Salwa's accident
Did you know?
If a staff member is hurt while caring for children, another staff member must immediately step in to supervise, as the children should never be left alone.
You may remember that Salwa didn't attend the staff meeting. She also had an accident recently. Her injury could have been very serious – as it is, she received a nasty concussion and is still on sick leave, weeks after the accident happened. Read the story below to find out Sara's explanation of what actually happened.
“The children in the 2 – 3 years Room had just finished lunch, and I was mopping over the floor while Salwa was getting the children ready for their afternoon rest.
We had some games planned for later in the afternoon, so after the children were settled, Salwa started setting up for the afternoon. She was carrying boxes of toys to put out on the tables when she slipped over. The floor must have still been wet from when I mopped it, and Salwa didn't realise.
It was a pretty nasty fall, and Salwa seemed like she hurt her head. I checked to see that she was OK, and she told me she felt dizzy. I said that I thought she should go to the Medical Centre.
I couldn't leave the children, so I called Alison in to take Salwa to the Medical Centre.”
That really was a very serious accident. It's very fortunate that Salwa didn't suffer any permanent injury – she just caught her head on the side of the table. When Alison took her to the medical centre, the doctor said that she had a mild concussion and would develop heavy bruising around her forehead and eye. Alison went to see Salwa a few days later at home, and she was still getting dizzy spells, and had a black eye.
Take a moment now to consider the scenario that you just read. Could Salwa's accident have been prevented? Your task is to:
- complete an Incident Report Form for Salwa’s accident, available in the Forms section of the Cybertots Intranet (look back at the form that was completed for Susan's accident if you need to)
- think about what caused the accident and what could have been done to avoid it. Record your thoughts in your notebook.
Safety signs
There are many different systems and supports in use in workplaces all over Australia to help workers stay safe at work. One such system is having standardised safety signs to alert workers to:
- the presence of hazards and dangerous goods
- the availability of and requirement to wear personal protective equipment and
- the locations and use of emergency equipment.
These are some of the safety signs you may find in a child care centre. See if you know what they mean.
