General Assistants: Why it is important to report incidents
The PSA would like to remind all General Assistants (GA) about the importance of reporting incidents.
An incident is an event that creates danger or risk that could significantly affect the health, safety and wellbeing of individuals and cause major disruption, and impact on the effective operation of workplaces. These may include but not be limited to; spitting, hitting, kicking and near misses.
All staff have an obligation to report incidents. In fact, the Department requires employees to report them as soon as possible.
It is also imperative that psychological incidents are reported as they can have a detrimental effect on your wellbeing.
No incident or injury is too small to report.
If there is no action taken by the Department of Education Work Health and Safety Directorate and you still feel there are safety issues, then GA members can contact the PSA for advice and support.
Incident Report and Support Hotline details
Phone 1800 811 523
Hours Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm
Working alone
GAs often work alone at school during vacation periods. Over the years, accidents have occurred and the PSA pushed strongly for the Department to implement procedures to ensure the safety of all school staff working in isolation or alone during school vacations.
Before the commencement of every school holiday the principal or supervisor should be discussing what tasks the GA will be doing over the holidays.
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