Anyone can accidentally get their fingers trapped in a door, but where toddlers are concerned, the worry is all the more apparent. For this very reason, the Tiny World Day Nursery in Mansfield, Nottingham, has been making certain changes to its surroundings to put worries like this firmly in the past.

The 50-place nursery in Mansfield is actually one of three Tiny World Day Nurseries in Nottingham, all of which are owned by Tony Budden. Based at the Stockhill Lane nursery, Tony coordinates the activities in each of the three nurseries and personally sees to any important changes or improvements that need to be made – as he did earlier this year when an accident occurred at the Mansfield site.

In March 2006, Nursery Manager, Karen Polkey, took action when a child accidentally got his fingers trapped in a door, as she explained: “We had an incident in which a child got their fingers trapped in a door and the parent requested that we do something about it so it would not happen again.

“We’ve had the nurseries for years and obviously finger trapping is always a worry, but this was quite a severe accident where the child lost his nail. Fortunately, the child’s finger nail has grown back, but it was quite nasty all the same.”

With children having access to all seven play rooms, Tony made sure that Fingershield devices were installed throughout the nursery and at the other two sites as well by fitting the devices himself. “Tony did all of the doors throughout the nursery in only a couple of hours,” said Karen.

Safe doors get toddlers set for school

Children’s day nurseries have a key role in preparing babies and toddlers for when they go to school and, as Karen explained, door safety too has its part to play: “In our nursery, we let children go to the bathrooms by themselves to try and give them a little bit of independence, so they’re ready for going to school – they’re in and out of the doors most of the day and Fingershield gives us peace of mind.”

Aware of just how painful a finger-trapping accident can be, Karen continued: “We don’t have to worry when children go through doors any more. We know that they’re not going to be able to put their fingers in the gap – it’s peace of mind basically. We only wish we had heard about and installed the Fingershields before the accident had taken place.

“And the problem with the hinge-side of the door is that once a child’s fingers are caught in that side of the door, they’re instantly jammed.”

Brightening up their little world…

Not content with simply installing the white devices, Karen decided to inject a bit of fun into finger protection, as she explained: “Tony wanted the white devices all over, which is what we got for the other two nurseries, but for Mansfield, we wanted to put a bit of fun into it, so we chose the red, yellow and blue devices.

“We wanted the colour devices, firstly, to emphasise that we’ve got them and, secondly, so they would fit in with the nursery’s décor. We have the old-style heavy wooden doors, so the Fingershields brighten the nursery up a little and add a bit of colour.”

As you can imagine, there is nothing worse than having the constant worry of toddlers getting their fingers trapped in a door. But as the Tiny World Day Nursery discovered, this kind of injury – and indeed this kind of worry – can now safely be a thing of the past.

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