01 AugWorkSafe Visits
Early childhood services are currently being visited by WorkSafe Inspectors. These visits are an opportunity to see how your service is dealing with OHS and identify areas of improvement. Inspectors can be a great source of information and advice as we all have the same aim of keeping everyone safe in our services. However, you can do a few things to help when it comes to an inspectors visit:
- have an occupational health and safety management system in place
- make sure you have undertaken the hazard identification and risk assessment process for any possible hazards. This is especially important when it comes to manual handling
- have your incident reports available with any analysis that you have undertaken to see if there are any trends that have developed
- make sure that you have your chemical management systems in place and all the appropriate Safety Data Sheets
- have evidence of your commitment to OHS, such as policies, agenda items and records of training and consultation with staff
- be proactive, undertake an inspection of your service and consider the hazards in your service and what could make your service safer.
Padding around poles
Some services have received improvement notices stating that padding around poles is required. This can be a very expensive process. If you believe that an Inspector’s notice is not reasonable or not required, you are able to appeal their decision within 14 days of the notice being given. For more information CLICK HERE.
Go through your incident reports to see if there have been any incidents where children have been hurt by running into poles. Then undertake a risk assessment to determine the likelihood and consequences of a child running into the poles. You should show that you have considered alternative measures if you deem there is a risk, such as painting the poles different colors than the background. Children can be involved in this process, and this can prompt discuss with them why this is being done. The ACECQA Risk Assessment and Management Tool has some wonderful resources that you can use to engage with children. There is also a risk assessment tool for children to use.
Remember, you are not alone. ELAA can provide you with support and advocacy if you find yourself with an improvement notice that you wish to dispute.
We also provide OHS one day training so that you can develop an OHS Management System for your service. Our next seminar is on August 15, you can register and find out more HERE.
We can also perform an OHS inspection and deliver centre-based OHS training that is specific to your service’s need.
