Licensing Standards for DayCare Centers

Section 418.13
Sanitation

(a) All rooms, outdoor play areas, equipment, supplies and furnishings must be kept clean and sanitary at all times. The premises must be kept free from dampness, odors, vermin and the accumulation of trash.

(b) Each day care center must comply with the requirements of State and local departments of health. Adequate and safe water supply and sewage facilities must be provided and must comply with State and local laws.

(c) Staff must thoroughly cleanse their hands with soap and running water at the beginning of each day, when they are dirty, after toileting, before and after food handling, after contact with any bodily secretion or fluid and following the changing of any individual child's diaper.

(d) Staff must insure that children thoroughly cleanse their hands or assist children with through cleansing their hands with soap and running water when they are dirty, after toileting, before and after food handling, after contact with any bodily secretion or fluid and, for diapered children, after each change of diaper.

(e) Toilet facilities must be kept clean and supplied with toilet paper, soap and towels accessible to the children. Disposable towels or individual cloth towels, laundered daily, for each child must be used. Toilet facilities must be readily accessible to playrooms and outdoor play areas. The use of common washcloths, towels, toothbrushes, combs and hairbrushes is prohibited. Toilet seats must be of an open sanitary type.

(f) Linens, blankets and bedding must be cleaned at least weekly and before use by another child. Cribs, cots, beds, mats and mattresses must be cleaned thoroughly at least monthly.

(g) Garbage receptacles must be covered, of adequate size and cleaned after emptying. Trash, garbage and combustible materials must not be stored in rooms ordinarily occupied by children, in outdoor play areas or in areas to which children have access. Trash, garbage and combustible materials must not be stored in the furnace room. If there is not a separate, enclosed furnace room, trash, garbage and combustible materials must not be stored within four feet of the furnace.

(h) All floors, walls, ceilings and other surfaces must be kept clean. Peeling or damaged paint or plaster must be repaired promptly.

(i) Individual drinking cups, disposable paper cups or bubbler fountains of the angle-jet type must be provided. The use of common drinking cups is prohibited.

(j) Dishes and cooking utensils must be washed after being used with soap and hot water and rinsed in hot running water.

(k) Infants must be kept clean and comfortable at all times. Diapers must be changed when wet or soiled. Changing facilities must be in the closest location possible to a sink that is used exclusively for diaper changing and is not used in food preparation or dishwashing. Soap and hot and cold running water must be available. Staff members must thoroughly cleanse their own hands following the changing of diapers. Diaper changing and hanging areas must not be in an area used for meal preparation.

(1) When children are diapered, the provider must use disposable diapers or arrange with the parent(s) or a commercial diaper service to provide a daily diaper supply.

(2) When the parents provide non-disposable diapers, soiled diapers must be put in a securely tied plastic bag and returned to the parent(s) at the end of the day. When a commercial diaper service is used, soiled diapers must be put in a securely covered receptacle until returned to the service.

(3) When disposable diapers are used, soiled diapers must be disposed of immediately into an outside trash disposal or put in a tightly covered plastic-lined trash can in an area inaccessible to children until outdoor disposal is possible.

(4) Non-disposable diapers must not be laundered in the day care center.

(m) Toileting equipment, such as potty chairs, appropriate to the toileting training level of the children in the group must be provided. Potty chairs must be emptied and sanitized with a germicidal solution after each use.

(n) Sufficient and suitable clothing must be available so that children who dirty or soil their clothing may be changed. All such clothing must be returned to parents for washing.

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