Risk assessment of nursery furniture

[itdidntworkout]

If a child has access to a piece of equipment or furniture, is it then necessary for a risk assessment of each item.

If so, can you please point me towards the piece of legislation that stipulates that this has to be done.

Thanks.

they are required by law to complete a risk assessment of any perceived risks, and how they can be minimized or eliminated. given your other thread i would expect the risk assessment to include this item and how future risks can be reduced, so for instance if accident was caused by item toppling then i would expect to see that item had been fixed to wall. given an accident has occurred they would be very silly to have not thoroughly assessed this. you can ask to see the risk assessment. excuse typo's on phone.

Thanks dribbleface. I voiced my concerns this afternoon, so I shall ask for the risk assessment.

No, there is no requirement to risk assess every piece of furniture and equipment a child has access to.

Didn't think so Jade. I think it's best practice to do so, but as it's not legislation, just guidance, they can't be made to do it.

Legally if they have more than 5 employees then they have to keep written risk assessments of all hazards which are identified.

If an accident has occured then they should review the risk assessment, assuming one already existed, or undertake one as the hazard has now been identified.

Although eliminating the hazard, ie removing the furniture, would be the "preferred" solution, if that isn't "reasonably practicable" then a lesser mitigation is acceptable. So if they need the furniture then they could attach it to something so it didn't fall over; soften corners or sharp edges; put a physical barrier in place to stop children reaching it.... Depending on what the identified possible outcomes are.

You need to find the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, regulation 3. The HSE website is probably a good place to start.

Just remember that these regulations are law, and failure to follow them can result in criminal prosecution (as well as civil action to recover losses) so the nursery would be taking a big risk if they haven't done it. (Same if they didn't report the accident as a RIDDOR on your other thread).

Here is the legal requirements of the EYFS
page 33 deals with suitable premises, environment and equipment
the nursery should have a policy for identifying and assessing risk