Water Safety in Homebased Care

Water Safety in Homebased Care

9 December 2019

With the summer holidays upon us, the safety and supervision of children in and around water is of the highest priority. This relates to water play, paddling pools, swimming pools and excursions near water, and it’s reassuring for our families to know that children in care are kept safe.

To help reduce any potential risk and ensure children’s safety, the following guidelines will be followed by Educators/Nannies:

  • Children must be supervised at all times while in or around water.
  • Children are not permitted to be in a pool over the height of 400 mm in height without the written permission from their parents (a parent consent form is to be completed). Ratios must not exceed 1:4.
  • Water troughs, containers and paddling pools will be supervised at all times and will be emptied onto garden areas after use.  These need to be stored to prevent collection of water.
  • A risk assessment will be conducted prior to any excursion taking place which are near water.

Fish ponds or similar water features that collect or fill with water need to be securely covered and meet the following requirements:

  • Needs to be able to support the weight of an adult.
  • Be fixed in place.

You can read more about keeping children safe around water on https://watersafety.org.nz/