Week 6 Follow Policies...

FOLLOW POLICIES, PROCEDURES AND

PROGRAMS OF THE

ORGANISATION

Recap on Week 5 15/8/2013

Duty of care

LEGAL REQUIREMENTS - DUTY OF CARE PRINCIPLE

People who work with vulnerable people, particularly children, youths and adults within community service organisations, have a primary responsibility to support and protect them

We have particular legal and ethical responsibilities to safeguard vulnerable people’s rights and interest and in particular to children and young people.

There is also a very important legal obligation that you have as a person who works in community service organisations and this is called “duty of care”


Duty of Care is a requirement that a person act toward others and the public with the watchfulness, attention and caution that a reasonable person in the circumstances would use

If a person’s actions do not meet this standard of care, then acts are considered negligent, and any damages resulting may be claimed in a lawsuit for negligence.


An example would be when you are driving passengers in your car. You need to make sure that you are driving safely and following road rules

This duty of care principle also operates at your school or TAFE environment


Reasonable care

This suggests that the law does not expect perfect care. The standard of care expected of you is the standard that a reasonable person with the same experience and training would provide.


What is reasonable care?A reasonable worker or organisation does

things according to:Relevant policies and regulationsReasonable and lawful instructionsTheir skills, training, duties and job descriptionCommonsense

You should be getting a basic understanding of why your legal and ethical obligations are so important.


Fulfilling your duty of care means thinking ahead

You need to consider what your legal obligations and professional or ethical responsibilities suggest you do in any particular situation.

This is where your practices must include -

working ethically and abiding by the code of conduct within your job role.


So, you need to:

Always consult with another worker or your supervisor about the particular situation if you are not sure of what to do. Even if you are confident, it is a good idea to check with your supervisor and confirm your plan of action.


Plan what you want and hope it will occur

Prepare according to this plan

Predict what may go wrong or differently to the plan

Prepare for these possibilities (within reason)


In any situation ask yourself;

What do I think are reasonable steps to take?

What do my co-workers and management feel is reasonable?

What does the law/regulations say I should do?

What are my organisation’s guidelines?


Negligence

Injuries to other people


Week 6 22/8/2013

Your duty of care obviously includes the clients you are caring for, but it also extends to visitors, parents and other staff

For example: if a visitor were to cut themselves on some broken glass that was swept into the hallway to be away from others and then forgotten, it could be considered to be a breach of duty of care to that person

Injury does not just mean a physical injury like a cut finger. There are 4 types of injury or damage that can be associated with breach of duty of care

They are:-PhysicalPsychologicalEmotionalFinancial

It is important to realise that a good understanding of all your legal and ethical obligations will help you make the right decisions and act appropriately to avoid injury to others.

You can gain this understanding by talking with your co-workers and supervisor and also reading the current policies and procedures of your workplace.

Negligence is when a court says that a duty of care did exist and someone has neglected or breached their duty of care and as a result, someone else suffered harm or damage.

The outcome is usually that you are ordered to pay damages (money as compensation) to the injured person

Employers can be held responsible for the negligent acts of their employees, especially if the employer was found to offer insufficient training, inadequate orientation to the job or given unlawful instruction.

However if an employee acts against the instructions of their employer, legal guidelines or the organisation policies and procedures, then the employee can be held responsible.

Best practice is to ensure your are familiar with all the policies and procedures of the centre.

A job description is an outline of what a person’s job entails.

It’s an important document because it usually outlines the person’s role and responsibility within the organisation.

A job description usually;Gives you an overall outline of your specific

roles and responsibilitiesSets down the boundaries of your

responsibilitiesOutlines the chain of management (ie to whom

each worker is responsible)Is used as a basis for appraisal/review of work

performanceRelates to employees not students (students

would have a separate student handbook to assist with understanding what is expected of them).

Your role and responsibilities will vary according to the position you are working in, your level of training and the type of community service organisation in which you work.

Think about your role and responsibility as a student. The TAFE student guide/code of conduct and related policies helps you to know what is expected and how you should and should not behave in the TAFE learning environment.

We discussed some of these last week regarding bullying and harassment.

(ACTIVITY 5, and 6 CONTINUED FROM ACTIVITIES 1- 4 WEEK 5)

Not all guidelines are written down, but just assumed that you will carry them out.

List down some basic unwritten responsibilities that would occur in your job role within a child care centre. One example would be....Being at work on time.

Answers to be completed on Activity 1.3.

Writing a procedure and identifying duty of care issues

Group 1 – You will need butchers paper & textas

Write a procedure on how to make pikelets List all ingredients (including quantities)List all the required steps

Group 2 – You will need butchers paper & textas

Draw up a table with 3 columnsColumn 1 heading – Action/StepColumn 2 heading – Possible duty of care issuesColumn 3 heading – Identified duty of care issues

We will test our ideas in the playroom/lecture room

Week 6 Follow Policies...

Career

duty of care principle

reasonable care

standard of care

care principle people

perfect care

care principle week

breach of duty

legal obligations