The general idea of a nursery is to allow parents to return to work, safe in the knowledge their beloved tot is being cared for and made more confident ahead of their subsequent move to primary school.
This being the case, you can imagine one Australian mother's horror after learning that workers at a daycare facility in Perth 'inadvertently' locked her two-year-old son in a hot, metal shed on a 30-degree day.
As a result, Mercy Community Services Limited’s centre in Heathridge landed itself a hefty fine over the incident, which took place on March 7 last year.
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The incident in question - which saw the toddler wander inside the shed in the hope of finding some outdoor play equipment before being accidentally locked inside by a staff educator - was heard in a tribunal.
During the proceedings, it was heard that the child's disappearance was only noted when the boy’s older brother and sister were seen outside the shed.
It was then that a member of staff looked inside to discover the 'visibly hot' child waiting to be released.
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While tribunal attendees heard that the boy was only trapped in the shed for 15 minutes, the temperature that day meant he'd likely have been taken ill if he was stuck inside for any longer.
Phil Payne - Department of Communities executive director for regulation and quality - hopes that this potentially-fatal incident emphasises the need for nursery and day-care workers to give attentive supervision to kids at all times.
"In this incident the child was latched inside a metal shed on a 30-degree day which could have easily resulted in a different outcome," he declared during the case.
"It’s the responsibility of the service providers to ensure their staff follow the supervision procedures and policies in place to prevent incidents like this from occurring."
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Workers at MercyCare went on to confess they'd failed to provide the proper care that the child needed, before describing the incident as 'unique'.
The daycare unit claimed that a member of staff had initially followed proper protocols by searching the shed before locking it.
A second member of staff then reopened the shed to retrieve a toy, waiting a 'second or two' - during which the child entered the shed - to re-lock it.
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MercyCare said, and the Department of Communities accepted, the time span for the child to enter must have 'only been a second or two'.
Despite this, the nursery was ordered to pay a penalty of $15,000, as well as an extra $2,000 to cover legal fees.
Following the incident, MercyCare engaged an independent audit of its policies and implemented the recommended changes.
Rhianna Benson