Serious accident at nursery

[Incywincyspidee]

My child had a serious accident at nursery whilst playing with a piece of equipment (not a toy/should not have been accessible). He was playing with this unsupervised for 2 mins or so whilst the staff were distracted. He subsequently had to go to hospital and have the injury attended to under general anaesthetic. He has been going there for several years and I have never had an issue with this nursery, but I’m unsure now of what to do. The staff/owner were apologetic and take full responsibility. My child loves this nursery and has friends there, but I’m not sure what is best to do going forward? If you were in my shoes what would you do?

This is a pretty normal, standard piece of play equipment in early years settings and would usually be accessible to children. From the first post I was imagining something that children definitely shouldn't happen.

There also isn't 1:1 supervision in nursery so I wouldn't be at all concerned that a child wasn't being watched for 2-3 minutes - an adult could easily be doing another child's shoes up or dealing with an argument or something.

For me this would come under the category of 'accidents happen' rather than negligence.
3 year olds climb and fall.

I think how they handle it will give you your answers.

Wait, what? These are a normal part of play equipment I dont understand why it shouldn't have been left out?

Not trying to be difficult OP I just work in early years so am a bit baffled about how he climbed these flimsy things and why it's the fault of the nursery? Genuinely wondering if I'm missing something!

OP just to clarify these are for children to use, they are supposed to put the drains etc on themselves.

Yeah not quite how it first came across.
those are perfectly acceptable to leave out, I’ve stopped children climbing on those hundreds of times-it’s too tempting for them!
it seems it was just unfortunate that he fell and yes of course he should have been supervised. This would go in to the category of unfortunate accident I think.
they will need to self report to ofsted due to the hospital treatment.

Same @friskery I was envisaging janitor having left out tools, not a piece of play equipment.
Can't imagine why ga surgery would be needed

I think that makes quite a lot of difference. I had thoughts of him being left with a sharp knife. Staff can't have eyes on all children at all times in preschool. They do with babies, that's why there is a lower ratio but 3 year olds aren't always going to have an eye on them. Surely you've gone a couple of minutes without an eye on him?
I wouldn't do anything, I'd accept the apology and your child returns to nursery as normal, hopefully having learned not to climb on things he shouldn't.

A child can easily crack a chin open or break a bone from a relatively minor fall.

This child could have climbed on to the back of a bench, or on top of one of those Little Tikes cars, and fallen and had a similar injury.

The worst injury I ever saw working in nursery was a broken femur from a child just slipping on a floor and falling awkwardly.

I realise that this is a common piece of equipment in early years settings, my concern was that he was left unsupervised for long enough to climb on it multiple times and injure himself - it’s not supposed to be for climbing obviously. I posted on here to get people’s thoughts, as I wasn’t sure if I was over or under reacting.

How do you know he climbed on it multiple times unsupervised?

What do you mean by unsupervised?
Were there no adults in the garden, or were they there but busy?

2 or 3 minutes not under direct supervision sounds normal to me, even when I was 1:1 at home with my own preschool child I would have taken my eyes off him for that long.
Nursery might have 20+ children with a couple of adults.

It sounds like just an accident.

I wouldn't do anything about it tbh.

Young children generally need a GA for suturing.

This sounds like a simple accident.

Bless you OP. That's s really horrible, traumatic thing to have happened. I hope your son is okay and that you are, too. Stuff like this just plays over and over in our heads don't they.
I think it's more unfortunate than real neglect on behalf of the nursery really. Kids can climb anything- it could have been a desk or a low bookshelf, and the outcome would still be the same. I don't think it's realistic to think that a worker will have their eyes on your child at all times (I can't do that with my own children.)

That doesn't make it any less scary for you, though! But it may help you to think of it as an unfortunate accident rather than the result of your son being in an unsafe space.

And yet the overwhelming majority of childhood accidents happen in the home under the supervision of parents.

Any environment that is looking after vulnerable people ,whatever their age will report an incident to safeguarding . That will be the case with a registered nursery.
I work in an environment where we report any incidents, regardless of fault to cover the staff and ensure that we learn from the incident.
edited to say that it’s ok to feel how you feeling and I hope your little one is making a full recovery.X

Thank you for this. I think the whole thing has really shook me up - I just want to do what’s best for him. I have since had a meeting with the staff, who showed me the CCTV, and reassured me that they would be reviewing outside equipment, so I’m happy with that. I realise it’s not feasible to have eyes on a child every second of the day and recognise accidents are part and parcel of childhood. Thanks again for your kindness - a hand hold is much appreciated! x

Blimey, what injury did he get to need a GA??

👆This

Unfortunately I have to go to work

Very common for a cut on the face to be stitched under GA if the child won't be able to keep still.

Crikey ! Well aren’t you lucky that you are in a position not to require child care !

To be honest, I think he could have managed it in less than two mins. As it is a typical EYFS bit of equipment, and one which isn’t very heavy or sharp, I would say it was an accident that couldn’t have been predicted. I had assumed when I read your initial post that it was a pair of adult scissors or a hot drink which would be a massive H&S risk but I think on this occasion it was just awful luck. Your child is happy there and it sounds like they are taking measures to ensure it doesn’t happen again. It is the same as a child falling over and cracking their head- it takes a split second. Those water channels are not that high- a staff member could have been bent with their back turned for a min to tie up a child’s shoelace or a grazed knee and your child would have had time to climb it. I don’t think they’ve left your child unsupervised. I would be more concerned about how they dealt with the accident- first aid wise and the follow up then the actual accident. Hope your child is okay.

Its great that you're in a financial position where you don't have to, but majority of us have to send our children to nursery so we can work and provide for our children. So this comment is wildly unhelpful to the op and other mums on this thread who have sadly had accidents happen to their kids in nurseries

Suturing often requires a small child to be anaesthetised.

Of course. Most of us do (or did).
Pay no attention to the person saying they wouldn't put their child in nursery.