This was a study of accidents and injuries in Norwegian ECEC settings, funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. The aims of the study were to map all injuries in Norwegian ECEC during 2012, gain information about the situations where serious injury occur, and gain knowledge about ECEC settings’ routines of managing risks and preventing injuries. You can read the project report (in Norwegian) HERE

The research questions were:

• How many injuries and accidents occurred in Norwegian ECEC institutions in 2012?
• How serious are the injuries?
• How are injuries and accidents distributed by the child’s gender and age?
• In what situations do injuries occur?
• What training in injury prevention do the staff in ECEC institutions receive?
• What training in management of accidents and injuries do the staff in ECEC institutions receive?
• Do the society’s safety focus influence the activities in ECEC settings?

Questionnaires were distributed to managers of all ECEC settings i Norway with an e-mail adress. Managers from appr. 2000 settings completed the questionnaire. Qualitative telephone-interviewes was also conducted with managers in 20 randomly sampled ECEC settings.

Publications:

Sandseter, E. B. H., & Sando, O. J. (2016). “We Don’t Allow Children to Climb Trees” How a Focus on Safety Affects Norwegian Children’s Play in Early-Childhood Education and Care Settings. American Journal of Play, 8(2), 178-200.

Sando, O. J., Sandseter, E. B. H., Pareliussen, I., & Egset, C. K. (2017). Injuries in Norwegian early childhood and care (ECEC) institutions. Nordic Early Childhood Education Research, 14(1), 39-52.