Principle 1: Culture of Safety is Embedded

In this chapter you will learn

  • Who are Children and Vulnerable people

  • How to build a culture of safety and care

  • What is your duty of care?

 Your organization is responsible for:

  • Including and welcoming children and other vulnerable people

  • Being accountable for safety

  • Risk Management Officers - Creating a culture that values and maintains safety and care

 

You, as a child facing team member are responsible for;

  • Responsible for the safety and care of children and other vulnerable people in your program

  • Accountable to your Leader

Who are children and other vulnerable people? 

The main principles in this course will apply to people in all of these groups:

1. Children (all people under the age of 18)

2. People with disabilities, mental health issues and other support needs

3. Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD)

4. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders 

5. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer/Questioning (LGBTIQ+)

6. Frail, aged, bereaved

Building a culture of safety and care

Following a robust framework and your organisation’s child Code of Conduct also protects the staff and volunteers in their respective roles.

Yes, including you.

A code of Conduct is a key mechanism to support safety; we will discuss it later in this module.

How could you help to build a culture of safety and care?

Try following these steps.

Keep in mind that working with children is usually within the context of a team. However, this may vary and local description of your operations with children should be applied here to better define activities.

  1. Work with your Leader to build a culture of safety

  2. Be proactive in all areas of safety and care

  3. As much as possible work with another leader (2-person rule)

  4. Treat everyone with respect

  5. Involve participants in decisions that affect them, valuing their insight

  6. Keep appropriate and private records of programs

Duty of care

is a common law concept that refers to the responsibility to: provide those in our care with an adequate level of protection against harm.

1. 'Duty of care' is usually expressed as a duty to take reasonable care to protect children and vulnerable people from all reasonably foreseeable risk of injury and harm

2. Safety management aims to identify and mitigate the ‘reasonably foreseeable risk’.

However, we cannot state categorically what constitutes your duty of care, because the risks are specific to your program context.

3. It really isn't complicated. By following the Code of Conduct of your organisation (we will discuss it later), and evaluating and managing risks, you should be carrying out your duty of care.

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