Kids Come First Child Care Services (Kids Come First) is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for children, families and employees. Kids Come First will take every reasonable precaution to prevent the risk of communicable diseases within all our locations.

Purpose

To ensure that all employees are aware of, and adhere to, the directive established by York Region Public Health regarding cleaning and disinfecting in all Kids Come First Child Care Programs. All employees, students and any other persons that enter the premise and engage in the programs must adhere to the following procedures.

Procedures

A cleaning and disinfecting log will be kept to demonstrate the cleaning schedule. Each cohort will also keep a log to document the disinfection of toys and washrooms.

To stop the chain of transmission, cleaning and disinfection of surfaces and items play an important role. Items that need to be sanitized can be cleaned using disinfectants that are routinely used at Kids Come First.
Frequently touched surfaces will be cleaned, and disinfected at least twice per day or more often as required. This may include, but not limited to, learning materials, tables, chairs, doorknobs, light switches, eating areas, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, washrooms etc.
Frequency of cleaning and disinfecting objects, toys and high touch surfaces has been increased.
Efforts will be made to limit the sharing of items, and items will be cleaned and disinfected, after each use.
Enhanced hand washing routines will be encouraged throughout the day.
Ensure that all toys, used at the Centre, are made of material that can be easily cleaned and disinfected. All plush toys and cloth items will be removed.
Mouthed toys will be disinfected immediately after each use.
Group sensory will be discontinued. Individual sensory items such as playdough and goop must be individual and discarded after use. (Playdough can be stored in an individually labelled bag for the child to use for that day. It can never be shared with another child).
Toys/supplies that have been used by the children and require sanitation should be placed in a bin and disinfected at a later time. Toys/supplies should not go back on the shelf once they have been used until they have been sanitized and dried.

All products including cleaning agents and disinfectants must be out of reach of children, labelled, and must have Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) up to date (within three years), which are stored in the emergency bag binder

Cleaning

Use detergent and warm water to clean visibly soiled surfaces
Rinse the surface with clean water (warm to tepid temperature preferred) to ensure detergent is removed
Let the surface air dry

Disinfecting

Employees will disinfect equipment, toys and the environment using an approved disinfectant product for the Centre (e.g Oxivir Tb Ready-To-Use (RTU), Vert2Go, ES364, bleach and water (outbreak level) or wiped with disinfectant wipes (e.g. Clorex/Lysol) and let it sit for required contact time.

All are considered high-level disinfectants which is defined as the complete elimination of all microorganisms in or on a surface. These products will be used when sanitizing large toys and equipment that cannot be submerged. This product will be used on the Centre owned playground to disinfect between cohorts.

For all other toy cleaning & disinfecting use bleach and water at the strength of 1 part bleach to 10 parts water (contact time is 10 minutes) Refer to Toy Disinfection Procedures for further guidance.

Cleaning and Disinfection frequency requirements

Clean and disinfect upon the employee’s ENTRY to childcare: Any hard surfaces such as water bottles, travel mugs, cell phones, lunch containers
Clean and disinfect upon the children’s ENTRY to childcare: Any hard surfaces such as water bottles, containers, bags.
Washrooms will be disinfected after each use for employees and for each child. If a cohort is doing a full washroom routine, the whole area will be disinfected before the next cohort is able to use the washroom.
Phones, walkie-talkies and other items that may be shared between teachers in the cohort, should be disinfected right after each use.

Clean and disinfect frequencies for other surfaces and items:

Cleaning and disinfecting routines must be increased as the risk of environmental contamination is higher.
Tables and countertops: used for food preparation and foodservice must be cleaned and disinfected before and after each use.
Tables and chairs must be cleaned and disinfected before and after serving food as well as after each use.
Spills must be cleaned and disinfected immediately.
Hand wash sinks: employees and children washroom areas must be cleaned and disinfected at least two times per day and as often as necessary (e.g., when visibly dirty or contaminated with body fluids).
Floors: cleaning and disinfecting must be performed as required, i.e., when spills occur, and throughout the day when rooms are empty such as during outdoor play.
Any garbage bins that need emptying during the day, will be removed by the employees and disposed of in the school bin.
Floor Mats: cleaning and disinfecting must be performed throughout the day and at a minimum of twice daily.
Outdoor play equipment: must be disinfected before each group uses it, and additionally as required (e.g., visibly dirty). Any outdoor play equipment that is used must be easy to clean and disinfect. It is recommended to limit the amount of outdoor play equipment in use.
High‐touch surfaces that has frequent contact with hands (e.g., light switches, shelving, containers, handrails, doorknobs, sinks, toilets etc.) These surfaces should be cleaned at least twice per day and as often as necessary (e.g., when visibly dirty or contaminated with body fluids).

Other shared items: e.g., phones, IPADs, IPODs, attendance binders etc., must be disinfected between users.
All items that cannot be cleaned (paper books, cardboard puzzles) should be removed and stored in a sealed container for a minimum of 7 days after use.

Clean and disinfect daily:

Low‐touch surfaces (any surfaces at your location that has minimal contact with hands), must be cleaned and disinfected daily (e.g. Window ledges, doors, sides of furnishings etc.)
Sleeping cots and linens will be cleaned and disinfected daily. Linens must be washed on a “hot” setting.

Clean and disinfect as required:

Blood/Bodily Fluid Spills: Using the steps below, the surface must be cleaned first then disinfected:

Isolate the area around the spill so that no other objects/humans can be contaminated
Gather all supplies, perform hand hygiene, then put on single-use nitrile gloves
Scoop up the fluid with disposable paper towels (check the surrounding area for splash/splatter) and dispose of in separate garbage bag
Clean the spill area with detergent, warm water and single-use towels
Rinse to remove detergent residue with clean water and single-use towel
Discard used paper towels and gloves immediately in a tied plastic bag
Spray disinfectant in and around the spill area and allow the appropriate contact time
A final rinse is required if children come into contact with the area
Remove gloves as directed and discard them immediately
Perform hand hygiene as directed

Considerations:

If the spill includes broken glass, ensure a brush and dustpan is used to pick it up and discard. Disinfect the brush and dustpan after use. NEVER use your hands to clean up the glass

Cot cleaning and disinfecting:

Cots must be labelled and assigned/designated to a single child per use
Cots must be cleaned and disinfected before being assigned to a child
High touch surfaces on cots must disinfected as often as necessary
Cots must be stored in a manner which there is no contact with the sleeping surface of another cot
Kids Come First will provide all sheets and blankets for children. No sleep toys will be allowed. Bedding must be laundered daily on the “hot” setting, and when soiled or wet. Employees will wear full PPE when laundering the materials used in the centre.

Disinfection and containment of items & room when isolating a symptomatic child

Employees MUST wear full PPE including gloves when disinfecting items used by a symptomatic child.
Any contaminated articles used by the symptomatic child must be cleaned and disinfected at outbreak level disinfection immediately
Any articles belonging to the symptomatic child including soiled clothing are to be sent home immediately for cleaning. Do not rinse or launder at the centre. Place items in a plastic bag taking care not to contaminate the area.
The isolation room/washroom will be sanitized and cleaned immediately after the ill child/adult leaves. Until the room(s) have been sanitized a sign saying the room is not cleaned will be posted. No one will be allowed to use the room(s) until they have been sanitized.

Additional Infection Prevention and Control Practices for Hygiene Items

It is preferred that children not use their pacifiers in the program. If pacifiers are necessary, please ensure that they are individually labelled and stored separately (not touching each other.) The pacifier must be washed in soap and water upon arrival to the centre and must not be shared with any other child.
For creams and lotions during diapering, employees will not put their hands directly into lotion or cream bottles. A tissue or single-use gloves will be used. We encourage you to provide a container of the lotion/cream to remain at the program. If a bottle/container is coming from home, employees will wipe the cream/lotion container with a disinfecting wipe
In the event that an employee develops symptoms while in the program, the centre will ensure that all areas and equipment that the employee came in contact with, is sanitized with a high level of disinfectant solution.
For Toy Cleaning and Disinfecting, please refer to the Toy Cleaning Policy
Caretaking will not be entering the program spaces to remove garbage during the day. If the bins are full, employees will need to remove the garbage and dispose of it in the bin outside the caretaking office.

Definitions

Cleaning: refers to the physical removal of foreign material (i.e. dust, soil) and organic material (i.e. blood, secretions, microorganisms)

Disinfecting: describes a process completed after cleaning in which a chemical solution is used to kill most disease-causing microorganisms. In order to be effective, disinfectants must be left on a surface for a period of time (contact time). Any items children may come into contact with, requires a final rinse after the required contact time is observed.

Policy and Procedure Review

This policy and procedure will be reviewed and signed off by all employees before commencing employment and at any time where a change is required.

Updated: 2021/Jan/07