Children are curious and eager to learn. They depend on their caregivers to keep them safe by making sure that nothing within a child’s reach can harm them. Injuries are a serious health risk to young children. But most injuries are predictable and preventable.
ECE programs can prevent risks and unnecessary harm to children by committing to a culture of safety. A culture of safety prioritizes safety at all levels. It encourages programs to learn from past problems and prevent them in the future.22 Programs should not assume that nothing will ever go wrong. In fact, they should plan that something is going to go wrong. And their goal is to make it as hard as possible for things to go wrong.23 Chapters 2 through 5 will focus on ways programs can protect children’s safety.
Safety Conversations with Families by the National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness is in the public domain.Image by Fir0002 on Wikimedia commons is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 22 Creating and Enhancing a Culture of Safety by the Office of Head Start is in the public domain. Creating and Enhancing a Culture of Safety by the Office of Head Start is in the public domain.