Making Our Environments Safe

It goes without saying, that our settings should be safe places for all.  And by ‘safe’, we need to consider not just the physical and practical aspects of our environments, but also how we are promoting and ensuring emotional safety, for individuals and staff alike.

So how do we make our environments, in the broadest sense, healthy, positive and safe, where individuals feel supported, secure and confident to take risks and grow their independence?

Formulating formal and dynamic risk assessments

Risk assessments are one of the best ways to make our environments as safe as possible for everyone. Formal risk assessments prepare us for things that may happen in the future and provide us with guidance on how best to respond in certain situations.  They document foreseeable eventualities and reflect the thought processes behind maximising safety for the children, young people, and adults in our care. By taking previous incidents into account, and using our knowledge of individuals, we can build a comprehensive and detailed report.

Unlike a formal risk assessment, which pre-empts, evaluates and addresses known risk, a dynamic risk assessment works in real time; it’s our response to an ever-changing situation as it unfolds or evolves. At times like this, we need to make swift decisions ‘in the moment’, to reduce risk and keep people safe.

Ensuring the safety of children, young people, and adults requires extensive knowledge of formal risk assessments, insight into individuals’ behaviour support or care plans, and the confidence to formulate a dynamic risk assessment, if and when required.

Download a helpful risk assessment flowchart.

Managing physical hazards in our settings

When it comes to the physical environment in which we operate, there are numerous practical control measures we can put in place to reduce the likelihood of danger, and minimise risk for children, young people, and adults.

• Carrying out daily checks enables us to ensure that the environment and any equipment is safe, and that potential dangers have been identified and addressed. While there might be a specific person assigned to oversee the maintenance of our buildings and their contents, it is incumbent on all of us to be vigilant, and continually check for potential hazards.