Critical Incident Policy

At Pitter Patter Play Ltd we understand we need to plan for all eventualities to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of all the children we care for. With this in mind, we have a critical incident policy in place to ensure our nursery is able to operate effectively in the case of a critical incident. These include:

• Flood
• Fire
• Burglary
• Abduction or threatened abduction of a child
• Bomb threat/terrorism attack
• Any other incident that may affect the care of the children in the nursery.

If any of these incident’s impact on the ability of the nursery to operate, we will contact parents by phone, email, text and through the Famly App at the earliest opportunity, e.g. before the start of the nursery day.

Lockdown

In the event of an intruder on site the member of staff that witnesses this must shout LOCKDOWN

All staff and Children should go inside and staff should lock the doors, close windows and put the shutters down except the fire exit door

Police should be contacted immediately.

Vandalism

Any incidents of vandalism should be reported to 101 and the site should be left undisturbed for as long as possible, either until police have attended or the Director deems it to be operationally necessary to clean up etc for the safety and wellbeing of children and staff.

Flood

There is always a danger of flooding from adverse weather conditions or through the water/central heating systems. We cannot anticipate adverse weather; however, we can ensure that we take care of all our water and heating systems through regular maintenance and checks to reduce the option of flooding in this way.

• Our central heating systems are checked and serviced annually by a registered gas engineer as part of our maintenance agreement, and they conform to all appropriate guidelines and legislation.
• If flooding occurs during the nursery day, the nursery manager will make a decision based on the severity and location of this flooding, and it may be deemed necessary to follow the fire evacuation procedure. In this instance children will be kept safe, and parents will be notified in the same way as the fire procedure.
• Should the nursery be assessed as unsafe through flooding, fire or any other incident we will follow our operational plan and liaise with the local authority and school to arrange alternative provision.

Fire

Please refer to the fire safety policy.

Burglary

The management of the nursery follow a lock up procedure which ensures all doors and windows are closed and locked before vacating the premises. The manager (or other nominated key holder) will always check the premises as they arrive in the morning. Should they discover that the nursery has been broken into they will follow the procedure below:

• Dial 999 with as many details as possible, i.e., name and location, details of what you have found and emphasise this is a nursery and children will be arriving soon
• Contain the area to ensure no-one enters until the police arrive. The staff will direct parents and children to a separate area as they arrive. If all areas have been disturbed staff will follow police advice, including following the relocation procedure under flood wherever necessary to ensure the safety of the children
• The manager on duty will help the police with enquiries, e.g. by identifying items missing, areas of entry etc.
• A manager/director will be available at all times during this time to speak to parents, reassure children and direct enquires
• Management will assess the situation following a theft and ensure parents are kept up to date with developments relating to the operation of the nursery.

Abduction or threatened abduction of a child.

We have secure safety procedures in place to ensure children are safe while in our care, including safety from abduction.

• Staff must be vigilant at all times and report any persons lingering on nursery property immediately.
• All doors and gates to the nursery are locked and cannot be accessed unless staff members allow individuals in.
• Parents are reminded on a regular basis not to allow anyone into the building whether they are known to them or not.
• Visitors and general security are covered in more detail in the supervision of visitor’s policy.
• Children will only be released into the care of a designated adult; see the arrivals and departures policy for more details.
• Parents are requested to inform the nursery of any potential custody battles or family concerns as soon as they arise, so the nursery is able to support the child.
• The nursery will not take sides in relation to any custody battle and will remain neutral for the child. If an absent parent arrives to collect their child, the nursery will not restrict access unless a court order is in place.
• Parents are requested to issue the nursery with a copy of these documents should they be in place. We will consult our solicitors with regards to any concerns over custody and relay any information back to the parties involved.

If a member of staff witnesses an actual or potential abduction from nursery, we have the following procedures which are followed immediately:

• The police must be called immediately
• The staff member will notify management immediately and the Director will take control
• The parent(s) will be contacted
• All other children will be kept safe and secure and calmed down where necessary
• The police will be given as many details as possible including details of the child, description of the abductor, car registration number if used, time and direction of travel if seen and any family situations that may impact on this abduction.

Bomb threat/terrorism attack

If a bomb threat is received at the nursery, the person taking the call will record all details given over the phone as soon as possible and raise the alarm as soon as the phone call has ended. The management will follow the fire evacuation procedure to ensure the safety of all on the premises and will provide as much detail to the emergency services as possible.

Other incidents

All incidents will be managed by the manager on duty and all staff will co-operate with any emergency services on the scene. Any other incident that requires evacuation will follow the fire plan.

Other incidents e.g. no water supply will be dealt with on an individual basis taking into account the effect on the safety, health and welfare of the children and staff in the nursery.

In the event of an emergency away from the nursery that affects the collection of children e.g. a car accident causing delays or bomb/terror incident

• We will inform parents through the Famly app whether this is to avoid the area or allow extra travel time etc.
• Monitor the incident.
• Liaise closely with the school for official updates and keep our advice aligned with theirs as we operate from the same site.
• Staff will remain at the premises with the children and ratio will be maintained.
• A stock of emergency food, water, hygiene and sleeping equipment are maintained at the setting for these rare circumstances.

The Director will notify The Early Years Team at NCC in the event of any critical incident.

This Policy was adopted on	Signed on Behalf of Pitter Patter Play Ltd	Date for review
09/05/2024 Reviewed 23/7/24		July 2025