|
|
Duty of care
Home | Customer focus | Duty of care
Last updated 08-Jul-2009
Duty of care |
| Duty of care is a duty imposed by the law to take care to minimise the risk of harm to another. Under common and statute law, employers and employees have an obligation and duty of care to maintain safe working environments, which includes minimising the risk of physical, mental and emotional harm. |
| |
Current guidelines for 'Duty of Care for Students' can be found at: |
| Duty of Care for Students |
| |
| This guide states that: |
| |
- Non-teaching staff, volunteers and external providers do not have the same special duty relationship with students as do teaching staff, and unless requested and agree to do so, are not responsible for personally caring for students.
- Non-teaching staff, volunteers and external providers have a right to refuse a request to personally care for students and to have their decision respected by members of the teaching staff.
- If non-teaching staff, volunteers and external providers agree to perform tasks that require them to personally care for students (e.g. supervise students without a member of the teaching staff also being present), they will owe the same duty of care to those students as the duty owed by teaching staff. In other words, they will be required to take such measures as are reasonable in all the circumstances to protect students from risks of harm that reasonably ought to be foreseen.
|
More information on Duty of care can be found on the DET Our Policies website. |
| |
| |
|
|
