Advancing Environmental Health in Child Care Settings: A Checklist for Child Care Practitioners and Public Health Inspectors

This hands-on resource is intended to equip child care practitioners (CCPs) and public health inspectors (PHIs) who routinely visit child care centres with practical information on ways to prevent and reduce children's exposure to toxic chemicals and pollutants in these environments. The goal is to support the ongoing efforts of CCPs, PHIs and families to promote optimal child health and development by focusing on environmental exposures as one of the many important factors that determine child health outcomes. This resource also includes suggestions to encourage sustainable operations of child care facilities, including pollution prevention, waste reduction, and energy and water conservation.

Section 1 provides an overview of children's vulnerabilities, health issues and exposures of concern in the child care setting.

Section 2 presents the checklist of possible actions to improve environmental health in various indoor and outdoor settings.

Section 3 provides background information and suggested resources relevant to each of the checklist sections.