Nursery building covered in snow in winter

Published November 20, 2024 Written by Rebecca Smith

Preparing nursery businesses for winter

Motorists get their cars ready for the gruelling winter months, householders make sure their garden and home are braced for any storms or floods – and nursery business owners should do the same.

Obviously incidents can happen at any time but they are more likely to occur with bad and unpredictable weather and the shorter days make dealing with a crisis much more difficult. These include freezing temperatures leading to burst pipes; snow drifts or storms preventing staff and families accessing your nursery; flooding and storm damage.

So what can you do to safeguard and prepare your nursery businesses for winter?

Firstly, have a plan.

This article (Nursery News Autumn 2022) gives you some useful information on developing your own emergency plan, with tips and links to NDNA’s Critical Incident policy and guidance on developing a plan from all three nations.

This will prepare you for disasters ranging from storm or flood damage to an infectious disease outbreak or fire.

Secondly look and recheck your insurance. If you think that your business is fully insured, check again.

Download article (PDF)

Nine out of ten buildings are insured for the wrong amount

Over the past five years all costs have risen significantly. This is particularly true for rebuilding costs including materials and labour. Remember, buildings insurance is based on the cost to rebuild your property, not the market value. In the current climate market value can be a lot lower than the rebuild cost.

You may think your nursery business is fully insured but have you reviewed all of your sums insured, recently?

Have these been adjusted for inflation year on year? Inflation may now be back to around 2% but we have seen it higher than 10% in recent times.

On top of the additional costs they now face, businesses that are under-insured will face penalties with their insurers as their claims will be reduced in line with the under-insurance.

We recommend:

You revisit your insurance costs each year (and mid-term whenever you purchase additional equipment or are experiencing growth in your turnover)
This includes getting the re-build value for your building and checking the new replacement costs of your contents
Take advice on rebuilding costs
Make sure you have the correct business interruption sum insured (which represents your anticipated revenue for the year ahead), and that you have selected an adequate maximum indemnity period – for a big nursery this could be for up to two years
Have a business continuity plan – this includes having key contacts somewhere safe and even buddying up with a local nursery who could support you if you are unable to use your premises.

Del Sharman, Director of Pound Gates said: “The biggest issue we see with claims at the moment is under-insurance, particularly on buildings rebuild values. Data from the insurance sector shows that as many of 9 out of 10 buildings in the UK are insured for the wrong amount. It used to be acceptable to re-value a building every 3 years.

“Due to the huge increases in costs in recent years we now suggest clients should re-assess their building’s rebuild costs every year.

Pound Gates has a risk advice library packed with information to help you.

Pound Gates is a Member Benefit Supplier of NDNA members which means you get discounted products and services from them.

Assess your nursery property and grounds to see if anything needs maintaining or improving ahead of winter. This includes:

Checking lighting, power, heating and hot water systems – do you have an annual check-up?
Make sure your fire protection including alarms are all in good working order – make sure everyone knows how to use them too
Keep drains free of leaves so they don’t block
Keep pathways and parking areas safe by removing leaves, moss and mud; clear ice and snow – make sure you have sufficient grit or sand to put down over winter – you could appoint members of staff to do these checks
Keep your risk assessments up to date – do you have a rickety gate or a tree branch which could cause some damage?
Are your grounds lit properly?
Review your Risk Assessments for working in extended periods of darkness/poor lighting/ weather conditions to ensure that they reflect actual conditions being experienced.

Make sure you have working thermometers so you can keep all your rooms – including your baby rooms – at the right temperature. Particular areas of concern could be rooms which lead into outdoor spaces – do you have draught excluders in place?

Health considerations in winter for nurseries

Have your staff had their flu or Covid jabs if they are entitled to them? Free Covid or flu vaccinations are only available free of charge to people who are either 65 years and over or have health conditions which leave them at higher risk from infection. Employers may wish to offer to pay for these vaccinations, but this should be on a purely voluntary basis for employees. NDNA’s Nursery Immunisation Policy template may be helpful.

Whilst it’s important to support our colleagues to look after their physical health in this way, it’s also vital to encourage staff to look after their emotional health and wellbeing during the winter season. You might want to start this conversation using the following free resource from the Institute of Early Years Education.

First aid kits – are these up to date? Can your first aiders check these regularly and replace out of date items such as bandages. You can use these if appropriate in play – bandaging up teddy or even for staff to practise on each other.

Security considerations in winter for nurseries

More burglaries take place during winter months – especially in the run up to Christmas.

Report any suspicious activity in the area
Make sure doors and windows are secure – is your CCTV working?
Remind everyone – no tailgating!

Citation is an NDNA member benefit partner – you get 10% of their employment law and health and safety advice for nurseries.

Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) also has some good advice on preparing your nursery business for winter.

For access to member benefits from Citation and Pound Gates, Join NDNA today.

Join NDNA today