5.6 Ongoing Health and Safety Training

Lead Agencies must have ongoing training requirements for all caregivers, teachers, and directors of eligible CCDF providers for health and safety standards but have discretion on frequency and training content (e.g., pediatric CPR refresher every year and recertification every 2 years). Lead Agencies have discretion on which health and safety standards are subject to ongoing training. Lead Agencies may exempt relative providers from these requirements. 5.6.1 Required ongoing training of health and safety standards Describe any required ongoing training of health and safety standards for caregivers, teachers, and directors of the following CCDF eligible provider types. a. Licensed child care centers: The director shall participate in at least twenty clock hours of training annually. At least five clock hours shall be related to program administration and at least five clock hours shall be in child growth and development and/or health and safety excluding first aid and CPR training. The remaining hours shall come from the following areas: Curriculum, Nutrition, Special Needs, Child Guidance, Professional Development, or other areas approved by the Department, and must include blood-borne pathogens training as required by OSHA. Directors who receive training in excess of twenty hours per year may carry over ten hours to the following year in the category earned. Teacher/caregivers, with the exception of emergency person(s) and volunteer(s), providing direct care to the children shall participate in at least fifteen clock hours annually. The hours shall come from at least three of the following areas: child growth and development, curriculum, Child Guidance, Health and Safety, Nutrition, Special Needs, Professional Development, Program Administration, or other areas approved by the Department, and must include blood-borne pathogens training as required by OSHA. CPR and first aid training do not count in the fifteen hours. When children with special needs are enrolled, the director and teacher/caregiver shall receive orientation and/or training in understanding the child’s special needs and ways of working in group settings when children with special needs are enrolled. All ABC Quality licensed child care centers staff supervising or caring for children must meet the Child Care Licensing on-going training requirements and at least two of those hours must be related to health and safety topic areas required by CCDF Federal Regulations. This is monitored this requirement using the SC Workforce and Training Registry in coordination with the annual assessment visit. b. License-exempt child care centers: License-exempt providers must meet the following training requirements at enrollment and annually; Directors/on-site supervisors must obtain 20 clock hours of training annually in child development/early childhood, at least one hour must be on blood borne pathogens and at least two hours must be related to health and safety. The remainder of the training may come from topics such as growth & development, discipline, curriculum, social emotional, nutrition and administration, etc. Teacher/caregiver staff must obtain 15 clock hours of training annually in child development/early childhood, at least one hour must be on blood borne pathogens and at least two hours must be related to health and safety topic areas required by CCDF Federal Regulations. The remainder of the training hours may come from topics such as growth and development, discipline, curriculum, social emotional, and nutrition, etc. This is monitored for this requirement using the SC Workforce and Training Registry in coordination with the annual assessment visit. c. Licensed family child care homes: For large family Group Child Care Homes, the operator shall participate in at least fifteen (15) clock hours of training annually. At least five clock hours shall be related to program administration and at least five clock hours shall be in child growth and development, early childhood education and/or health and safety excluding first aid and CPR training. The remaining hours shall come from the following areas: Safety, Health, Nutrition, Guidance, or Professional Development and must include blood-borne pathogens training as required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The teacher/caregivers, with the exception of emergency person(s) and volunteer(s), providing direct care to the children shall participate in at least ten (10) clock hours of training annually. At least four (4) clock hours shall be in child growth and development and at least four (4) clock hours shall be in curriculum activities for children excluding first aid and CPR training. The remaining hours shall come from the following areas: Curriculum Activities, Nutrition, Guidance, or Professional Development and must include blood borne pathogens training as required by OSHA. (d) When children with special needs are enrolled, the operator and teacher/caregivers shall receive orientation and/or training in understanding the child’s special needs and ways of working in group settings when children with special needs are enrolled. Small Family Child Care Home Regulations requires all caregivers shall participate in at least ten (10) clock hours of training annually. At least four (4) clock hours shall be in child growth and development. If serving infants 12 months and under, one hour of safe sleep is required. The remaining hours shall come from the following areas: program administration, safety, health, nutrition, physical activity, guidance, infant/child CPR and first aid, and Blood Borne Pathogen training or other areas approved by the Department. All ABC Quality licensed family child care homes staff supervising or caring for children must meet the Child Care Licensing on-going training requirements and at least two of those hours must be related to health and safety topic areas required by CCDF Federal Regulations . This is monitored for this using the SC Workforce and Training Registry in coordination with the annual assessment visit. d. License-exempt family child care homes: Family, Friend and Neighbor providers are required to complete 10 hours of annual training in Health and Safety topic areas required by CCDF Federal Regulations. e. Regulated or registered in-home child care: N/A f. Non-regulated or registered in-home child care: Non-regulated in-home unrelated Family, Friend and Neighbor providers are required to complete 10 hours of annual training in Health and Safety topic areas required by CCDF Federal Regulations. Our state does not have registered in-home child care.