Take extra care with large trees

09 November, 2016

Early Childhood Council advises childcare centres to take extra care with large trees following accident in Auckland

The Early Childhood Council is advising its members to take extra care with large trees following an accident in which a tree fell and injured children at an Auckland childcare centre yesterday. (08 November)

Council President Theresa Dodd said today (09 November) that her first concerns were with the injured children and their families, the centre owners and teachers ‘who must be feeling terrible’, and the non-injured centre children and their families.

Ms Dodd said: ‘We wish everybody well, and we hope the children recover as quickly as possible.’

The accident was ‘very unexpected’, she said. ‘And I have never heard of it happening before at a New Zealand early childhood education centre.’

The current regulations required childcare centres to check hazards daily, Ms Dodd said.

‘And we will be advising our members with large trees on their property to include these in this hazard management routine.

‘If one looks sick, we will be recommending they seek the advice of an arborist.’

Ms Dodd said the Early Childhood Council would be examining publicly-available documentation that investigated the causes of the accident, and would be making additional recommendations to its members based on this information.

The Early Childhood Council is the largest representative body of licensed early childhood centres in New Zealand. It has more than 1100 member centres, about 30% of which are community-owned and about 70% of which are privately owned.

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