Child burnt at nursery

[MaSaMom]

Hi,

My child had some boiling hot coffee spilled on her ear and face by a member of staff. My child was emptying their plate when the member of staff exited the kitchen with a cup in their hand and bumped into them and spilled coffee on them.

My child sustained a burn on the cartilage behind her ear, which broke the skin. Reportedly, since they could not run her ear under water they used wet tissue to cool it down then used a Wet J cloth....before applying a burn dressing.

It took the nursery 40 minutes to ring me to inform me of what had happened. I picked my child up, refused to sign the accident form as my priority was to go to A&E (the form states they ran the burn under running water which they said they did not do!). Luckily, the burn healed well with some topical ointment a week later.

We are yet to have a formal meeting about what happened (as we haven't set a date yet, nursery is willing) and what measures need to be taken for this never to happen again.

If you were in our position, what would you bring up in the meeting?

In our opinion, this is negligence and could have been so much worse. Should this be reported? And if so, who to?

Thanks

I would be furious . You need a copy of their complaints procedure and full details of the governing body, who should get a letter from you detailing the accident.

• why was the staff member carrying hot drinks in an area with children?

• why was the cup not covered (with a lid)

• who was the first aider on sight - was they the ones administering the first aid

• see a copy of their first aid policy
• also a copy of the accident form / log

• copy of their complaints procedure

• if in the UK report to OFSTED

Definitely report and ask for concrete changes to be made too. Sounds like changes are needed both to the hot drinks policy (covered, not in an area with the children there), first aid and accident reporting policy.

I think you should be reporting this to ofsted. It's very VERY basic health and safety.

This. Op I am so sorry for your dd. Burns hurt! And in such tender areas. I realize it was not on purpose but it was 100% preventable if there was a policy for hot drinks never to come out of an employee only area.

The staff should never be carrying or drinking hot drinks near the children. In the nursery where I work, the staff are not allowed any hot drinks around the children, even in lidded cups.

This is a very basic health and safety failure on their part.

Kids in the kitchen?! That's bizarre! If they're trying to teach them clearing plates then put the bin in a safe space, not a business kitchen area that's just asking for access accident ... which they got!

... oh and also where was the cup lid?

The nursery should have already reported this to Ofsted themselves. Ask them if they have. You can report it yourself. They should also have done a risk assessment and updated their policy to prevent this happening again.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your messages. I am writing all this down to prepare for the meeting. Any other ideas are appreciated.

I was obviously furious about the possibility of this even happening, let alone when it affects your child. As someone here said, we also believe this was Completely preventable!

My daughter wasn't in the kitchen, she was emptying her plate in the bin which is placed just outside the kitchen door. I am planning to tell them that should be moved as the person exiting the kitchen with their drink did not see (!) Her there. The cup apparently had a lid which they had not secured and was in the process of closing when they spilt the drink.

So far I have had an informal chat with the owner when picking up my daughter who was very apologetic and seemed genuinely sad/angry this had happened but....they basically blamed it all on human error but I believe there are other shortcomings from the setting.

Was that person's training done properly? Were they aware of the hot drink policy? Is there a hot drink policy? Why are hot drinks even allowed outside break time around kids. My dd wasn't even on the move at the time.

Why take 40 mins to contact a parent after such an accident? Do you think that is normal?

Psychologically she seems fine now but was reluctant to go back at first as was afraid that it would happen over and over again.

We have taken so long to arrange this meeting as unfortunately have a lot of other serious health issues going on with our baby at the moment so haven't been in the right space to tackle this but now feeling stronger.

When I look at the government (UK) website, it says that unless Injuries require overnight stay in hospital there is no need to report them....but am I right to believe this is different as caused by a member of staff?

Many thanks.

@MaSaMom - I'm qualified in childcare and have worked in nurseries and 100% you SHOULD report this to OFSTED.

Yes, accidents happen - this was a preventable accident which could have had far more serious consequences for your child / any other child nearby (previously or with this incident)
They have been burnt whilst under the supervision of a nursery setting.
A nursery which has standards & guidelines to follow - they have not.

• why was the bin so close to the door (collisions likely)

-hot drinks policy... staff training.