Coat Hooks

[Guest]

While I was off sick our EY advisor visited. Her report says the coat pegs could pose a safety hazard and reccomends that they are changed. They are standard double hooks screwed to a baton on the wall at a height the children can reach. A few hooks had snapped off which I could see is a hazard and woiuld have replaced them with similar,but my deputy is adamant that this is not the whole problem. She says it is the design. I've never worked in a setting with anything different so what do you suggest and what is the risk assessment on coat hooks?

 

Alwyn

[Guest]

oh dear! we use exactly the pegs you describe, at child height and OfSTED didn't even blink at them. We do have low benches infront of them so children can sit down, and I guess not run directly into them but I think your EY advisor is being a bit daft - or is that just me? Sorry not to be more help!

[Guest]

Hmmmm.

 

Risk Assess?

[AnonyMouse_8466]

We have the same ones as you describe. Perhaps the early years adviser could advise which kind s/he would approve of?

 

Personally I would replace the broken ones with new ones the same, I'd look back at my accident book to see how many incidents had happened in the cloakroom and then monitor the situation for half a term.

 

That way you can justify what you do, and who could argue with that?

 

Maz

[AnonyMouse_5970]

For a while we tried wooden peg rails from IKEA - either 4 or 7 wooden pegs on their own baton, but not hooked so everything kept falling off them and it drove us crazy! The children couldn't hang up anything themselves without if falling straight off again.

We now use the usual double hooks that everyone seems to have. If you've got pots and pots of money, Community Playthings do lovely sets of wooden pegs...but who can afford them?!

Just off to risk assess a box of tissues. LOL!

Beehive

[AnonyMouse_1469]

we have the community playthings ones.........................saved up for ages for them. Otherwise, you can buy similar pegs on ebay, and screw them to a piece of nice wood?

[AnonyMouse_11396]

Like it beehive buzz, buzz, buzz, aitchoo

[AnonyMouse_13453]

So what's your history of risk? Yes, replace the broken ones and don't let children play near them. The rest of the time there shouldn't be any problem surely. I think it sounds as if this person has a 'bee in her bonnet' about things.

Make sure there are no sharp corners and do a little risk assessment so you can show her next time, but remember to add your history of risk too.

 

Not wanting to sound facetious, but what about table corners, chair backs, cupboard sides, door handles ......... I think we can use the cotton wool a bit too liberally if we're not careful - pardon the pun.

[Guest]

I was on a course once with a practitioner in whose nursery a child had a terrible accident involving similar sounding coat hooks, in which a child pulled a coat she was standing upon, the child fell against the hook which went into her eye socket, damaging her eye very badly.

 

Maybe the risk assessment should take into account the height of the hooks - these ones were possiblly too low. Maybe too many children in the cloakroom at once. Perhaps the area needed better supervision. What were the chances of such an accident ? maybe a low risk, with no other accidents ever happening with the hooks before, but the consequences for this child horrendous and life long.

 

Sadly sometimes accidents just do happen in ways we may not have foreseen in our risk assessments.

[AnonyMouse_13453]

very true

[AnonyMouse_8600]

I worry about these people who are supposed to advise us.

[AnonyMouse_25331]

Agree with all the comments! but..... if you want a nice suggestio for hooks, we have these ones.

 

 

www.lockersandbenches.com/plastic-coat-hooks.html

 

 

They apparently won't break if pulled on (we've had them a year and no problems yet), and come in lovely colours!!

 

We have the three colors of our key person groups (and spare ones so we can switch around) and the children use a peg of their group colour.

 

They look really nice too.#

[AnonyMouse_5970]

Just looked at those mps09 and they look lovely and a great price too. Like your idea about key children having a particular colour too. Don't know if that would work for us as we have so many part-timers (meaning lots of children!) that they have to share pegs, usually with someone who attends on a different day, so assigning colours might get a bit complicated.

Beehive

[AnonyMouse_25331]

we have 12 of each colour - and also 'double' up some children but so far - touch wood - we have always been able to sort it out with cildren attending different sessions, and keep their own colours!