Go with plan

Since Covid-19 highlighted the need to plan for emergency situations, we look at how it should be done.

says Theresa Johnson, Head of Partnerships at PACEY. One of the legacies of Covid is that it has shifted the scope of those plans. “It certainly changed many areas of practice, not least navigating the new guidance to ensure the health and safety of children, families and practitioners, and, in the case of childminders, their own families too. Many features of the pandemic required settings to update their policies and risk assessments and to consider outbreak management plans.”

The pandemic also threw a harsh light on the potential cost implications of unexpected events and the need for robust financial plans.

“The financial climate is particularly difficult, with low levels of childcare funding, changes in parental working patterns and an increase in the cost of living,” says Theresa. “We know many of our members have had to use savings to make ends meet and there is no immediate sign of things improving. Planning for times of hardship when you are already in hardship can seem an impossible task.”

It’s a task that remains vital nonetheless. Vikkie Murray of Little Acorns Childminding in Banbury says that while she

The new guidance in England and Wales recommends that emergency plans should be broad enough to cover all sorts of events during the working day andbeyond:

Public health incidents

Severe weather

Serious injury to a child or staff member

Significant damage to property

Criminal activity

Disaster in the local community believes emergency planning ensures she is not taken unawares by events, the act of formal planning was not so straightforward.

Loss of water orutilities.

“I had a go at it, and I felt there were too many caveats, because there are so many potential situations. So I have a rough general emergency plan, and then I break my planning down into the most likely sorts of events, such as extreme weather and unexpected threat.

“If I went into the minutiae of everything, I could be writing policies forever.”

A good plan should cover the following:

Roles and responsibilities

When and how to seekadvice

Details on the steps you take in an emergency and how you would enact them quickly

How you would ensure every child receives the quantity and quality of care to which they are normally entitled

How you would communicate any changes to children, parents and staff.

It’s worth bearing in mind that many suitable plans already exist in one form or another and can be adapted to meet a range of emergency scenarios.

“Although emergencies can be very different, the steps to follow are often similar,” says Vikkie. “So if it’s something that causes a danger or a threat in the setting or the home, we would have to evacuate, and that plan would be the same.

“Likewise, if it’s a contagion, we’ve all had experience putting that plan into practice, so it can be adapted to whatever the next contagion is."

When you need to evacuate the setting –because of fire, flood or gas leak – you will need to consider the ages and stages of the children in your care on any given day.

Vikkie feels confident that should an emergency occur, she can deal with it calmly and safely. “Our evacuation procedure is in most circumstances the same as it is for fire. The children have practised it as well. That makes it easier to deal with any scenario.”

What are the key pieces of advice for practitioners looking at their emergency plans?

“There should be two distinct plans, one for emergencies that affect practice and one for your business that affects your cashflow,” says Theresa. “Risk assessments are unique to the individual setting and should be reviewed and updated and become a ‘living’ resource.”

Vikkie’s advice is to keep it manageable. “Too much detail can make a plan hard to follow. Make it clear, share it with your families and, where applicable, with the children, so it should run smoothly. And review

them at least annually. Even you’re not changing them, it means a y re f resh in you y rm r mind s , sos o should an

Even if you’re not means they are fresh in your mind, so should an emergency situation arise, you are able to follow your plan effectively.” CP

Emergency planning and guidance for Wales: bit.ly/emergency-Wales

For England: bit.ly/emergency-England

PACEY’s insurance provider Morton Michel offers its tips around emergency planning.

Have an emergency plan

Any insurance policy will require you to keep losses to a minimum – having and using a well-prepared emergency response plan is a good way to do this.

Make sure the plan includes a full data back-up stored off-site – this can help document previous finances, so any claims will be paid more quickly. The plan should also include clear, step-by-step instructions, as emotion often interferes with logical thinking, especially during an emergency and when there are accidents involving injury. Templates for information capture are useful to record critical information following accidents.

Keep everything up to date

Businessesare always changing, so insurance policies and emergency plans need to change too.Many insurers ask: ‘Is your plan up to date and reviewed regularly?’ If you answer ‘yes’, you must stick to this. An old and ineffective plan is as bad as not having one at all.

Know what’s covered

Insurance aims to put you back into the same financial position had the loss never occurred but no insurance contract can possibly cover all eventualities. Make sure you read and understand your contract and, if in any doubt, contact your broker to clarify.

Being biased is part of being human because of the way we have been socialised,” says Dr Stella Louis, early years consultant and trainer. “Unconscious bias refers to the snap, automatic decisions that we make in the moment as we process thousands of bits of information every day.

“Say one of the children I look after reminds me of my own child when they were young, and another of the children doesn’t. Unconsciously, I may respond more favourably to the child that reminds me of my own.”

Unconscious biases can also be held towards people because of their race, their gender, sexuality, age and class background, and other characteristics, such as their accent, hairstyle or clothing.

“There’s an anthropological and instinctive reason for unconscious biases – in this case affinity bias, where we bond with people ‘like us’, and when we needed to make a quick decision to avoid risk, we relied on the unconscious brain, rather than the conscious processing part of the brain,” says Dr Mine Conkbayir, trainer and researcher and author of The Neuroscience of the Developing Child.

“So unconscious bias acts like a cognitive shortcut to keep us safe, but often leads to prejudice and discrimination.”