Leaving babies upstairs in the event of a fire.

[mumbomama]

Just had my inspection.
I got overall good but only satisfactory for keeping children safe because my fire policy doesn't take into account what I'd do with children asleep upstairs.

I was told that they should sleep with the door shut so that in a fire I can leave them up there until the fire brigade come while I get the others out.

I am trying to write this into my policy but finding it hard.

Not sure I could leave a child in a burning building and obviously if it was safe to do so I would go and get them. But as this was a recommendation on my report I have to write this in.

Has anyone else written a policy with this in and how did you word it?
I don't want to put parents off, thinking I would abandon their baby in a fire!

at the thought of leaving a child in a burning house. That would most certainly put me off if I read that in your policy.

sometimes Ofsted get up my back..............

ok so my mindees sleep upstairs door normally open but hey
ofsted didnt say one word about fire safety to me but pulled me up cause my 10yr olds bike was outside and not put away in the shed and said the bike was a hazzard to my mindee children
they should have a stright line rule but everybodys inspection is different and we all get pulled up about something complety different

god ofsted make me sooo mad
wot a ridiculous thing to expect you to do.......leave a child in a burning house?!
if i were you i would give inspector a call and tell her your not ahppy about writing a policy that states "in the event of a fire i will leave your baby in a burning house while i make a run for it!"
ofsted really piss me off sometimes!

errr thats happy not ahppy!!

OMG i wouldn't be happy with this either!

No way! I thought the Care Commisssion were bad, wait till i tell my inspector this one

can i ask those of you who have mindees sleep upstairs if you all have fire retardent wallpaper and fire doors fitted through out your homes? just wondering as i childmind in Scotland, and we are not allowed children to sleep upstairs unless we have the above! It must be quite expensive to have to do all that!

no we dont need all that kidstrak.............thank god! it must cost a bleeding fortune!

kidstrak, that's a new one on me. I childmind in Scotland, and have room for mindees to sleep upstairs and have never been told to have fire retardent paint/wallpaper etc.
However, there are four women near me who have all newly registered and all four have had to pay over £200 getting mains operated smoke alarms fitted, due to new ruling, and our landlords wouldn't fit them ( same ladnlords expect us to leave them in the house when we all move theough). I haven't yet been told to put them in, my battery operated ones seem ok, because it only applies to newly registered CM's.

hi saltire i registerd in March, and i was told this and i would have needed this also for overnights, yes the smoke alarm polcy changed last year i think,the fire dept reccomended 2 interconnecting smoke alarms. I just couldn't afford to do all new doors in my home at the moment, i have the lo's in a small room off the kitchen

Personally i think the new fire regs for CM's in Scotland are a bit OTT, some of them are fine for bigger concerns like nurserys, but aren't practical for childminders and could result in some CM's having to give up. I know the four women i was on about with the smoke alarms were all annoyed at having to cough up so much, and two had to stop doing it as they couldn't afford the £200 it would cost to fit the smoke alarms

really £200 just to fit them!!!!! Dp friend fitted ours in about 20mins, i would of thought an electrician would take no more than £30 to fit, the actual alarms are coming down in price too!

ah but we all live in MQ's and the landlords insited they would only give permission to fit them( without their permission we couldn't have fitted them) on the conditiion that we used their contractors! just an excuse to get money out of us, they are crp crp landlords.

god thats terrible! Is there not a clause that came in for landlords or is coming in that they must have electrical alarms fitted to stop any faults with battries being taken out or running out, was it something to do with the student trapped in the flat in Glasgow! There was no battery in it or similar, i just thought this was the law now, obviously not!

There are rules for landlords in scotland, i'm not sure about the smoke alarm one though!
however our landlords come under the umbrella of the MOD, who have their own set of rules in place and chop and change them as they go along!

meant to say you are right about the regulations for cm in scotland, they are strict. Now we are told to put a kitchen roll in the bathroom for kids to dry their hands, no hand towels allowed for the risk of cross infection, and face cloths for each child and no baby wipes for hands! I used hand towels with my own 2 kids and baby wipes for hands, and i'm afraid to say they are still very much alive and well!

How about this:

In case of the event of a fire where I was unable to reach a child myself, it is our policy to keep doors closed when children are sleeping in an upstairs room, to prevent rapid spread of fire and minimise smoke inhalation until emergency services arrive.

???

Thanks for all replies.

I think I will do what Ellaroo says and word it "if I was unable to get to the child". That way it doesn't sound like I would just leave them, but covers what ofsted want me to put.

The reason that I stopped putting children to sleep upstairs was totally because I was told that, in the event of a fire, I would have to get out of the house with any children already downstairs with me, and to leave children upstairs.

I wouldn't be able to leave those with me downstairs outside to attempt a rescue upstairs (and the fire service would prefer to have to rescue as few people as possible). I obviously couldn't take all the other mindees upstairs with me to rescue any sleeping ones.

There is no way that I would be able to word any of that in a policy that would sound acceptable to any parent. So I don't - I just keep everyone downstairs!!

Oh crap! I have three asleep everyday from 1pm-3pm upstairs. I'm doing my NVQ3 and know fire will be soon will ask my assessor for some adive on this.

I have no room downstairs I'm in MOD too and the landlords are rubbish just to echo what's been said, took them 6 weeks to fix my front door had to use the back door which is no good wih a double pushchair

For those of you in Scotland Childminding i received this statement in a newsletter yesterday, it reads.............
Fire Safety Guidance
The new fire legislation shifts ALL the responsibility for identifying and meeting fire safety needs to the provider. The Care Commission will no longer be making any requirements strictly for fire safety, only recommendations.
Anything that emerges as a strictly fire safety requirement during an inspection will be communicated to the local fire safety officers to deal with. You can get the new Fire Safety Booklet free by emailing [email protected]