Health and Safety Training FAQ

All child care providers are required to complete the health and safety training by June 30, 2018. Child care providers include: child care center administrators, family child care home operators, teachers, substitutes, and anyone providing direct caregiving, direct supervision, and/or counted in staff/child ratio. This applies to the following facilities: 

• All licensed child care centers
• All licensed family child care homes
• All N.C.G.S.110-106 Religious Sponsored Programs operating with a Notice of Compliance and participating in the Subsidized Child Care Assistance Program
• All license exempt providers receiving CCDF funding

Employees that do not have direct caregiving and supervising responsibilities and/or are not counted in staff/child ratio, do not have to complete the health and safety trainings. This may include cooks or van drivers. A cook who provides coverage in the classroom at any time, must complete the training. Van drivers, who provide direct supervision and caregiving responsibilities and/or counted in staff/child ratio must complete the health and safety trainings. 

On November 19, 2014, the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 was signed into law. The law reauthorized the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program and made major changes to protect the health and safety of children in child care, promote continuity of access to vouchers for low-income families, better inform parents and the general public about the child care choices available to them, and improve the overall quality of child care and afterschool programs. As part of the new law, States must have pre-service or orientation requirements in place for new hires and ongoing minimum health and safety training requirements in place for current child care providers. Pre-service/orientation and ongoing training must cover eleven specific topic areas:

• Prevention and control of infectious diseases, including immunization;
• Administration of medication;
• Prevention of and response to emergencies due to food and allergic reactions;
• Building and physical premises safety, including identification of and protection from hazards that can cause bodily injury such as electrical hazards, bodies of water, and vehicular traffic;
• Emergency preparedness and response planning for emergencies resulting from a natural disaster, or a man-caused event;
• Handling and storage of hazardous materials and the appropriate disposal of bio-contaminants;
• Precautions in transporting children, if applicable 
• Prevention of shaken baby syndrome, abusive head trauma, and child maltreatment;
• Pediatric First Aid and CPR training;
• Recognizing and Responding to Suspicions of Child Maltreatment; and 
• Prevention of sudden infant death syndrome and use of safe sleeping practices.

Training must be completed by June 30, 2018. Documentation of completion of the Health and Safety Training is required. 

New staff hired on or after May 1, 2017 are not expected to complete all the required health and safety training by June 30, 2018, but instead focus on completing the orientation within the first six weeks of employment and complete the health and safety training within their first year of employment. 

There are various ways to successfully complete the training requirements:

• An online training option is available to you at no cost through ProSolutions Training at: http://www.prosolutionstraining.com/northcarolina. If you enroll in the Health and Safety Training for ECE Professionals package, you will be provided a list of health and safety trainings available through ProSolutions Training. You may complete all trainings in the package or complete individual trainings in the package to receive CEU certificates. 
• Approved trainings as well as other trainings may count if they meet the following criteria:
  • Training organization is an exempt training agency or is a non-exempt trainer and the trainer can provide the DCDEE signed and approved outline form of the training session
  • The majority of the training covers the CCDF required health and safety topic area(s)
  • Completion of college coursework or Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credits focused on any of the required health and safety topic areas.

Yes, training completed on or after January 1, 2015 may count, as long as the training is related to the required health and safety topic area(s) and the certificate has not expired.

You may count your CPR and/or FA certification as long as it is current and has not expired. You may also count the NC Infant Toddler Safe Sleep and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome(SIDS) Risk Reduction in Child Care training as long as the training has not expired (it is within the three year cycle). 

Yes, public school preschool and out-of-school time care teachers/group leaders are required to meet the health and safety training requirements by June 30, 2018. Except, they do not have to take training in prevention of sudden infant death syndrome and use of safe sleeping practices since it applies to infants up to 12 months. However, preschool teachers must complete training in prevention of shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma since it applies to programs licensed to care for children up to age five. In afterschool programs which only serve school-age children, group leaders do not have to take trainings related to sudden infant death syndrome or prevention of shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma. Professional development and training required for public school employees may be counted as long as the training relates to the required health and safety topic areas. If the principal serves as the administrator, the principal is exempt from completing any of the training requirements.

To document your completed training, complete the Record of Health and Safety Training document. Include the following information:

• Date of training
• Training hours received
• Sponsoring agency, training organization, or name of trainer
• Attached training certificates, course syllabus, or other supporting documentation to show proof of completion of training

As DCDEE consultants conduct monitoring visits to child care facilities, they will be verifying if all child care providers have completed the required training by June 30, 2018. Programs will be cited for non-compliance if the health and safety requirements are not in compliance. Failure to comply with child care requirements may result in an administrative action.

Yes, the person must maintain proof of course completion and description of the course or any other supporting documentation to show what topics were covered and successfully complete the course. Examples of proof may include the course description, syllabus, ProSolutions certificate(s), and transcript. 

Yes, a person may carry forward training hours that are in excess of the previous year’s requirements to meet up to one-half of the current year’s required on-going training hours.

Yes, training may cover multiple required health and safety topics and may be counted to meet more than one topic area. There is not a specified amount of time required for training sessions. The focus is to ensure training is related to the required health and safety topic area. 

Child Care Rule .1101 requires all new child care center staff to complete 16 hours of orientation within the first six weeks of employment. Orientation requirements apply to new employees and does not apply to staff that were employed on or before September 23, 2016. However, program administrators and operators are expected to inform existing staff of any changes to policies that were added to orientation for new staff.

Yes. DCDEE has contracted with ProSolutions Training to offer all the required health and safety trainings online; except for Pediatric First Aid and CPR. Also, required training on Recognizing and Responding to Suspicions of Child Maltreatment is offered FREE online through Prevent Child Abuse NC. You can access this training through a link provided with the ProSolutions Training or by visiting https://www.preventchildabusenc.org/services/trainings-and-professionaldevelopment/rrcourse. To access these trainings go the North Carolina website page for ProSolutions Training at: 

http://www.prosolutionstraining.com/northcarolina/

Yes. When you enroll in the Health and Safety Training for ECE

Professionals package, you will be provided a list of health and safety trainings available through ProSolutions Training. You may complete all trainings in the package or complete individual trainings in the package to receive CEU or training certificates. 

Yes, you must complete all the ProSolutions training available under each of the required training topics to satisfy the requirement for training in each topic area.

These trainings are optional and not required.

No, you only need to complete training in the topic area of precautions for transporting children, if applicable.

Yes, the training is a total of 20 training hours if you complete all the ProSolutions Training offered under each of the ten topic areas, excluding CPR and First Aid.

Yes, as long as you maintain compliance with applicable child care requirements.

No, child care facilities cannot conduct group trainings for their staff regarding the ProSolutions on-line modules. The ProSolutions training must be done individually because this training provides the individual with the option to obtain CEU’s. In order to get CEU’s, testing is required; therefore, this training must be completed on an individual basis and not a group basis. If group training is preferred, the facility administrator or operator should talk to their local resource and referral agency to arrange a training. Many of these agencies have trainings that will meet the health and safety requirements.

In the State Registry ID field you will enter your NCID username. For detailed instructions on getting an NCID username, click here. Your training certificate will not be issued until you enter the State Registry ID or NCID username.

As of October 1, 2017, CPR and First Aid no longer count toward contact hours. CPR and First Aid courses, appropriate for the ages of children in care, should be taken from a trainer recognized by one of the DCDEE approved organizations.

• If a person has completed the NC Emergency Preparedness and Response in Child Care training required by North Carolina Child Care Rule for one person in each licensed program, then that person may count the NC Emergency Preparedness and Response in Child Care training to meet the CCDF topic area on emergency preparedness and response planning. 
• A person could take another training on emergency preparedness and response planning, as long as, the training meets the DCDEE criteria for an approved training.

Many child care programs are licensed to care for children birth to twelve years of age. Many times teachers are assigned one age group, but may have to substitute in another age group, or provide coverage while the primary teacher steps away. Completing training in prevention of sudden infant death syndrome and use of safe sleeping practices will ensure you have basic information related to caring for infants.

Yes.

No, you only need to complete training in the topic area of precautions for transporting children, if applicable.