Disabilities is big business. Health and Safety protocols need to be applied and enforced in disabilities 'businesses' since they are now big businesses making money out of our children - so regulations should be enforced on them and the businesses made to comply with all the regulations - all these disabilities houses, programs, respite, and even in special needs classrooms.
Where was health and safety here? A Wheelchair boy who died from accident in Victorian School – Court case finished November 2021 due to the lack of safety protocols in the ramp, the lack of supervision and the judge said that the lack of training of teachers was main cause behind the death of this little boy… and School fined $200,000.
They should not be dying in special needs classrooms, or in disabilities care places at all. The recent article in the Australian Daily Mail (27 November 2021) showed once again the lack of health and safety in disabilities places even classrooms – this little boy, Jovan, dying due to misadventure and lack of building protocol safety with the ramp, however, primarily the lack of training of the school teachers again similar to the previous case in my recent posts. Similar to my previous post on the little boy who choked at his special needs classroom – the teachers not trained in first aid. In this wheelchair case the teachers were not trained in special needs teaching!
The little 7 year old boy, Jovan Talwar, with severe intellectual and physical disabilities, so vulnerable, heartbreakingly died from head injuries when his wheel chair which another student a girl was holding on to was let go of and his chair went down the ramp and crashed at the end so that he hit his head on the concrete and died.
Firstly, why did the teachers let a young girl push the wheelchair or hold onto it at all? Where was health and safety practice here? Secondly the ramp was made badly and not flush with the ground so that the little boy died when hitting his head. Its always health and safety. Dodgy workmanship or lack of safety measures are often behind deaths if they are not being complied with -even schools should do the right thing – it is again duty of care. People die when safety measures are not taken. Tragedy of death occurs especially to the most vulnerable. Schools receive a lot of funding if they have a special needs unit – why don’t they do the right thing and make their children who are the most vulnerable safe? They also need the CCTV cameras again to find out the truth of this matter.
The article notes : ” Jovan Talwar died after hitting his head when his wheelchair tipped over at the bottom of a ramp at Warringa Park, in Hoppers Crossing, in November 2018.
The seven-year-old was lining up with other students at the classroom door to go outside while the classroom's teacher and teacher's aid were dealing with a misbehaving student.
A girl was asked to move the students out of the classroom, but she accidentally let go of Jovan's wheelchair and it slid down the ramp at speed.”
The article noted that “judge Richard Maidment on Friday described the risk posed by a gap at the bottom of the ramp as 'substantial and obvious' but one that was 'readily rectifiable'. The article also notes “An earlier WorkSafe Victoria investigation found the ramp, which did not sit flush with the concrete, had failed to meet safety standards “
Just a little thing like that and a child is dead and gone and his family broken behind him - such a small building issue not fixed, and teachers not supervising properly ( lack of sufficient staff because school wants to save money?) Why should a boy of seven lose his life because they don’t do the right job? Why weren’t the teachers trained properly? The family would have been caring day and night for their precious son and never let this happen to him – just like many other families trying so hard to care for their children. Unfortunately, no one cares like a mother or father cares when they love their children. The school is now fined but $200,000 is little comfort for losing a child you love so much.
The Judge noted that that extent of Jovan’s needs were like that of a toddler, who are always at risk in an environment and need to be safeguarded there is danger all around them, as with many special needs children “'For a situation to be permitted ... of a student with Jovan's disabilities negotiating the ramp without being supervised, without a responsible adult holding the wheelchair throughout the negotiation of the ramp, was absolutely fraught with danger.'
The Department of Education and Training had pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to ensure that people other than employees were not exposed to risks to their health and safety.
The court heard it was reasonably practicable for the department to professionally assess the construction and maintenance of all ramps at the school and train staff on the student's care requirements.” (Daily Mail 2021 November)
The staff were also untrained! This begs belief. An earlier investigation the article also notes “It also found the student teacher was not given an induction on the student's special needs and that teaching staff at the school were not properly trained.
'The lack of training ... was undoubtedly a significant contributor to the death that occurred,' Judge Maidment said.
'Given the nature of the school and the range of the disabilities the school had to cater for ... it was particularly important for the department to have audited the health and safety of the school in a comprehensive manner.'
Yes the health and safety should be audited in schools particularly for special needs classrooms, but health and safety should also be audited for in disability programs, respite houses and residential care - and CCTV cameras should be part of that health and safety to protect the vulnerable who cannot speak for themselves or protect themselves and are as vulnerable as this little boy and at risk of abuse by teachers, support workers, and workers at disability facilities. CCTV cameras should be part of the health and safety legislation in disabilities and made mandatory for all providers and special needs classrooms. These children do not stand a chance against those who would unwittingly harm them and those who would purposely attack them. The teachers were not trained who were involved in this school incident!? Yet we have to put our disability children and adult children at the hands and mercy of support workers who are never trained or not trained enough, or educated enough for such a complex job.!
Right now the NDIS is suing Afford Disabilities for the death of Merna Aprem, a vulnerable girl of 19, who had autism, is also another who died needlessly because of a lack of paper work being given to the workers, the support workers were both untrained and not told of Merna’s needs and that she had seizures. This was a preventable incident of death. Paperwork was missing. Why should someone die just because paperwork was missing!? There was need for her to always be supervised in the bath or shower. This was in their instructions. There was a lack of health and safety protocols here, (as noted by the Notice of file submitted to the Federal courts by Lawyer for NDIS against Afford disabilities 12 December 2021) since the door had a lock on the inside and could not be opened from the outside. There was a lack of supervision. The two support workers left Merna from up to over 25 minutes in the bath – that is the story we will never know the truth story without CCTV cameras. When they tried to break into the bathroom using a screwdriver it took them over 22 minutes to break in and it was too late. Merna was gone, drowned, passed into another life before her time. How could they do this? How could they let this happen?
Afford disabilities grew its business from one group home to 19 residential houses the year Merna died. They described it as expotential growth. They were so busy growing their ‘business’ they did not take the time to run it with health and safety regulations neither was it enforced on them.
One of my son’s support workers told me disability workers earn more than nurses! Nurses are trained why aren’t the disability workers? Why are support workers little more than people who would work in a kitchen with no understanding put in these disability jobs? No wonder there is little interest in the person they care for, they are just in it for the money. Too much money takes away the heart and care and compassion needed for our vulnerable. Parents get little to live on for being carers and live under extreme strain. How dare they give us uneducated, untrained workers!
NDIS needs to step up and require all workers to have basic training in disabilities not for six weeks but for up to two years or at least be under the supervision of those who are university or tafe trained as they are for childcare. This is not a hairdresser’s job yet those managers in disabilities and even right up to CEOs have never been qualified in disabilities or care, often with no knowledge of disabilities at all. They are business people, out to make a buck at the expense of our children’s funds and lives and ignore the harm and injury occurring in their houses and programs these businesses run. Because they don’t want to have to pay compensation for it. Take the director of Integrity care spitting on the key witness for the Ann Marie case – all he cares about is the money he is losing. This is downright money mongering and intimidation. What is he? the mafia? Mafia bullies are what the managers and Directors, and CEOs in disabilities are, in trying to shut up the parents or those harmed from saying anything about the bad treatment or neglect they receive!
Our children may be non verbal or too afraid to speak up. We parents will not stay silent. We must continue to speak up for our vulnerable children, even when they are adults, for if we do not the bullies will always win and continue to harm and let our children die… meanwhile pay themselves well too out of our children’s NDIS funding.
Health and safety regulations are enforced in all other businesses in NSW and the rest of Australia. In NSW if you fail on any of the regulations you face penalties and possible court prosecutions ( the businesses). Since disabilities sector has now become a business, big business, lucrative business its time the NSW government stepped up and applied Health and Safety laws to all disabilities businesses, such as day programs, group homes and respite houses. They make enough money to do the right thing. Normal businesses are penalized if they do not report an incident of harm. NDIS enforces nothing. Only if someone dies do they get up of their butts and make some kind of effort only if it is in their interests to or to give the NDIS a good name.
In other businesses there are inspectors who check if health and safety protocols are being adhered to. There is an appointed health and safety officer to every business, who can be someone in that business, but it disabilities it should be someone neutral who will be transparent and not listen to bullying by managers or CEOs.
In other businesses there are regulators who check that the health and safety officers are reporting everything and that they are reporting on failed ability by a business to keep protocol and regulations. If the businesses allow someone to be harmed or die they are investigated immediately taken to court and prosecuted. None of this oh we will look into it, or oh the police have no evidence.
In fact, CCTV cameras should be a part of health and safety protocols applied to disabilities businesses including those under the NDIS which does little to enforce anything. Health and safety should be enforced for the sake of those who pay those businesses to look after their vulnerable in disabilities, and it should be enforced by the federal government if the NSW government will not take it up. CCTV cameras are put everywhere else in other business to protect those who work there and customers. Why should any more of our children be harmed in disability businesses, or die simply because paperwork is not done? At present, safety rules are not followed, supervisors are not supervising at all, and no one is physically following up and checking what each disability place is doing! They are left to their own devices. While other businesses are not allowed to do that according to Health and Safety law. We need this law applied in disabilities businesses.
Disability businesses should be visited to see how they are treating the disability people, and managers and workers should be questioned and checked for their adherence to the policies of health and safety. Enough is enough. No more harm no more death in disabilities – it has to stop now! Stand up and speak to your MPs about the need for proper health and safety laws – NDIS commission does not enforce anything. They happily sit behind their desks while our children are assaulted and neglected and die! This cannot continue! Parents and carers need to speak up wherever you can we must not remain silent. Our children and vulnerable adult children are at high risk wherever they are while there are no laws and regulations enforced in these disability ‘businesses’.
All the best
Anndrea x
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