Did I report this safety issue in a preschool the wrong way?

[Elber]

I’ve recently started a new position. During my induction training I was told that health and safety is everyone’s responsibility. In a meeting with a head facilities manager, I discussed a safety issue I had already seen. I was told to raise the issue via an IT report system. It took me a while to figure out how to log on to this system, but I finally managed to do it today.
I was told in very, very strong terms by a different manager that I should not have done this. She was clearly very upset with me. The report had gone through, and I think she felt implicated. She thinks I should have discussed it with her or my line manager first.

I’m afraid I saw it as a facilities issue, rather than anything else - so thought it was right to raise it with them. I saw them as the people best placed to assess the safety.

I’m still not completely clear who is who, and as this was about protecting children’s safety - I wanted to ensure the report was made. If a child was hurt as a result, and I’d noticed but not raised a ticket (as advised in my induction training) I’d have felt very responsible.

Did I do the wrong thing?

In addition, one of my training videos said NOT to be a bystander or assume something is someone else’s job.

What was the issue?

It all depends on what it was and how you worded it.
" There's a sharp piece of metal on the slide" - fine.
"Ms. X is ignoring a sharp piece of metal on the slide" - should be handled differently.

@TwattingDog

It was bikes that had lost their pedals and had metal bars sticking out. Plastic on bike back rest that was split and jagged. A metal stand that was in a deep box that children were climbing into and falling on.

I would apologise and say when I raised it with the facilities manager they said to do it this way. I’ll know the system in future.

@KrisAkabusi it was a very matter of fact report, observations only.

You've done exactly the right thing

That’s equipment not facilities.
Though I don’t understand your set up. Why wouldn’t you take said item to the person in charge of the room, or wrap it in duct tape or similar.

Is your line manager in the nursery? Sounds like she is annoyed because she should have seen this and already done something about it.

If it was just one bike, then I would say the appropriate thing would have been to immediately remove it.

I wouldn't say any of those were facilities issues, they required quicker intervention like you or you LM removing them from the children's rooms.

I wonder if they didn't want the issues recorded somewhere though.

Well yes you did what you were told but surely common sense would say remove it. Sometimes things just happen.

Let's say a child throws a toy and it smashes all over the floor. I wouldn't be reporting that first, I would be removing it.

@pickledandpuzzled that’s exactly what I did do…but I still think I got a mixed message.

If I simply verbally mention something - and for whatever reason it wasn’t followed through : and a serious accident happened and is investigated, or if a child got seriously hurt - if I knew there was an issue and raised incorrectly, I would be at fault surely? The head of facilities was very clear about raising a ticket.

You’d been told that H&S is everyone’s responsibility. This being the case why didn’t you deal with the issues yourself? Remove the bike and arrange for a new pedal to be ordered - likewise deal with the seat and box.

Equipment breaks, surely it doesn’t need a formal report each time

Lots of organisations give out this type of message in official training but then do not actually want you to raise anything.

Sounds like this is one of those.

It was several bikes, and I did remove them and the metal stand. Next day the stand was back. The bikes are only in a cupboard so could go back out again. I only realised a couple of days ago that she was the nursery manager - and that was after I’d started raising the issue with facilities.

Did you arrange to have the pedals, etc replaced? No point just putting them in a cupboard without doing so.

It didn’t even really cross my mind that it was anyone’s ‘fault’ - I just saw it as a broken equipment or better storage.

I love the idea that you think someone who has just started working in a nursery could "arrange for a new pedal to be ordered". Bikes just have to last. And when they are finally knackered and too dangerous to play with they are stuffed behind a shed somewhere awaiting the end of year skip.

The nursery staff are supposed to inspect the inside and outside areas before each session and sign that they have been checked for health and safety. In practice, whoever is getting things out casts their eyes around for anything new and dangerous (like the whiskey bottle lobbed over the wall) but something that is part of the furniture won't really be on their radar.

@Petrine It would be facilities who would replace bikes or get spare parts. I don’t have a budget in my role.

What kind of playgroup has an induction that tells you about a formal system for raising facilities faults, but not who the playgroup manager is?

Surely the logical thing to do upon spotting an issue is to discuss it with your colleagues as well as logging it formally? You’ve clearly not thought it too urgent if it’s taken a few days to log into the reporting system. You could have discussed it with your manager and resolved the issue in that time, and they could have supported you to log it on the system straight away if necessary.

This all sounds like a very strange set up.

Going through IT and raising a ticket for an immediate H&S concern is ridiculous (although I get that's how you were told to do it).

It should've been dealt with straight away, so I'm surprised you weren't told to speak to the relevant person and follow it up by email.

@Elber I didn’t expect that you personally would make the purchase just that you would arrange for it to be done.

Not facilities issues. I’d assume those to be blockages to fire exits or broken windows? General issues that you can do yourself, you should. Speak to a line manager and remove the risks yourself would be appropriate here. Now you know

I think they didn't want you to report it because they should have picked it up themselves.
I think you did the right thing to protect children.

No, just reply "sorry, I did what I was advised to do in my induction. Do we not use X to report problems about Y usually?