Posts Tagged ‘safety’

Offering child care for business employees is a wonderful opportunity to help parents balance the demands of work and family. More companies are offering child care within the business setting, and the long-term benefits are worthwhile. Not only are you creating a supportive network, but also encouraging employees to have an alternative source of affordable child care so they don’t have to compromise their workload.

Establishing safety guidelines is an important part to any child care facility. Licensed facilities must adhere to the state laws that are set in place to regulate safety, sanitation and food preparation. By following these guidelines, you can rest assured that your facility will stay licensed and continue to offer the quality child care that your employees depend on.

Your child care center will need to follow the health and safety regulations established by the government. This will ensure that the spread of disease and infection is controlled, and that safety is a prime concern. Your facility will be licensed and you’ll need to hire on the appropriate staff to care for the children. Be sure to follow suit with the teacher-to-child ratios, which are dependent on the age of the children. For example, for every 8 2-year-olds, there must be one teacher.

There will need to be protocols for cleaning and sanitizing toys and tables, preparing food, handling accidents and ensuring the safety of outdoor play equipment. A sick policy will need to be given to all parents so they understand which children are excluded. While you want to encourage your employees to come to work, there are certain conditions that make a child too sick to be at day care.

Another consideration that makes onsite child care different from others is that the parents are right around the corner. While most daycare centers allow parents to “drop in”, this will be especially feasible at the workplace. Since you don’t want children coming and going during lunch hours or having parents dropping in at all hours, there are additional guidelines to set in place.

By taking all safety considerations into play, you can create a safe, nurturing child care facility within the boundaries of the workplace.

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