You can use this information to help you carry out your premises risk assessment. The risk assessment should cover all of the areas that you will be working in, including the garden and car. If you identify any hazards you will need to deal with them before you admit children to that area.

The welfare requirements within the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage require providers to take the necessary steps to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in their care, therefore must aim to provide a low hazard, safe environment which enables children to explore and develop their skills in all areas. The child-minder must be alert and ensure that the environment provided is safe for the age and developmental stage of the children and supervision is appropriate and allows children to develop their skills. All equipment and toys need to be safe and appropriate for the age of the children and have a safety mark.

If you are opening your home as a place of business, you would need to take out public liability insurance (and employee liability insurance if you employ staff) that would include managing health & safety as per the “Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974”.  

Key things to consider:

1. Electrical Safety 

Electrical appliances and fittings (which will include your hard wiring) should conform to safety requirements and must not pose a hazard. All electrical work in dwellings in England and Wales is notifiable to a building control body and must meet the requirements of Part P of the Building Regulations. Electrical Safety First highlights the legal duty on homeowners regarding undertaking electrical works. 

2. Gas Safety

You have a duty to ensure your any gas appliances are serviced/tested annually by a Gas Safe registered engineer and that you keep your certification. Do not allow anyone to undertake any work to your gas services who does not have a valid Gas Safe ID licence.

3. Fire Safety

It is important that child minders know what to do in the event of a fire and that they make a fire plan. This should include ensuring that the escape routes are unobstructed and free from trip hazards, the means of raising the alarm in the event of fire, an evacuation plan with an external assembly point and how to call the fire brigade in the event of fire.                                                                                           

Childminders should:​​​​​​

• carrying out a Fire Risk Assessment and review annually or when major changes are made to the layout of the building 
• have a written escape / evacuation plan and review regularly
• carry out regular fire drill and keep a record of the drills                 

4. Water Safety - Legionella

You must check that conditions are not likely to increase the risk of Legionella to children or staff if applicable. You can do this by carrying out a Water Risk Assessment (WRA) to ensure any risks are mitigated or reduced. Although the risks to of legionella will be low in domestic properties, you still need to check that conditions are not likely to increase the risk.  

It is likely that the risk of legionella or similar bacteria will be low in a domestic premise where water is constantly used. However, you should still undertake a risk assessment.

Key facts about Legionella:

Legionella bacteria are common in natural water sources such as rivers, lakes and reservoirs, but usually in low numbers. They may also be found in purpose-built water systems such as cooling towers, evaporative condensers, hot and cold-water systems and spa pools.

• If conditions are favourable, the bacteria may grow increasing the risks of Legionnaires’ disease and it is therefore important to control the risks by introducing appropriate measures.
• Legionella can breed and multiply in hot and cold-water systems if conditions are right when the hot water temperature is set too low at the boiler or the cold-water temperature is too high which allows bacteria to breed and multiply.
• People contract Legionnaires’ disease by inhaling small droplets of water (aerosols), suspended in the air, containing the bacteria. Certain conditions increase the risk from legionella if:
• the water temperature in all or some parts of the hot and cold-water system is between 20-45 °C, which is suitable for growth. Bacteria will breed and multiply when water temperatures are between 20-45 °C.
• it is possible for breathable water droplets to be created and dispersed e.g. aerosol created by a cooling tower, water-based air conditioning units or water outlets
• water is stored and/or re-circulated, such as a cold-water storage tank
• there are deposits that can support bacterial growth providing a source of nutrients for the organism e.g. rust, sludge, scale, organic matter and biofilms
• Therefore, you must ensure that the temperature of the hot water cylinder(calorifier) is stored at 60°C or above. Your hot water at the tap should be at least 45°C. In a small residential property, your hot water cylinder is likely to be close to the taps so you must also be aware that the hot water at your taps could potentially run the risk of scalding because of this. To mitigate this, you will need to find a solution so that the temperature at the tap does not scald. This can be by way of mixer taps or blended water units that can be fitted to pull hot and cold water together so that it is safe for children to use. This is for you to risk assess and manage.
• You must also ensure that cold water at the tap is 20 °C or below.
• You should monitor the temperatures of both hot and cold taps. A water thermometer can be used to check on a monthly basis. By doing this, you will be aware if there are any changes in water temperature that allow bacteria to breed and take appropriate action. The bacteria are dormant below 20°C and do not survive above 60°C.
• Legionella also breeds in poorly maintained air conditioning systems so if you have any water-based air conditioning it must be serviced at regular intervals and keep copies of any service certification
• Make sure you regularly flush rarely used showers or taps to prevent any contamination (including outdoor garden taps) The threat of the water system becoming contaminated with Legionella is higher when water is allowed to stagnate so keep it moving.

Limescale just allows legionella bacteria or other bacteria to breed. Have a regime for de-scaling.

Further advice

5. Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH)

COSHH can include everything from Fairy Liquid to Tippex to toothpaste and is anything with a hazard warning on it. 

Childminders should consider the following:

• Elimination (are there any chemicals that you no longer need that can be thrown away)
• Substitution (is there another less hazardous chemical you could use that still would do the same task?) 
• Segregation (where can you store the chemicals that will minimise the likelihood of the child accessing it? In the utility top cupboard e.g. bleach? Locked in the garage e.g. white spirit)
• Administration controls (making sure that the chemicals are all put away before the children arrive, limiting children’s access to the areas were the chemicals are kept through supervision.
• Personal protective equipment. Ideally if you substitute hazardous materials for safer non-hazardous products, you should not be using them, but you and staff may well use hazardous materials and as such should be aware of the risks associated with them and know how to use them safely. You can do this by obtaining data-sheets from manufacturers which provide you with such details.

Suitable emergency arrangements should be made if any chemical is inhaled, ingested or absorbed. Good practice is to take the chemical with you to hospital and if possible know how much they might have been exposed.
 

6. Glazing 

You should undertake your own risk assessment of the glazing in your home to ensure that any glazing that children have access to is either safety glazing or you have some protection in place to protect people from injury. All windows that children can reach or items can be thrown at should be risk assessed. Most doors and all glazing in windows where the glass is within 2ft 7in - or 800mm, of the floor or ground should be safety glazing. 

Ordinary glass is extremely dangerous because it breaks into jagged pieces that cause serious injuries. Safety glass is a legal requirement in new buildings, so if your property is older, you must consider replacing glass doors and panels with safety glass.

There are different categories of safety glass available and safety film that can be applied to existing windows if they are not already safety glass and pose a risk to children. You can ask your glazer for more details. All safety glass should be etched or marked to confirm this.

7. Environmental Health  

If you are planning to provide food as part of your child-minding service registration as a food business with your local authority will happen automatically when you register with Ofsted. After being registered as a food business a food safety inspection will be carried out by the Local Authority. 

If you are a child-minder that provides food  you are responsible under food law for ensuring that food is prepared, stored and handled in compliance with the food hygiene regulations. This includes keeping a record of actions carried out to keep food safe. The Food Standards Agency has produced  'Safer food, better business for child-minders' for guidance.

You can also refer to food safety.

8. Asbestos 

Properties built before 2000 may have asbestos containing materials in them. Ideally you should know if you have asbestos in your home or not for your own benefit. There is no legal duty for you to employ an external asbestos surveyor to undertake an asbestos management survey of your home. This may be something you choose to do but if not, you can carry out your own risk assessment. 

You can use this HSE interactive diagram to check if there is any asbestos in your home (internally and externally). The HSE interactive diagram illustrates where asbestos may be found in the home. In addition, the asbestos image gallery provides real photographs of typical asbestos-containing materials that can be found today. If there is, so long as it is not damaged it should be safe, but your risk assessment would look at where that asbestos is, the condition of the asbestos and again risk assess the possibility of accidental damage by anyone. If you are not sure whether a material is asbestos or not and it is in a location that could potentially be accidentally damaged, you should employ a suitably qualified asbestos surveyor to analyse a sample and advise further.

9. Heating/radiators 

Ensure heat sources are not too hot to cause scolding. Use guards if necessary.

10.  Planning

If you wish to set up a new Ofsted registered childminding service from a domestic property or expand an existing childminder provision, in some cases, you may need to submit a “Change of Use” planning application to ensure your premises has the correct “Planning Use” category to be able to operate the childminding service from there. There are specific planning use classes that allow you to operate a childcare service from your home. Generally, if it is just you looking after children in part of your home, you will not require a change of use application, however, if you take on staff, therefore increasing the number of children at your home and in effect using more of your home for childcare, you must contact the LA's Planning department to check. For further guidance, read the Planning and Building Regulations guidance for Early Years Providers.

11.  Child-minding from a rented property

If you want to be a childminder and live in a rented property, you will require written permission from the landlord as well as completing the required planning checks.

12. Contact

For queries, please contact Early Years & Childcare team- childcare@walthamforest.gov.uk