4.3 Evaluate own practice in promoting balanced approach to risk management. It is important you have a balanced approach towards risk assessments. You must always make sure that children are not at any risk but sometimes you may give them the freedom to do something knowing they won’t hurt their self but will learn from it. For example if a child was walking along a balancing beam that wasn’t very high with a soft surface underneath then they wouldn’t be at risk of any danger, they may fall but it wouldn’t cause any injury. When children are doing a new activity or using a new area it can create a dilemma between the duty of care and the children rights. As a practitioner I should always do risk assessments on the activities and the environment. There is a mix of adult led and children led activities throughout the nursery. Children need to explore their own levels of risk-taking but in safe environments. If we try to over protect children and prevent them from taking risks they will seek their own risk-taking when adults are not around. The EYFS states that we need to conduct a risk assessment and review it regularly, the guidance on play includes the advice 'through play, in a secure but challenging environment with effective adult support, children can take risks and make mistakes'
4.4 Analyse how helping others to understand the balance between risk and rights improves practice.
5.2 Evaluate the health, safety and risk management policies, procedures and practices within the work setting.
The health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is the primary piece of legislation and is responsible for enforcing the act and a number of other acts relevant to the working environment. It also states that all staff should take reasonable care of themselves and others around them and for their safety. Risk assessments have to be done regarding all types of work we do or the equipment we use to see if it’s safe to do so. All our legislation and