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. 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. 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.

Ongoing staff training is a vital element of fire prevention so that staff know what to do in the event of an emergency and can do so calmly and quickly. All staff should be aware of the location of fire exits, fire fighting equipment, fire protection equipment and fire detection facilities. Training should also involve the use of this equipment where necessary and the procedure involved in emergency procedures and evacuation drills. 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. You should have monthly emergency evacuations which should 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. Following evacuation all persons should gather at a prearranged assembly point and designated staff members should account for everybody. The roll book will have been evacuated also to accommodate the roll call. Finally, your fire drill report will review the event and highlight any areas that are cause for concern or improvement.

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.

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.