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The Nurture Nook (Spring 2019): Early learning and childcare centres are dynamic, unpredictable, ever-changing environments. For some educators, it’s this type of environment which makes it a fantastic place to work. However, this environment can also make it a hazardous place to work if the risks of an ever-changing environment aren’t identified and managed.
All early learning centres have processes in place to be sure the centre is tidy and orderly at the beginning of the day with all furniture and equipment where it should be. However, this rarely lasts long and nor should it. Through the regular activities undertaken throughout the day, many pieces of equipment can end up being left in areas which may create a hazard and lead to an injury to staff and children. Also, it’s possible for toys, play equipment and even furniture to become damaged over time and this also creates a hazard. The solution of course isn’t to stop the children playing and using what’s in the centre. The solution requires all staff who work in centres to be aware of the risks within their environment and what they can do to manage them.
Constant vigilance
Working in an early learning centre requires constant vigilance from all staff. This means staff are always looking around and scanning for risks and hazards which could lead to injuries.
Centres have processes in place where regular inspections are carried out. While these checks are important, they aren’t enough. Staff need to be in a habit of being continually on the lookout for risks at all times and in all locations within a centre.
Risks aren’t always obvious
There are some risks which will be obvious and that all staff would know to look out for and rectify, such as toys being left in walkways or spilled drinks on the floor. However, this is not the case with all risks. Some are harder to spot and may be unexpected, such as a poorly fitted baby gate closing on a staff member. This further emphasises the need for constant vigilance and not just looking for common risks. It means staff should be continually asking themselves ‘What could happen?’ and thinking outside the square when answering this.
Don’t put it off
It’s not uncommon for Guild Insurance to hear of an injury occurring in a centre due to a hazard which had previously been identified yet no action had been taken. This lack of action may be due to other competing priorities, lack of funds or the risk may have not been taken seriously. When a risk or hazard has been identified it’s important that it’s assessed immediately so the likelihood of an injury and the potential seriousness of that injury are both well understood. This will assist the centre in developing an action plan for what needs to happen to reduce or eliminate that risk and how urgent this is. Staff and children do suffer serious injuries in early learning centres which can affect them for a very long time. Hoping the risk won’t eventuate isn’t sufficient risk management, centres need to take action.
Risk register
Creating a risk register is an important process for dealing with identified risks and being sure they don’t get forgotten about. The risk register should contain important details about each risk including the likelihood of the risk occurring, the potential consequence if it did occur, what actions or steps are required to mitigate or reduced that risk, who is responsible for doing this and by when this action needs to occur. This register should be made available to all staff and discussed regularly so there is constant monitoring of which risks have been actioned and which still needs actioning.
Whose job is it?
In every workplace, everyone has a responsibility to ensure it’s a safe environment for all who attend or visit. This means that all staff, including the newest and least experienced right up to the most experienced, have a responsibility to continually be on the lookout for hazards and act on them when found. Leaving this to someone else is not acceptable. While some staff members may not have the ability to create the change necessary to reduce the risk, for example it’s not their responsibility to book in maintenance staff, all staff have a responsibility to at least report the hazard to someone who can take action.
To ensure staff do speak up when they see a risk or hazard, it’s important that a culture of speaking up is encouraged. This means making all staff aware of their responsibility but also listening to and taking on board the concerns raised by staff.
Regular safety discussions
To encourage and support staff to continually think about safety and identify risks, regular safety conversations in the workplace can be very beneficial. This can be done in a number of ways such as having safety as an agenda item at staff meetings or by including staff in discussions about how identified risks will be actioned. This continual conversation encourages safe thinking to become how people do their job, not an addition to it.
Guild Insurance Limited ABN 55 004 538 863, AFS Licence No. 233 791. This article contains information of a general nature only, and is not intended to constitute the provision of legal advice. Guild Insurance supports your Association through the payment of referral fees for certain products or services you take out with them.
PUBLISHED: NOVEMBER 2019
The Nurture Nook (Spring 2019): The Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW released its submission (see https://tinyurl.com/acanswabcbsubmission) to the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB)’s proposed amendment (see https://tinyurl.com/abcbamendment1) to the Building Code of Australia arguing that the ABCB may have opened a Pandora’s Box for all childcare centres and consequently increase childcare fees and introduce new hazards to children and their carers without making children any safer.
“We appreciate the ABCB’s and the Building Ministers’ intentions, but without any prior discussion with the early childhood education and care sector, their proposal as drafted will increase childcare fees by mandating sprinklers and other fire infrastructure even for two storey buildings and can make evacuations of young children aged 0-5 years old even more dangerous under wet conditions,” said Chiang Lim, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW.
Prophetically, ACA NSW had been approaching government authorities for over three years about its concerns of the lack of empirical standards for how quickly children must consistently be evacuated and where they should appropriately be evacuated to.
“Our fire expert has identified the futility of purely relying on the introduction of sprinklers and fire infrastructures as the solution to protecting children. What if childcare centres can consistently and safely evacuate all their children even before the sprinklers are activated? Why have governments not considered the consequential impact of new childcare centres’ ever-increasing capacities of children? And why do governments still approve childcare centres where the nearest appropriate evacuation assembly area may be blocks away?” asked Mr Lim.
The national law and regulations for early childhood education and care came into effect on 1 January 2012. They enabled childcare centres to have unlimited numbers, thereby giving rise to new childcare centres with significant capacities. The largest childcare centre is currently 300 places. Prior to 2012, the maximum capacity was 90 children per centre.
“New South Wales already has the dubious honour of having the highest proportion of household expenditure on childcare across all the OECD countries. Why do we want to increase costs especially when the proposed solutions will not work in the overwhelming majority of childcare services? To protect children, we need a holistic and truly consultative approach, not a piecemeal nor we-know-better approach,” said Mr Lim.
The Society of Fire Safety Engineers Australia (SFSEA) is anticipated to release their High-Rise Childcare Guide. The Education Council and the NSW Department of Education are reviewing emergency and evacuation requirements for revision in 2021-2022. The NSW Department of Planning has said they will \begin their review of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Educational Establishments and Child Care Facilities) 2017. But none appear to be coordinated nor harmonised.
PUBLISHED: NOVEMBER 2019
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1. Do employees need to serve additional notice periods when converting from casual employment to part-time/full-time employment?
As a casual employee, the period of service served can count towards the minimum employment period (probation period) if the employee was on a regular and systematic basis; and if the casual employee has reasonable expectation of ongoing employment on a regular and systematic basis.
The Fair Work Act 2009 s.384(2) also sets out the above information.
2. What is employment on a regular and systematic basis?
This is where a clear pattern or roster of hours shows a repetitive pattern. It does not mean that the hours worked are frequent, often, uniform or constant.
A systematic engagement requires a system, plan or method be established with the frequency of employment during a period of service.
Regular and systematic employment can also be established where the the employer has offered work at times that the employee has made themselves available. Work can also be offered and accepted regularly enough that it is no longer considered occasional or irregular.
3. What is a period of service for a casual employee?
A period of service is defined as each occasion an employee is engaged in a separate contract of employment. This can be week to week, shift to shift, hour to hour or for any agreed short period.
Employees period of service, rather than period of employment, are considered in cases of unfair dismissal. If you have a written agreement that the employee would serve an additional probation period, when converting to part-time or full-time employment, legally it would have no effect under the Fair Work Act 2009 s.384(2). The employees’ whole period of service would be considered and will count towards the period of continuous service.
Continuous service is established upon the regular and systematic basis of ongoing employment. If either party break the continuous service, they must make it clear to the other party that there will be no further engagements.
Absence for illness or injury does not break a period of continuous service.
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