1. KEEPING OUR TAONGA SAFE ARTHUR SUTHERLAND, OCT 2015 1

2. OUR TAONGA  Our students and  the personnel who have leadership roles  The latter being the core and non-core in the context of the Vulnerable Children Act  In the context of Alternative Education the leaders include teachers, tutors, pedagogical leaders, nurses, youth and social workers, educators, instructors, facilitators and managers. 2

3. INTRODUCTION  Vulnerable Children Act, 2014  Education Act, 1989 and subsequent amendments  Health and Safety at Work Act, 2015  Adventure Activities Regulations, 2011  A tool for allocating personnel to EOTC leadership roles 3

4. VULNERABLE CHILDREN ACT 2014  A significant part of comprehensive measures to protect and improve the wellbeing of vulnerable children and strengthen our child protection system  The VCA and other associated legislation passed into law on 1 st July 2014…implementation is progressive  Regulations have and are being written E. g., VC Regulations (Requirements for Safety Checks),2015 4

5. VCA 2014  Vulnerability relates to physical & mental health; cultural & emotional well-being,  Includes the Children’s Action Plan  Applies to core workers and non-core workers  A child is someone under 18 and not married or has been married or in a civil union 5

6. VULNERABLE CHILDREN ACT 2014  Safety checks for personnel who want to work with those not yet 18  Board and other Child Protection Policies are required  contains a restriction on the employment of people with convictions for specified offences in some children’s worker roles, subject to a government-run exemptions process.  40 of them are offences under the Crimes Act See schedule 2 of the VCA 6

7. CORE CHILDREN’S WORKER?  When present with a child or children, the person—is the only children’s worker present or is the children’s worker who has primary responsibility (PR) for, or authority over the child or children present  PR means accountability, duty of care, and obligation.  Authority means power, right to provide guidance, set boundaries, make decisions, and the application of behaviour management techniques.  Teacher, tutor, social & youth worker  Overnight camp leader 7

8. SCHOOL BOARD CHILD PROTECTION POLICY Every school board must:  adopt, as soon as practicable a CPP  ensure a copy of the policy is available on the Internet site (if any) or is available on the school premises if requested  ensure that every contractor providing children’s services adopts the policy  review the policy every 3 years 8

9. THE SAFETY CHECKING PROGRAMME  From 1 July 2015 all new state-funded core workers need to be safety checked before starting work in a new role  From 1 July 2016 all new state-funded non - core workers need to be safety checked before starting work in a new role  By 1 July 2018 all existing state-funded core workers need to have been safety checked  By 1 July 2019 all existing state-funded non- core workers need to have been safety checked  Safety checks for employees and contractors are required to be updated every three years after each check is completed. 9

10. SAFETY CHECK FOR NEW WORKERS  Identification  Interview  5 year work history  At least one referee  Info from professional body  Police vet unless  Evaluation…assess the risk 10

11. EXAMPLES OF SPECIFIED OFFENCES  Dealing in people under 18 for sexual exploitation  Discharging a firearm or doing dangerous act with one  Indecency…….assaults, acts, etc  Abductions  Ill-treatment or neglect of child or vulnerable adult  Offences relating to objectionable publications 11

12. HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK ACT, 2015  Comes into effect on 4 April 2016  Until then the current Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 remains in force  There will be a number of Regulations  General risk and workplace management  Major Hazard Facilities  Asbestos  Engagement, worker participation and representation 12

13. KEY CONCEPTS  Management of risks (Pt 2, S30)-risks to be eliminated so far as is reasonably practicable, and if it is not reasonably practicably to eliminate then the risks are to be minimised  Introduction of the P erson C onducting a B usiness or U ndertaking-the PCBU  Primary duty of care 13

14. KEY CONCEPTS CONTINUED  A PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of—workers who work for the PCBU, while the workers are at work in the business or undertaking and workers whose activities in carrying out work are influenced or directed by the PCBU, while the workers are carrying out the work.  A PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the health and safety of other persons is not put at risk from work carried out as part of the conduct of the business or undertaking. 14

15. HAZARD……..  Hazard includes a person’s behaviour where that behaviour has the potential to cause death, injury, or illness to a person (whether or not that behaviour results from physical or mental fatigue, drugs, alcohol, traumatic shock, or another temporary condition that affects a person’s behaviour) 15

16. REASONABLY PRACTICABLE…..  Reasonably practicable means that which is, or was, at a particular time, reasonably able to be done in relation to ensuring health and safety, taking into account and weighing up all relevant matters, including—  Likelihood of occurring  Degree of harm that might result  What the person (PCBU, other) knows  Availability & suitability of ways to eliminate or minimise  After assessing the extent and cost (grossly disproportionate) 16

17. OFFENCES & INSURANCE  Individuals such as the PCBU and officials are held responsible for workplace accidents with maximum fines set (S47, 48, 49, 50 and 51).  For example, where a PCBU or an officer is deemed to be reckless the penalty can be a term of imprisonment not exceeding 5 years or a fine not exceeding $600,000  Insurance against fines is unlawful (Pt 4, S29) 17

18. THE 7 HABITS OF POSITIVE SAFETY CULTURE 1. Take all reasonable practicable steps 2. Identify hazards 3. Take steps to eliminate or minimise 4. Emergency procedures in place 5. Training for all 6. Keep & analyse a register of actual & near miss incidents 7. Monitor the implementation 18

19. FIVE ACTIONS FROM TODAY  Familiarise yourself with the key concepts of the legislation  Review your health and safety practices  Identify health and safety risks in your business and take steps to prevent these from causing harm  Lead by example  Make health and safety part of your workplace culture 19

20. ADVENTURE ACTIVITIES REGULATIONS 2011 Captures…………  Commercial operators  Who deliberately expose clients to high risk  Through specified activities Thus they must be registered through an audit process, and are subject to regular monitoring 20

21. ADVENTURE ACTIVITIES REGULATIONS 2011  Those who are operating illegally/without being registered are subject to prohibition notices  The regulations were modified in 2013 to ensure staff are free of alcohol and drugs 21

22. THE SPECIFIED ACTIVITIES LIST INCLUDES……..  High ropes courses  Off road vehicle driving  Abseiling & outdoor rock climbing  Kayaking  Quad biking or trail biking  River boarding See full list in the paper that supports this presentation 22

23. THE REGULATIONS, SCHOOLS AND AE  Schools and AE providers? No, because they have to meet the Education Act requirements as expressed in NAG 5, the EOTC Guidelines & Safety Thus schools must have SMS Yes, where they contract a registered adventure operator to assist them achieve the identified student outcomes 23

24. NAG 5 REQUIRES…  ……”schools and AE providers to provide a safe physical & emotional environment for students & comply in full with any legislation in force that may be developed to ensure the safety of the students & employees.  AE provision should:  Ensure that the physical environment meets H & S requirements  Carry out regular checks to identify hazards in the physical environment.  Have procedures for the emergency evacuation of students. 24

25. NAG 5 CONTINUED  Have policies and procedures that protect students from emotional harm.  Support students who experience harm or abuse.  Have policies and procedures to minimise the risk of accident or injury to students in outdoor settings  Have policies that set out procedures for investigating complaints for students and staff of abuse or harassment.” 25

26. GUIDELINES  Ministry of Education EOTC Guidelines-Bringing the Curriculum Alive: Learning Safely  Outdoor Activities Guidelines for Leaders  Activity Safety Guidelines  Education Outdoors NZ 26

27. USEFUL TOOLS  Registers  Assigning personnel to the leadership role  Supervision structure 27