Emergency Management Policy Document

1. The staff member who becomes aware of the threat must inform all other staff of the threat as quickly and safely as possible.

2. Staff members who are outdoors must ensure everyone who is outdoors proceeds to a safe location.

3. Staff inside the child care centre must:

• remain calm;
• gather all children and move them away from doors and windows;
• take children’s attendance to confirm all children are accounted for;
• take shelter in closets and/or under furniture with the children, if appropriate;
• keep children calm;
• ensure children remain in the sheltered space;
• turn off/mute all cellular phones; and
• wait for further instructions.

4. If possible, staff inside the program room(s) should also:

• close all window coverings and doors;
• barricade the room door;
• gather emergency medication; and
• join the rest of the group for shelter.

5. Little Bloomers Child Care Centre will immediately:

• close and lock all child care centre entrance/exit doors, if possible; and
• take shelter.

Note: only emergency service personnel are allowed to enter or exit the child care centre during a lockdown.

Hold & Secure

When a threat is in the general vicinity of the child care centre, but not on or inside the child care premises. E.g. a shooting at a nearby building.

1. The staff member who becomes aware of the external threat must inform all other staff of the threat as quickly and safely as possible.

2. Staff members who are outdoors must ensure everyone returns to their program room(s) immediately.

3. Staff in the program room must immediately:

• remain calm;
• take children’s attendance to confirm all children are accounted for;
• close all window coverings and windows in the program room;
• continue normal operations of the program; and
• wait for further instructions.

4. Little Bloomers Child Care Centre must immediately:

• close and lock all entrances/exits of the child care centre;
• close all blinds and windows outside of the program rooms; and
• place a note on the external doors with instructions that no one may enter
• or exit the child care centre.

Note:onlyemergencyservicespersonnelareallowedtoenterorexitthe centre during a hold and secure

1. The staff member who becomes aware of the threat or Little Bloomers Child Care Centre must:

• remain calm;
• call 911 if emergency services is not yet aware of the situation;
• follow the directions of emergency services personnel; and
• take children’s attendance to confirm all children are accounted for.

A. Where the threat is received by telephone, the person on the phone should try to keep the suspect on the line as long as possible while another individual calls 911 and communicates with emergency services personnel.

B. Where the threat is received in the form of a suspicious package, staff must ensure that no one approaches or touches the package at any time.

Disaster Requiring Evacuation

A serious incident that affects the physical building and requires everyone to leave the premises. E.g. fire, flood, power failure.

1. The staff member who becomes aware of the disaster must inform all other staff of the incident and that the centre must be evacuated, as quickly and safely as possible. If the disaster is a fire, the fire alarm pull station must be used and staff must follow the centre’s fire evacuation procedures.

2. Staff must immediately:

• remain calm;
• gather all children, the attendance record, children’s emergency contact information any emergency medication;
• exit the building with the children using the nearest safe exit, bringing children’s outdoor clothing (if possible) according to weather conditions;
• escort children to the meeting place; and
• take children’s attendance to confirm all children are accounted for;
• keep children calm; and
• wait for further instructions.

3. If possible, staff should also:

• take a first aid kit; and
• gather all non-emergency medications.

4. Designated staff will:

• help any individuals with medical and/or special needs who need assistance to go to the meeting place (in accordance with the procedure in a child’s individualized plan, if the individual is a child); and
• in doing so, follow the instructions posted on special needs equipment or assistive devices during the evacuation.
• If individuals cannot be safely assisted to exit the building, the designated staff will assist them to Your Independent Gorcer, 1244 On-21, Port Elgin ON and ensure their required medication is accessible, if applicable
• wait for further instructions.

5. If possible, the site designate must conduct a walk-through of the child care centre to verify that everyone has exited the building and secure any windows or doors, unless otherwise directed by emergency services personnel.

Disaster – External Environmental Threat

An incident outside of the building that may have adverse effects on persons in the child care centre.

E.g. gas leak, oil spill, chemical release, forest fire, nuclear emergency.

1. The staff member who becomes aware of the external environmental threat must inform all other staff of the threat as quickly and safely as possible and, according to directions from emergency services personnel, advise whether to remain on site or evacuate the premises.

If remaining on site:

1. Staff members who are outdoors with children must ensure everyone who is outdoors returns to their program room immediately.

2. Staff must immediately:

• remain calm;
• take children’s attendance to confirm all children are accounted for;
• close all program room windows and all doors that lead outside (where applicable);
• seal off external air entryways located in the program rooms (where applicable);
• continue with normal operations of the program; and
• wait for further instructions.

3. Little Bloomers Child Care Centre must:

• seal off external air entryways not located in program rooms (where applicable);
• place a note on all external doors with instructions that no one may enter or exit the child care centre until further notice; and
• turn off all air handling equipment (i.e. heating, ventilation and/or airconditioning, where applicable).

If emergency services personnel otherwise direct the child care centre to evacuate, follow the procedures outlined in the “Disaster Requiring Evacuation” section of this policy.

1. The individual who receives the ‘all-clear’ from an authority must inform all staff that the ‘all-clear’ has been given and that it is safe to return to the child care centre.

2. Designated staff who have assisted individuals with medical and/or special needs with exiting the building will assist and accompany these individuals with returning to the child care centre.

3. Staff must:

• take attendance to ensure all children are accounted for;
• escort children back to their program room(s), where applicable;
• take attendance upon returning to the program room(s) to ensure that all children are accounted for; where applicable; and
• re-open closed/sealed blinds, windows and doors.

4. Little Bloomers Child Care Centre will determine if operations will resume and communicate this decision to staff.

Communication with parents/ guardians

1. The individual who receives the ‘unsafe to return’ notification from an authority must inform all staff of this direction and instruct them to proceed from the meeting place to the evacuation site, or the site determined by emergency services personnel.

2. Staff must take attendance to confirm that all children are accounted for, and escort children to the evacuation site.

3. Designated staff who have assisted individuals with medical and/or special needs with exiting the building will assist and accompany these individuals to the evacuation site.

4. Little Bloomers Child Care Centre will post a note for parents/guardians on the child care centre entrance with information on the evacuation site, where it is possible and safe to do so.

5. Upon arrival at the evacuation site, staff must:

• remain calm;
• take attendance to ensure all children are accounted for;
• help keep children calm;
• engage children in activities, where possible;
• conduct ongoing visual checks and head counts of children;
• maintain constant supervision of the children;
• keep attendance as children are picked up by their parents, guardians or authorized pick-up persons; and
• remain at the evacuation site until all children have been picked up.

Communication with parents/ guardians

1. Upon arrival at the emergency evacuation site, Little Bloomers Child Care Centre will notify parents/guardians of the emergency situation, evacuation and the location to pick up their children.

2. Where possible, Little Bloomers Child Care Centre will update the child care centre’s voicemail box as soon as possible to inform parents/guardians that the child care centre has been evacuated, and include the details of the evacuation site location and contact information in the message.

Procedures for Resuming Normal Operations

E.g. where, applicable, reopening the child care centre, contacting the Ministry of Education Program Advisor, responding to media and community inquiries, contacting the insurance company, informing the caterer, temporarily relocating, etc.

Once everything has cleared Little Bloomers Child Care Centre will then reopen the centre, and relocate back to the daycare. They will then contact the Ministry of Education Program Advisor. Parents will be notified if necessary they will respond to the media and community inquiries, or temporarily relocate to another facility.

Procedures for Debriefing Staff, Children and Parents/ Guardians

Include, where, applicable, details about when and how the debrief(s) will take place, etc.

Little Bloomers Child Care Centre must debrief staff, children and parents/guardians after the emergency. The same day or the next morning the supervisor or operator will meet with the staff and discuss who types of things were successful or not during the emergency and ways to improve upon it.