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New health and safety orientation training requirement

As part of the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014, states must require health and safety pre-service or orientation training for child care providers. The intent of the training is to support basic health and safety standards designed to prevent harm to children. Documentation of health and safety orientation training is required for current providers and their staff by September 30, 2016.

The new law requires this training for all providers eligible to receive Child Care Development Fund vouchers. This includes:

  • All licensed centers
  • All licensed homes
  • All unlicensed registered ministries certified for CCDF
  • All legally licensed exempt providers

The documentation of health and safety orientation training is required for all caregivers including teachers, directors in child care centers, child care homes licensees, volunteer caregivers and anyone else included in the child-staff ratio.

Your Paths to QUALITY coach or local Child Care Resource and Referral agency can help you to understand and meet the training requirements (see map for information on your local agency).

Click here for the most up-to-date list of approved health and safety training options. This list will be updated on a regular basis to include any newly approved trainings.

Click here for a list of frequently asked questions.

Click here for the letter that was mailed to providers on May 31, 2016.

Click here for the letter that was mailed to providers on June 16, 2016.

Click here to read the letter in Spanish.

Click here for the letter that was mailed to providers on July 1, 2016.

Click here for the letter that was mailed to providers on August 18, 2016.

Click here for the letter that was mailed to providers on September 19, 2016.

Required health and safety training topic areas

There are 10 required training topic areas in addition to highly recommended child development training. Documentation of training in each applicable topic area, appropriate to the provider setting and age of children served, is needed to complete the requirement for health and safety orientation training.

  1. Prevention and control of infectious disease (including immunizations)

  2. Administration of medication consistent with standards for parental consent

  3. Prevention and response to emergencies due to food and allergic reactions

  4. Building and physical premises safety including identification of and protection from hazards, bodies of water and vehicular traffic

  5. Emergency preparedness and response planning for emergencies resulting from a natural disaster, or a man-caused event (such as violence at a child care facility) within the meaning of those terms under section 602(a)(1) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act

  6. Handling and storage of hazardous materials and appropriate disposal of bio-contaminants

  7. Appropriate precautions in transporting children (if applicable)

  8. Prevention of sudden infant death syndrome and use of safe sleeping practices (if applicable)

  9. Recognition and reporting of child abuse and neglect; prevention of shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma

  10. First aid and CPR overview

  11. Major domains of child development

Meeting the requirements

Individuals may be able to use prior in-service training if the training is applicable toward meeting any of the required topic areas and they have the required documentation. Individuals who have already earned degrees, certificates, credentials or completed higher education coursework may be able to use these as documentation to meet the training requirements for topic areas.

The current required training in recognition and reporting of child abuse and neglect available through local Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies and training central will meet the requirement for the topic area: Recognition and reporting of child abuse and neglect; prevention of shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma.

The current required training in sudden infant death syndrome and safe sleep available through local CCR&R and training central will meet the requirement for the topic area: Prevention of sudden infant death syndrome and use of safe sleeping practices.

Staff with current CPR and first aid certification will meet the requirement for the topic area - First aid and CPR overview.

A list of approved options to meet each health and safety topic area is available. The list includes applicable online webinar trainings available through training central and approved local trainings such as from CCR&R. There are also training options for other online training courses such as the Better Kid Care courses available through Penn State Extension and the Healthy Futures Project courses available through the American Academy of Pediatrics. The list will be updated as new options are identified and approved.

Click here for the up-to-date list of approved health and safety orientation training options.

Each individual can refer to the health and safety training approved options list and to their training file to determine if their existing professional development and training documentation meets the requirements for each topic area or if additional training will be needed prior to September 30, 2016. Some training will apply toward multiple topics.

Click here for an optional tool to help review your training needs.

If an individual has taken training that they believe meets a required topic area but the training is not on the health and safety training approved options list, they should contact their local CCR&R for assistance. The individual will need to submit a copy of their transcript or training certificate, the training's content/subject and objectives, the date of the training, name and credentials of the trainer/or the training organization, the type of training and the number of clock hours of training in the required topic area to the CCR&R. A process has been established to review and approve requests on an individual basis.

Click here for an optional form to use to submit your training information to CCR&R for review

A new online training course with four modules has been developed to help providers meet the new health and safety training requirements. You are not required to take these modules to meet the health and safety orientation training requirement. The free online course, Introduction to the Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning Profession, is available 24/7 through training central. These modules are designed to meet nine of the 10 required topic areas and child development.

Click here to go to I-LEAD and enroll.

A face-to-face training version of the Indiana's new online course will be available beginning in July 2016 through local CCR&R.

Monitoring compliance

Documentation of health and safety orientation training must be in the form of training certificate(s) or a college transcript from an accredited college or university. Training certificates must include, at a minimum, the following information:

  • Date of training
  • Name and credentials of the trainer/or the training organization
  • Content/subject of the training
  • Type of training (face-to-face, webinar, etc.)
  • Number of clock hours of training in topic/content area

The documentation should be placed in the individual's professional development file and be available for review.

Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning staff will begin checking for staff compliance with the health and safety training requirements beginning October 1, 2016, during inspections. If a non-compliance is cited, the provider will need to submit a written plan to their OECOSL consultant or provider eligibility standards inspector on how the provider will correct the insufficiency and come into compliance with the new training requirement. If a provider is not in compliance, it may affect the status of their license, registration or CCDF eligibility.