Met Eireann Weather Warning Preparation and Action

We’ve created a helpful guide for Early Years and School Age Care settings to aid in the preparation and action required from Met Eireann weather warnings.

Services should consider the health safety and welfare of children, staff, and parents/guardians before deciding whether they could close and/or open during forecasted weather warnings. If you are in an area covered by the weather warning, we suggest that you undertake a risk assessment to consider if there are any health and safety risks to the children, their parents/guardians and the staff attending your service. If it is unsafe to remain open and/or to reopen your service, then you should close/remain closed/ delay reopening until safe to open. However, if directed by authorities, you must close your setting for safety reasons.

Keep informed of any new weather warnings as your response may have to evolve depending on the latest advice. Keep up to date with information locally to find out if local schools are closing. Visit the Winter Ready website from the Office of Emergency Planning. Follow social media for up-to-date alerts from your Local County Council.

Inclement Weather Warning – Preparation and Action
	Weather Advisory Category Please see https://www.met.ie/warnings-today.html for up-to-date information on weather warnings and advisories.
	As per the general advice at www.winterready.ie , providers should keep up-to-date with current weather warnings which are carried on all national, local news bulletins and at www.met.ie and in particular, to any change in the status warning for their area. The decision to close a setting or service rests with the setting’s management taking into consideration the full guidance and direction available from the principal response agencies, especially An Garda Síochána. Any decision to close is taken in the interest of child safety. Some of the issues that settings take into account include: Conditions in the setting itself. Capacity of the setting to ensure the health and safety of children and staff. Ability of parents and staff to safely negotiate local road conditions to reach the setting. Guidance and direction from the principal response agencies.
	Risk Assessment and Management Conduct a risk assessment to determine if the setting can remain open. If directed by authorities, you must close your setting for safety reasons. If it is determined that your setting can remain open during inclement weather, the risk minimisation strategies outlined in your risk assessment should be implemented. These risk minimisation strategies should be outlined to all staff and parents/guardians.
	Communication with parents/guardians and staff Once a decision has been taken to close the service/ delay opening, parents/guardians and staff should be informed as soon as possible so they can make alternative arrangements. Even if you have not yet decided to close, it might be a good idea to tell them that this is a matter of consideration and let them know how you will notify them in the event that you have to close i.e., will you call them or send a text message? It is important to explain that you have taken this decision to protect the health and safety of children and to comply with the relevant legislation.
	Evaluation and Review The Management and staff of the service should conduct a review and evaluate each event after it has taken place, to ensure that all safety measures and procedures were conducted and contributed to the safety, health and welfare of the children, staff and parents attending. Outcomes of these reviews should be recorded, and policies and procedures updated as appropriate.
	Resources Early Childhood Ireland Resources – download library. Here you will find: Inclement Weather policy Risk Management policy Risk Assessment template. Helpful websites: ·        Critical Incident Plan Toolkit ·        Critical Incidents in Early Learning and School Age Care Services – Planning and Responding ·        Be Winter Ready leaflet – For Parents and Schools ·        Be Winter Ready ·        Free Council Text Alert Service ·        powercheck.ie ·        water.ie Staff CPD opportunities ·        Early Childhood Ireland Learning Hub ·        Visit our FAQ section to learn everything you need to know about managing your setting’s learning hub account
	If you have any queries in relation to the closures or how to communicate with parents, please call our EYES team on (01) 4057103 or by email [email protected]

Services should consider the health safety and welfare of children, staff, and parents/guardians before deciding whether they could close and/or open during forecasted weather warnings. If you are in an area covered by the weather warning, we suggest that you undertake a risk assessment to consider if there are any health and safety risks to the children, their parents/guardians and the staff attending your service. If it is unsafe to remain open and/or to reopen your service, then you should close/remain closed/ delay reopening until safe to open. However, if directed by authorities, you must close your setting for safety reasons.

Keep informed of any new weather warnings as your response may have to evolve depending on the latest advice. Keep up to date with information locally to find out if local schools are closing. Visit the Winter Ready website from the Office of Emergency Planning. Follow social media for up-to-date alerts from your Local County Council.

Things to consider:

• How far do children/staff have to travel?
• What is the access to your premises, local roads, car parking, public transport etc?
• Will you be able to keep within ratio if some staff cannot travel due to poor conditions?
• Conditions in the setting itself: What are the risks to your building? E.g., burst pipes, fallen trees?
• Can you comply with all requirements under the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services Regulations 2016 and Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) (Registration of School Aged Services) Regulations 2018
• Guidance and direction from the principal response agencies

Force Majeure

Force Majeure allows a party to suspend or terminate the performance of its obligations when certain circumstances beyond their control arise. The Department is under no obligation to fund ‘Force Majeure’ days and does so at its own discretion. In the event of closures, Service Providers may apply for Force Majeure by completing a Force Majeure application form and submitting it via the Hive no later than five days after the incident, even if the incident is ongoing, giving a brief outline of the issue and their estimated number of days’ closure.

To apply, please complete the Force Majeure application form and submit it via a request on the EY HIVE.

Force Majeure cannot be paid in conjunction with any insurance or compensation received by the Approved Provider from a third party for the same purpose.

To raise a service request on the EY HIVE with:

➢ the Programme Type “User Account Management”

➢ the category “Force Majeure” and

➢ then selecting the relevant subcategory.

If for any reason a service is unable to access its EY Hive account in order to apply for Force Majeure, the EYPC team can be contacted by phone and requested to a raise a case with the Data Management team on the Approved Provider’s behalf. EYPC can be contacted Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm (10am to 5pm on Wednesday) at (01) 511 7222

Communication to parents/guardians

Once you have made the decision to close your service, you should advise parents/guardians of your decision to close as soon as possible so they can make alternative arrangements. Even if you have not yet decided to close, it might be a good idea to tell them that this is a matter of consideration and let them know how you will notify them in the event that you have to close i.e., will you call them or send a text message? It is important that you explain that you have taken this decision in order to ensure the health and safety of children and to comply with the relevant legislation.

Communication to staff

If you decide to close your service, you are advising staff to stay at home. Individual services are governed by their own policies and procedures. Employers should refer to their staff contracts and staff handbook when making a decision in regard to pay for day(s) off due to closure. This policy should be clearly communicated to staff.
Where employees are not required to attend work, for example, because the employer has closed the service for the day or the employer asks them not to come in or to leave early, then employees should be paid as normal for that day(s).

Employers should act as reasonable as possible given the circumstances. Where the employer’s service remains open and employees are unable to attend due to safety concerns or because they need to take care of children who are off school, then there are a number of options to look at:

• Pay employees as normal
• Consider whether the employee is able to work from home
• Allow employees to take the missed time from their paid annual leave entitlement or
• Agree that employees can make up the missed time at a later date
• Allow employees to use time in lieu

Get in touch

Early Childhood Ireland’s Early Years Employer Service (EYES) can be contacted, by phone on (01) 405 7103 or by email on [email protected]. The EYES team is here to help with any queries in relation to the closures or how to communicate with parents, so please get in touch with us if you have any questions or queries.