3. 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.
4. 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”
LEGAL REQUIREMENTS - DUTY OF CARE
PRINCIPLE
5. 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.
LEGAL REQUIREMENTS - DUTY OF CARE
PRINCIPLE
6. 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
LEGAL REQUIREMENTS - DUTY OF CARE
PRINCIPLE
7. 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.
LEGAL REQUIREMENTS - DUTY OF CARE
PRINCIPLE
8. What is reasonable care?
A reasonable worker or organisation does things
according to:
Relevant policies and regulations
Reasonable and lawful instructions
Their skills, training, duties and job description
Commonsense
You should be getting a basic understanding of
why your legal and ethical obligations are so
important.
LEGAL REQUIREMENTS - DUTY OF CARE
PRINCIPLE
9. 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.
LEGAL REQUIREMENTS - DUTY OF CARE
PRINCIPLE
10. 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.
LEGAL REQUIREMENTS - DUTY OF CARE
PRINCIPLE
11. 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)
LEGAL REQUIREMENTS - DUTY OF CARE
PRINCIPLE
12. 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?
LEGAL REQUIREMENTS - DUTY OF CARE
PRINCIPLE
14. 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
15. They are:-
Physical
Psychological
Emotional
Financial
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.
16. 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
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. A job description usually;
Gives you an overall outline of your specific roles
and responsibilities
Sets down the boundaries of your responsibilities
Outlines the chain of management (ie to whom each
worker is responsible)
Is used as a basis for appraisal/review of work
performance
Relates to employees not students (students would
have a separate student handbook to assist with
understanding what is expected of them).
20. 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.
21. (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.
22. 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 columns
Column 1 heading – Action/Step
Column 2 heading – Possible duty of care issues
Column 3 heading – Identified duty of care issues
We will test our ideas in the playroom/lecture room
