daily procedures and entails a lot of common sense and good housekeeping which you are doing anyway. A brief written statement outlining the elements of the program should be drawn up. This can be done with the assistance of a nominated staff member who will also assume responsibility for overseeing and maintaining the fire safety program.

What steps are you taking to avoid the risk of a fire at your day care? This is what your fire safety program should detail i.e. your prevention policy and procedures. You could include in this list of steps safe storage of flammable gases or liquids, details of gas and electrical appliance inspections, how you ensure fire safety in the kitchen, using non combustible waste disposal bins and other fire retardant materials throughout your premises.

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.

Regular fire drills should take place in your day care to ensure that staff are capable of reacting should an emergency situation occur. Monthly emergency evacuations i.e. fire drills should be planned and occur without warning. The procedures involved in these evacuations should take into account how many people are on the premises, whether or not any of them are disabled or sleeping, sleeping children should always be given a high priority in an emergency situation. 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 should be brought to the assembly point for this purpose. Every fire drill should be reviewed in the Fire Drill Report to identify any problems or cause for review.

Up to date fire safety records should be maintained at your day care detailing all aspects of your fire safety procedures. 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 plan of each floor, details of staff training and fire drills and a list of fire fighting equipment with details of inspections.

You will need to ensure the adequacy of the fire safety features of your individual premises i.e. actual structure, windows, doors, equipment, appliances, fittings and furnishings. Your fire officer can help you ensure that everything is up to standard. Ultimately, leave nothing 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.