Introduction
Your role as a care worker in the community services, aged care and disability sectors is carried out within a legal and ethical framework.
This framework is set out in legislation, industry regulations and organisational policy. It is underpinned by society’s values and expectations.
In this unit you will gain an understanding of the legislation and common laws relevant to your work role, the importance of following workplace policy and practices, what it means to work ethically and how to recognise and respond to situations where client rights and interested are being infringed upon.
In Australia, the legal system provides a framework inside which the different sections of the community interact. The system identifies the rights and privileges of the individual, providing a way of enforcing those rights and a way of seeking rectification should individual’s rights be deprived.
The laws and regulations you encounter in your industry influence your day to day work. They also guide the establishment of policies and procedures which define limits within your job role.
An employer is legally responsible for the actions taken by the organisation’s staff members. Employers should take care to ensure their staff are aware of their duties and obligations when working for them and that the workplace meets industry standards.
However, the legal liability of an employer does not relieve a care worker from individual responsibility and legal action can be brought against a care worker if they offend.
What is legislation?
Legislation is the act of making or enacting laws. When people talk about ‘the legislation’, they mean a law or a body of laws. For example, ‘The workplace health and safety legislation’ in a State or Territory is all the laws enacted specifically to ensure safe workplaces. A piece of legislation is recognisable by the use of the word “Act”.
Some example Acts and their purpose
What are regulations?
Regulations are the way that the legislation is applied. They are generally very specific in nature and are also referred to as ‘rules’ or ‘administrative law’. For example, if the legislation says, ‘security guards must be licensed’, the regulations will specify what you must do to get a licence, who you must apply to, how much you will pay for the licence, under what circumstances your licence can be taken away and so on.
Examples of regulations and their purpose
What are Industry Standards?
The Aged Care and Disability service providers are governed not only by acts of law and regulations, but also the relevant industry standards.
Aged care providers must be accredited under the Accreditation to receive public subsidies. The standards cover such things as: management, care, lifestyle, quality, and safety issues. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission is responsible for accrediting aged care facilities and monitoring them against the standards. Homes are visited by accreditation assessors who not only talk to staff, but also to residents and their families about the home and how it meets the required Standards.
The Agency website www.agedcarequality.gov.au contains information about the Accreditation Standards and the Accreditation process.
There are eight standards, and each one is about an aspect of care that contributes to client safety, health, and wellbeing.
Other standards, including National standards for Mental Health Services (NSMHS), can be found on The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards website: http://www.achs.org.au