Service provider Kids Active Pty Ltd, trading as Kids Active Southern River, was ordered to pay $26,000 and $1,000 costs by the SAT for contravention of section 165(1) of the Education and Care Services National Law (Western Australia) following an incident in September of last year.
A Department of Communities investigation found that at around 1:30pm on 30 September 2021 a group of children returned by bus from an excursion to the Perth Museum. Staff members did not check the bus after the children had alighted.
Following the children entering the service premises, a head count was conducted. Despite a discrepancy in the number of children present, it was not recognised at that point that a child was unaccounted for.
The next head count and roll call was conducted at about 3.35pm, and it was at this time that staff noticed that a child was unaccounted for.
Following a search of the service premises, the five-year-old boy was located in the locked bus at about 3.45pm. He had been in the bus for approximately two hours and fifteen minutes.
The temperature on the day was around 18°C and the child was found upset, hot and sweaty.
Quotes from Damien Stewart, Acting Deputy Director General, Department of Communities:
“This is the eleventh time in the past six years where the Department has sought disciplinary action in SAT against services where children have been left on buses.
“To receive a report of child being left in a locked bus for over two hours is quite confronting, even for our experienced investigators, as we have seen in other states it can have tragic consequences.
“The Department of Communities suspended the service due to unsafe practices. The Provider was required to implement a number of changes to its practices prior to the suspension being lifted.
“Best practice should see a minimum of two staff attend a vehicle when children are disembarking, one to supervise the children off the bus and the second person to undertake a physical check of the vehicle interior.
“In this case, numerous mistakes were made, from the moment the bus returned to the service from the excursion. Firstly, staff members failed to check the bus and subsequently, opportunities to identify that a child was missing weren’t taken.
“Like all approved services, the provider had transportation policies, procedures and risk assessment in place. However, they were inadequate and limited training in those policies and procedures had been provided to staff.
“In addition to this, the provider did not have any monitoring systems in place to ensure that staff followed those policies and procedures.”
Media contact: Steve Worner 0418 918 299.
