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New version effective 20 April 2026
This is the new version of the licensing criterion and associated guidance.
Criterion HS106 #
Adults providing education and care are familiar with relevant emergency drills and carry out each type of drill with children (as appropriate) on an at least, 4-monthly basis.
Documentation required (written or digital) #
A record of the emergency drills carried out and evidence of how evaluation of the drills has informed the annual review of the service's emergency plan.
Guidance#
How to show you are complying#
All adults providing education and care at your service should understand the service’s emergency plan, and their specific role if an emergency happened.
The drills themselves must be run at least once every 4 months. The specific drills are based on your emergency plan under 'HS105 emergency plan'. It should include all relevant procedures from HS105.
HS105 Emergency plan and supplies
Children should participate in all drills, except lockdown drills. Lockdown drills are excluded because they could cause distress, confusion or fear in young children. Instead, you are expected to hold these drills without children present.
It will be important for services in coastal areas to practice tsunami drills. You do not need to use vehicles during these drills, even if vehicle transport is required in your plan. This is because it could be unsafe. Instead, you should rehearse other relevant parts of the drill.
All drills should be recorded. The record should include:
- the time and date of each drill
- the specific drill carried out
- the duration of the drill
- who participated in the drill, including children
- any issues you encountered
- positive and negative outcomes during and after the drill
- an assessment about how effective the drill was, areas for improvement.
As there may be some overlap between different drills, you can count procedures from 1 drill as counting towards another in some situations, for example, if elements of multiple drills hold the same risks. If you count some procedures for multiple drills, then this should be clearly recorded.
