Occupational Health and Safety

As your home is the workplace of our Support Workers, it is very important for us to work with you to ensure a safe working environment both for you and for our staff. State legislation requires us to regularly assess the safety of all sites where our employees work.

At the start of your care program a Support Worker, Service Coordinator or Care Manager from Nationwide will review the safety of your home. After that, your home will then be assessed once each year to ensure it continues to be a safe workplace for our staff.

You also have a responsibility to advise us about any potentially hazardous equipment or situations in your home, which may affect our Support Workers. It is our responsibility to undertake all reasonable steps to prevent an accident or injury in the workplace. However, it is your responsibility, as the home occupier, to help us to achieve this, by advising us of any potential hazards or working with us to remove any risks.

As employees of Nationwide, all staff are bound to follow any direction given by their Service Coordinator, Care Manager, or other staff member with management responsibilities, in relation to Occupational Health & Safety. If you are concerned about a direction or instruction that is given to you, you can contact either your Service Coordinator, Care Manager or the Occupational Health & Safety Manager at Nationwide.

Infectious Diseases

You have a responsibility to advise us about any infectious diseases you or the other people who live in your home may have contracted. Any information disclosed will be kept strictly confidential. In turn, we ask that Support Workers do not work with our care recipients if they are suffering from an infection that could potentially be passed on to the care recipient.

Violence/Harassment

Harassment and bullying are not only unacceptable behaviours but, in the workplace, are illegal. We will treat any of these behaviours that are reported by us by Support Workers or care recipients very seriously, and will investigate these matters thoroughly.

All Nationwide staff members are encouraged to report any inappropriate behaviour. These behaviours include, but are not limited to, any of the following actions: racist remarks, inappropriate sexual behaviour, physical violence, inappropriate language or body actions or bullying behaviours.

Incident Reporting

All Nationwide staff are expected to report any injury or incident that occurs while they are at work. An incident is any situation or occurrence that is out of the ordinary or unexpected, or has the potential to cause harm to either you or our staff. Copies of the incident reporting form are available in your Care Manual (if applicable) or can be obtained by contacting your Service Coordinator.

This is an important aspect of your Support Worker’s employment and we ask you to please help us by encouraging them to report any injury or incident, no matter how trivial it may seem at the time.