Every early years setting carries legal health and safety duties, and every member of staff carries some of them personally. This early years health and safety course explains where those duties come from, then gives your team a practical five-step method for risk assessment, the everyday habits that keep a setting safe, and a clear guide to RIDDOR and reporting accidents.
It is written for real nursery life, from the wet floor at pick-up to the gate after a delivery. The aim is a safe setting where children still climb, balance and explore.
Why health and safety matters in early years
Young children explore with their whole bodies. They climb, mouth, pull, squeeze and run, so a hazard an adult would step around becomes a real danger at a child’s height. Most indoor accidents in early years settings are predictable, which means most are preventable. Good risk assessment is how you spot them early without stripping the challenge out of play.
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires employers to protect staff and anyone else affected by their work, so far as is reasonably practicable. In a nursery that includes children, parents, students, visiting professionals and contractors. Employees have their own legal duty to take reasonable care and report hazards. The EYFS adds specific requirements, including daily checks before children arrive, appropriate supervision, risk assessment, a first aid box, fire drills and safe storage of hazardous substances. It does not require a written risk assessment for every activity. It does require you to show how you manage risk.
What’s in the course
- Your legal health and safety dutiesThe 1974 Act, what the EYFS adds, and the personal duty every member of staff carries.
- How to carry out a risk assessmentHazard versus risk, the five steps, and balancing risk against benefit in play.
- Recording and reviewing risk assessmentsWhat a useful record contains, keeping it alive with the team, and when to review early.
- Common hazards indoors and outdoorsSlips, heat, substances, small objects, boundaries, water and weather, plus supervision as the control that moves.
- Building a positive safety cultureNo-blame reporting, leaders who follow their own rules, and making safety everyone’s habit.
- RIDDOR and reporting dutiesAccident records, what must be reported to the HSE, and the separate duty to notify Ofsted.
- Assessment10 questions. Pass mark 80%. Resit as many times as you need.
What you’ll learn
- What the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the EYFS each require, and what “so far as is reasonably practicable” means in practice
- The five steps of risk assessment: identify the hazards, decide who might be harmed, evaluate and control the risks, record your findings, review regularly
- How to weigh risk against benefit, so well-managed challenge such as climbing a low tree stays and risks with no developmental benefit go
- What a written assessment should record, including who will take further action, by when, and the date of the next review
- The triggers for an early review, from accidents and near misses to new equipment, seasonal change and staffing changes
- Why hazardous substances stay in their original labelled containers, locked away from children at all times
- When a child’s injury is reportable to the HSE under RIDDOR, and what counts as a work-related accident
- Why notifying Ofsted of a serious accident runs alongside RIDDOR, and why doing one does not discharge the other
Who this course is for
- Practitioners in every room, since each member of staff has a personal legal duty
- Room leaders and managers who write, review and share risk assessments
- Staff who open up and complete the daily premises checks
- New starters, students and apprentices as part of induction
- Childminders
How it works
- OnlineStudy on any device and pick up where you left off.
- 6 short lessonsAbout 45 minutes in total.
- 10-question assessmentPass mark 80%. Resit as many times as you need.
- CertificateIssued when you pass. NFAQ accredited.
Training your team
A safety system only works when the whole team keeps it working, so this course suits everyone in the setting, from the manager to the newest apprentice. Choose the number of learners at checkout, with group rates from 3 learners, or get it as part of the Training Portal for £5 per learner per month. It pairs well with RIDDOR and COSHH (Level 2).
Frequently asked questions
Does every activity need a written risk assessment?
No. The EYFS does not require a written risk assessment for every activity. Use written assessments where the risk justifies them, such as outings, water play, cooking and the premises as a whole. Everywhere else, your daily checks, procedures and staff knowledge show how you manage risk.
Is health and safety just the manager’s responsibility?
Overall legal responsibility sits with the employer, usually the registered provider, owner or management committee. Every member of staff also has a legal duty to take reasonable care, follow safety procedures and report hazards. You cannot delegate that personal duty to someone else.
When is a child’s injury reportable under RIDDOR?
When it results from a work-related accident, connected with the premises, the equipment or how an activity was organised, and the child is taken directly from the setting to hospital for treatment. Both must apply. Everyday tumbles are not reportable, but every accident should still be recorded and shared with parents.
Do we also need to tell Ofsted?
The EYFS requires registered providers to notify Ofsted of any serious accident, illness or injury to a child in their care, and of the death of a child. This is a separate duty from RIDDOR, so one incident may need both a report to the HSE and a notification to Ofsted.
What happens if I don’t pass the assessment?
You can resit it as many times as you need until you pass. Your certificate is issued as soon as you reach the 80% pass mark.
Is the course approved by Ofsted?
Ofsted does not approve training providers. Your certificate is evidence that you completed the training. Inspectors are more interested in whether staff genuinely understand and manage risk than in the size of the folder, and the course helps your team explain how they do it.
