Safety issues at Cybertots
Did you know?
The Community Services Industry has one of the highest rates of workplace accidents and injury in Australia.
Well, it seems that the Cybertots team have a few safety issues that need to be addressed. Alison is making it her first priority today to look into the situation.
Identifying the issues
As you listened to the staff meeting, did you identify the issues? Have a look at the list below – if you missed any of these, you might like to go back and listen to the meeting again.
- three accidents have happened in the last month, all involving staff
- Louise split her lip in the playground
- an accident was not reported
- staff are stressed at work.
One of Cybertots' biggest responsibilities as a child care centre is to provide a safe environment for everyone there. This means for the staff as well as the children. Staff follow strict occupational health and safety guidelines – it's something that is regulated strongly as part of accreditation status.
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) at Cybertots
Ryan is the OHS representative at Cybertots. That means he has taken responsibility for overseeing all safety issues and concerns at the centre. He had to do some additional training in hazard identification and risk control to gain the skills and knowledge required to be an OHS rep.
The other staff at Cybertots also have an important role to play, supporting Ryan and each other to ensure a safe workplace.
Ryan's main objective is to make all staff at Cybertots more aware of safety, so that they are constantly on the look out for potential hazards. Each month he reviews the centre's accident reports to see if he can identify ways in which another incident can be avoided.
The whole team acts as a safety committee. The main points that staff are encouraged to be aware of are:
- recognising and reporting hazards in the centre.
- controlling safety risks such as playground equipment.
- what to do in an emergency such as a fire.
- maintaining hygiene standards in the centre to avoid contamination and/or infection.
Find out about the most common injuries that happen in child care workplaces. Go to www.worksafe.vic.gov.au. Click on Safety & Prevention, then Injury Hotspots in the centre menu, then select Children's Services. In your notebook, write down the 3 most frequently injured parts of the body.
