Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024
(a) Suitable
precautions must be taken to eliminate all conditions in areas accessible to
children which pose a safety hazard.
(1) The
program must take suitable precautions to prevent the following:
(i) serious injury of a child while in care
at the program or being transported by the program;
(ii) death of a child while in care at the
program or being transported by the program.
(b) The program must submit a written
emergency plan and emergency evacuation diagram using forms furnished by the
office or an approved equivalent form. Primary emphasis must be placed on the
safe and timely evacuation and relocation of children. The plan must account
for the variety of needs of children, including those with disabilities.
(1) The plan, as submitted with the
application or changed thereafter, must be reviewed with the parents of the
children in the program and all staff that work in the program.
(2) The emergency evacuation diagram, as
approved by the office, must be posted in a conspicuous place in every room
used by the school age child care program.
(3) The emergency plan must include the
following:
(i) how children and staff will be
made aware of an emergency;
(ii) a
designation of primary and secondary evacuation routes;
(iii) methods of evacuation, including where
children and staff will meet after evacuating the building, and how attendance
will be taken;
(iv) a plan for the
safe evacuation of children from the premises, for each shift of care (morning
and afternoon);
(v) the designation
of primary and secondary emergency relocation sites to be used in the case of
an emergency, which prohibits re-entry to the child care premises, and how the
health, safety and emotional needs of children will be met in the event it
becomes necessary to evacuate to another location;
(vi) a strategy for sheltering in place, and
how the health, safety and emotional needs of children will be met in the event
it becomes necessary to shelter-in-place;
(vii) notification of authorities and the
children's parents;
(viii) roles of
staff; and
(ix) procedures related
to the reunification of children and caretakers.
(4) Each program must hold two
shelter-in-place drills annually during which procedures and supplies are
reviewed. Parents must be made aware of this drill in advance.
(5) The program must maintain on file a
record of each shelter-in-place drill conducted, using forms provided by the
office or approved equivalents.
(6)
Parents must be made aware of the primary and secondary relocation sites and
any changes to the plan in advance. In the case that a program is directed to a
different location by emergency services, the program must notify parents and
the office as soon as possible. In the event that relocation is required, a
written notice must be placed on the main entry to the child care space unless
an immediate threat precludes the program from doing so.
(7) Each program must have on site a variety
of supplies including food, water, first aid and other safety equipment to
allow for the protection of the health and safety of children in the event
parents are unable to pick up children due to a local disaster. The plan must
take into account a child's needs for an overnight stay. Food supplies must be
non-perishable and of sufficient quantity for all children for an overnight
stay. Programs that serve food daily and have a food supply stored on site for
their daily operation or are co-located at a site with a cafeteria, pantry or
eatery of some kind are not required to store emergency food or water supplies
if they can show that they have access to and permission to use those foods in
a declared emergency.
(c) Portable electric heaters or other
portable heating devices, regardless of the type of fuel used, may not be used
in school-age child care programs.
(d) Whenever the heating system is in use,
pipes and radiators accessible to children must have barriers or covers to
protect children from injury, unless rooms are only used for sedentary
activities such as homework, arts and crafts. Radiators and pipes accessible to
children, located in rooms used for physical activity and active play must have
barriers or covers to protect children from injury whenever the heating system
is in use.
(e) Porches, decks and
stairs must have railings with a barrier extending to the floor or ground to
prevent children from falling. Acceptable types of barriers include, but are
not limited to, banisters, intermediate rails, and heavy screening.
(f) Barriers must exist to prevent children
from gaining access to unsafe areas. Such areas include, but are not limited
to, swimming pools, drainage ditches, wells, ponds, or other bodies of open
water, holes, wood and coal burning stoves, fireplaces, pellet stoves,
permanently installed gas space heaters, or any other unsafe area.
(g) The use of pools that have not received a
Department of Health permit to operate, spa pools and all fill-and-drain wading
pools are prohibited.
(1) No child shall
participate in aquatic activities including, fishing, boating, swimming or any
other activity on a body of water without a certified lifeguard present.
(i) The certified lifeguard can be either a
staff person of the program, or an employee of the venue.
(ii) If provided by the school age child care
program, the certified lifeguard must be certified for the body of water they
are supervising children in or near.
(2) No child shall participate in activities
at or near a body of water, without a staff person who is certified in
cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and first aid present.
(3) Only those swimming pools and bathing
beaches that have a valid permit to operate issued from the local health
department having jurisdiction for the bathing facility or those operated by a
government agency may be used.
(4)
The program shall develop and implement a method to keep track of the location
and maintain safety for all children during swimming and other off-site
activities. The program shall establish and follow a written plan which details
the system of supervising and checking swimmers. This includes a plan for
children who are non-swimmers. In addition, a plan for a lost swimmer must be
established.
(5) All staff
attending the aquatic activity must review the aquatic activity plan before
departing for the activity.
(h) Public swimming pools and adjacent areas
used by the children must be constructed, maintained, staffed and used in
accordance with chapter 1, subpart 6-1, of the New York State Sanitary Code,
and in such a manner as will safeguard the lives and health of
children.
(i) When swimming is
included as part of the program activities each child shall have a signed
statement of permission from the parent to participate.
(j) All field trips with an itinerary that
includes an activity where emergency medical care is not readily available
and/or an activity such as, but not limited to, wilderness hiking, rock
climbing, horseback riding, bicycling, must be accompanied by a staff who
possess a current first aid certificate and cardio pulmonary resuscitation
(CPR) certification.
(k) If
off-site events are part of the program's activities, the school age child care
program must develop and share with its program staff written plans that cover
field trip events. The safety plan must at least include requirements set in
subdivision (g) of this section and sections
414.6
and
414.8(o)
of this Part.
(l)
Animals and
pets.
(1) Any animal present at the
program must present no evidence of disease or parasite and pose no
threat.
(2) All animals present at
the program that require a license must be licensed.
(3) All required vaccinations must be kept
current.
(4) The license and record
of vaccinations must be available to the office when requested.
(5) The program must immediately notify the
parents of children in care and the office when an animal present at the
program harms any person, including a child in care.
(6) The provisions of this subdivision apply
to all animals present at the program regardless of who owns the
animal.
(7) The program must
provide parents with a written description of all animals present at the
program prior to a child's enrollment in the program.
(8) Within 24 hours that an animal is first
kept on the premises of a child care program, the program must provide written
notice to the office and parents of children in care that such animal is being
kept on the premises.
(m)
Communication.
(1) The school age child care program must
have immediate access to a minimum of one working landline telephone for
general use and emergencies. A working mobile phone(s) is permitted for the
purpose of promoting children's safety and ensuring the orderly operation of
the program, but its use does not remove the requirement for a designated
on-site landline telephone.
(2) 911
and the poison control phone number must be posted conspicuously on or next to
all stationary telephones designated for the school age child care program's
use.
(3) Devices used for purposes
of caller identification or call blocking shall not be used to block in-coming
calls from parents of children in care, representatives of the office or agents
of the State or local government during the hours of operation of the child day
care program.
(n)
Materials and play equipment.
(1)
Materials and play equipment used by the children must be sturdy and free from
rough edges and sharp corners.
(2)
Play equipment must be installed and used in accordance with the manufacturer's
specifications and instructions, be in good repair, and be placed in a safe
location.
(3) Play equipment must
be used in a safe manner.
(4) Play
equipment and apparatus may be used only by the children for whom it is
developmentally appropriate.
(5)
All programs that substantially modify, or install new, outside play equipment
must do so in accordance with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's
Public Playground Safety Handbook.
(o) Clear interior or exterior glass doorways
must be marked clearly to avoid accidental impact.
(p) Glass in outside windows less than 32
inches above the floor level must be of safety grade or otherwise protected by
use of barriers to avoid accidental impact.
(q) Windows above the first floor that are
accessible to children and present a fall hazard must be protected by permanent
barriers or restrictive locking devices to prevent a window from opening fully
thus preventing children from falling out the windows.
(r) An operable flashlight or battery powered
lantern must be kept in the child care area. Such equipment must be properly
maintained for use in the event of a power failure.
(s)
Door latches, locks and
covers.
(1) Every closet door latch in
rooms used by the program, must be constructed to enable children to open the
door from inside the closet.
(2)
Every bathroom door lock must be designed to permit opening of the locked door
from the outside in an emergency. The opening device must be readily accessible
to the staff.
(3) Egress doors from
the program must be able to be opened from inside without using a
key.
(t) Operating
carbon monoxide detectors and alarms must be located in accordance with
applicable laws.
(u) The use of
trampolines by day care children is prohibited, except for small one person
exercise trampolines.
(v) All
matches, lighters, medicines, drugs, cleaning materials, detergents, aerosol
cans and other poisonous or toxic materials must be stored in their original
containers. Such materials must be used in such a way that they will not
contaminate play surfaces, food or food preparation areas, or constitute a
hazard to children. Such materials must be kept in a place inaccessible to
children.
(w) Cleaning materials
must be stored in their original containers unless the product's use or the
program's health care plan indicates that the product be mixed with water
before use. In this case, the container used for subsequent use of the mixed
product must state the name of the cleaning material contained within. Cleaning
materials must be used in such a way that they will not contaminate play
surfaces, food or food preparation areas, or constitute a hazard to children.
Such materials must be kept in a place inaccessible to children.
(x) Firearms, shotguns and rifles are
prohibited at the child care program, except that nothing in this section shall
be construed to prohibit a police officer or peace officer, as those terms are
defined in section 1.20 of the Criminal Procedure Law, or a
security guard, as defined in section 89-f of the General Business Law, from
possessing a firearm, shotgun or rifle on the premises for the protection of
the child care program. Each child care program shall post signs providing
notification of such prohibition that read: "No firearms, shotguns or rifles
are permitted on these premises." Such signs, not less than 81/2 inches by 11
inches, shall be posted in a prominent manner and within reasonable distance of
each entrance of the child care program. Such signs shall be distributed by the
Office of Children and Family Services.
(y) Staff and volunteers must take suitable
precautions to prevent children from receiving burns caused by contact with hot
liquids.
