Is your early learning centre prepared for the Reportable Conduct Scheme?

The Victorian Government introduced changes to its Reportable Conduct Scheme that came into effect on 1 January 2019. The changes impact Early Learning Centres, Out of School Hours and Occasional Childcare providers.

It is important to understand how this Scheme may affect your business. The key outtake of the recent change is the introduction of strict reporting and investigation requirements for the head of organisations to ensure the Commission for Children and Young People (the Commission) is informed of every allegation of certain types of misconduct involving children by employees and volunteers in relevant organisations.

What is the Reportable Conduct Scheme?

The Scheme applies to anyone who has witnessed, or has reasonable belief, that a worker or volunteer has demonstrated reportable conduct or misconduct towards a child. Under this Scheme, any event that is deemed as a ‘reportable allegation’ must be reported to the commission.

A ‘reportable allegation’ encompasses a broad range of misconduct. Examples of reportable allegations include sexual offences, sexual misconduct, physical violence, behaviour that causes significant emotional or psychological harm, or significant neglect, where the victim is under the age of 18 when the allegation occurred.

Importantly, the scope of reportable conduct is broad and not limited to criminal conduct. For example, sexual misconduct includes inappropriate behaviours that are not necessarily criminal, such as inappropriate discussion of sex and sexuality with a child.

If the head of an organisation or childcare centre becomes aware of any new information that causes them to form a ‘reasonable belief’ that reportable conduct was committed, this must be investigated.

What is the process to take if reportable conduct occurs?

Ultimate responsibility for compliance with the Scheme lies with the Head of the relevant organisation. For the Head of an early learning centre, it is important that when dealing with a reportable allegation they treat the matter with urgency in a structured matter. Systems should be in place to enable anyone to notify their concerns or allegations, to investigate the allegations and to prevent abuse and follow up allegations appropriately.

Reasonable belief beyond just suspicion must be held that an employee or volunteer has committed reportable conduct or misconduct. While there must be some objective basis for the belief, proof or certainty is not necessarily required for an investigation to take place. The investigation should consider whether it is more likely than not that reportable conduct has occurred.

The Commission must be made aware of any reportable allegations within 3 business days, whereupon after the investigation process must be clearly defined and developed, with the findings reported to the Commission.

The Scheme does not replace the need to report allegations of abuse including criminal conduct and family violence to Victoria Police.

Any matter under investigation by Victoria Police takes priority over a reportable conduct investigation, and may require an organisation’s investigation to be put on hold until the Police report is completed. Additionally, findings of reportable conduct can be shared by the Commission with Police, Working with Children Check Unit, and Regulators.

 How can I best prepare my early learning centre?

  • You should familiarise yourself with the broad range of obligations imposed upon your early learning centre by the Scheme, especially for the Head of the organisation.
  • Investigation processes need to be clearly defined and developed to ensure you and your organisation meet the Scheme requirements. The head of the organisation can be personally penalised for non-compliance, or an unreasonably delayed response.
  • It is important to understand the low threshold for reporting, the short time frame required for action, and the strict requirements stipulating the steps taken in the investigation.

All reportable allegations regarding current employee or volunteers must be notified, regardless of whether the conduct occurred before, during or outside their role within the organisation.

Help is available

If you have any concerns regarding your obligations as the Head of an early learning or kindergarten centre, contact Guild Insurance on 1800 810 213, or visit ccyp.vic.gov.au

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    Property maintenance - could your property cause an injury?

    Guild Insurance sees many insurance claims which have come about due to poor maintenance of a property.  In too many of these cases, the poor state of the building or its grounds is obvious and it’s quite surprising, as well as disappointing, that repairs haven’t been carried out before an incident has occurred.

    What can go wrong?

    There are a range of incidents which can occur due to poor maintenance of a property.  Staff can be injured leading to a worker’s compensation claim as well as staff being absent from work for an extended period.  Visitors to the premises, such as customers, clients or contractors, can also suffer injuries leading to public liability claims.  As well as the insurance claims which need to be managed, there’s the added stress of knowing that someone has been injured while at your premises.  Some of these injuries can be very serious and life changing.  Unfortunately, the hazards which lead to these injuries are often not viewed as seriously as they should be.  Yet with appropriate property maintenance many of these injuries could be avoided.

    Case 1

    A client entered a building and tripped over an edge of carpet which was ripped and curled up.  The client sustained a fractured wrist when they landed.

    Case 2

    An awning out the front of a building was old and worn out.  During heavy winds it broke off from the building and hit a person walking past at the time.

    Case 3

    While walking through the carpark of a premises, a staff member has tripped on a large crack in the asphalt which had caused the surface to be uneven.  They fractured their ankle as they fell.

    Case 4

    Poor maintenance doesn’t just lead to people suffering injuries, it can also lead to further damage to the property.  An old deteriorating roof collapsed when hit by heavy rain as it no longer had the strength to support the weight of this rainfall.  This led to excessive water damage within the building.

    Property maintenance tips

    • Have a documented maintenance program in place. This requires a schedule for regularly checking the property to identify hazards as well as details on what needs to be serviced, repaired or replaced and when.
    • Be aware of the out-of-sight, out-of-mind hazards. Many properties have roofs, guttering and downpipes in poor condition due to a lack of maintenance as no one has thought to get up on the roof and inspect it. Include the less obvious hazards in the maintenance program.
    • Have a maintenance budget. Some maintenance work can be planned, other work will come up unexpectedly when something breaks down. You need to be able to find money to fix hazards when identified.
    • Be sure to use qualified tradespeople to undertaken maintenance work. While it can be tempting to undertake some DIY and save money, the risk of things not being maintained or repaired correctly will not be worth the savings in the long term.
    • If you’re a tenant, be aware of what you’re responsible for maintaining and what’s the responsibility of the landlord. Not all tenancy agreements are the same, so you need to be across the details of your agreement.
    • Don’t wait to undertake maintenance till a more convenient time. There are many cases of injuries occurring due to hazards which had been identified but not yet acted upon, usually due to costs, time or not acknowledging the risk of the hazard.
    • All staff have a responsibility to create and maintain a safe workspace. Some hazards will be identified through regular property inspections, however, you can’t rely solely on these inspections. Therefore, encourage all staff to continually be on the lookout for hazards and to speak up when they see something.
    • Don’t think it won’t happen to you and your property. These incidents are a lot more common that many people realise.

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    Understanding social media risks

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    1. Have a business plan for how and why social media is to be used
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    Business owners and managers need to be sure that when they make a decision on whether to use social media for their business, this decision is based on the needs of the organisation, not the owner’s/manager’s personal views of social media.  For example, a person who chooses to not use Twitter for personal use may still decide it’s a great tool for them professionally.  Business decisions and personal decisions regarding social media use should be separated.

    3. Create clear business guidelines and processes regarding who is able to post on social media and how this is to be done
    Due to the risks associated with social media interactions, it’s very important that businesses have a clear process for who is responsible for posting on social media.  The person undertaking this role needs to understand when social media is an appropriate form of communication and what sort of messages are to be shared using social media.  This process should also provide guidance on how often social media is monitored and responded to and how to respond to negative comments.

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    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    .

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    Common workplace errors and injuries in early learning centres

    No employee wants to be injured at work. And no employer wants their staff to be injured at work. Guild Insurance knows that employees and employers have the best of intentions when it comes to workplace safety. Unfortunately, despite these good intentions, we see many cases where early learning workers are injured while at work,
    and sometimes quite seriously. And it’s disappointing that many of these injuries could have been easily avoided.

    Guild Insurance sees too many cases where an injury in an early learning centre has occurred while the educator was performing a task in an unsafe manner which was most likely preventable. See below five posters you can display in your service with common examples of injuries and tips on how to avoid them.

    Examples of tasks performed incorrectly

    The following are some of the common actions which lead to injuries in early learning services:

    > Standing on swivel chairs instead of ladders to reach an item

    > Picking up children rather than lowering to their height

    > Lifting children onto a change table rather than having the child climb up steps

    > Lifting something alone which is too heavy rather than asking a colleague for assistance

    Training

    It’s possible that one of the main reasons people perform tasks in a dangerous way is that they don’t fully appreciate the risk. They may have been taught that it’s wrong, however they may not understand why it’s incorrect and what could go wrong. Therefore, when teaching staff about the correct way to perform tasks, it’s important to not just tell them what to do and what not to do, but also stress the reasons why. They need to appreciate what could happen and what sort of injury they could sustain. They need to understand, for example, that when standing on a swivel chair, it can easily move, causing the person to fall off. This often leads to serious arm injuries, such as fractures, as the person has landed on the ground. 

    Reminders

    Being told something only a couple of times, maybe during formal education or at induction, isn’t always enough to enforce learning and change behaviour. People often need to be continually reminded. Early learning services should be regularly talking about and promoting safety and correct techniques in the workplace. This could be a regular agenda item at team meetings. There could be signs around the service to remind staff of the correct way to do things. Staff could be commended when seen doing the right thing. Don’t make education a once‑off.

    Rushing

    One of the most common reasons people don’t do things as they should, is that they’re rushing and feeling they’re too busy. Too often when staff are busy at a service, they’ll try to do things quickly and will often look for workarounds to speed up tasks. Unfortunately, this can lead to unsafe practices and injuries. Taking an extra couple of minutes to look for an appropriate ladder or ask a colleague for assistance is surely better than suffering a serious long-term injury which may prevent someone from working for weeks or even months. Similarly, scanning the room for hazards prior to entering may aid in the prevention of a trip or fall.

    Lead by example

    Managers and senior staff need to be sure they’re leading by example. There’s no point telling your staff how to do things correctly and then doing it a different way yourself. And if you think you can do it quickly and get away with it, think again, as someone will see you. Not only are managers risking injury by doing things the wrong way, they’re also sending the wrong message to their staff. To create a workplace culture that values safety, all staff need to do the things the right way, which is the safe way.

    It won’t happen to me 

    We’re all guilty at times of knowing what can go wrong but not really thinking it’ll happen to us. However, Guild’s claims experience tells us these incidents and injuries happen to anyone, including people just like you. Just because you may have cut corners with tasks in the past and nothing went wrong, doesn’t mean you’ll get away with it next time. Taking these risks just isn’t worth it, because it only takes one time where something goes wrong for a serious injury to occur.

    Common workplace injury scenarios and prevention posters

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