Kommuners rutiner og praksis for å følge opp ulykker/hendelser som medfører skader på barn i barnehager. Rapport fra DMMH til Utdanningsdirektoratet.

The purpose of this study is to gain greater insight into what constitutes successful procedures in public and private preschools ("barnhage") and in the municipalities, which serve both as owners of the public preschools and as a supervisory authority for both the private and public preschools. The procedures include identification, follow-up and reporting of incidents that have led to injury of a child in a preschool. The study examines how preschools register and follow-up injuries and accidents. Moreover, the study examines how municipalities in their role as a supervisory authority follow up on acts and regulations. Finally, the objective is to elucidate how the preschools work locally with acts, regulations and follow-up of accidents, including how the municipalities contribute to preschool staff having the skills to do this work.

The study shows that all the reviewed preschools have their own systems for reporting accidents and undesirable incidents. Not all the preschools report these incidents to the municipality. The results indicate that the private preschools to a lesser degree report accidents to the municipality than the municipal preschools do.

The municipalities were challenged with regard to distinguishing between their role as owner of the preschools on the hand and as the supervisory authority on the other hand. However, the study concludes that the municipal and private preschools are given identical treatment with regard to the degree of supervision.

Four of the five municipalities used electronic reporting systems. The fifth municipality used a paper-based system to record accidents and undesirable incidents. One of the advantages of the electronic reporting is that the different stakeholders can gain access to information about reported incidents quickly and easily. The electronic reporting systems are general systems that have been developed for reporting occupational injuries that happen at all types of workplace and in all types of organisation.

In accordance with the acts and regulations on which operation of Norwegian preschools must be based, reporting and following up on accidents is a high-priority area for the individual preschool. The preschools work systematically to ensure that staff is kept up-to-date with regard to legislation, and that established routines for dealing with accidents are reviewed on a regular basis. All the preschools regularly participated in first-aid courses.

Interviews were conducted with representatives from private preschools, municipal preschools and the municipalities (who both own the public preschools and act as the supervisory authority for both the private and public preschools) in five municipalities in Norway. The preschools provide care for children aged between 1 and 5. A total of 15 interviews were conducted with 10 preschool managers and a representative from the municipality from each of the five selected municipalities. The municipalities were selected on the basis of criteria such as variation in size, demography and geography. Moreover, primarily municipalities that have established a system for reporting accidents that happen in the municipality’s preschools were selected.

Sando, O., Lundheim, R., Sandseter, E. & Pareliussen, I. (2014). ”Kommuners rutiner og praksis for å følge opp ulykker/hendelser som medfører skader på barn i barnehager. Rapport fra DMMH til Utdanningsdirektoratet”. Trondheim: Dronning Mauds minne, Høgskole for Barnehagelærerutdanning.