Child care centres have a high risk environment for educators as their work involves several types of physical and psychological tasks. Therefore, members should clearly define their job roles to avoid injuries and any future claims.

The LGIS child care job dictionary is an excellent tool to support members in making sure that managers and staff understand their role and risks involved.

36% (50) of LGIS members deliver child care services to their community. Of these 37 centres are local government owned and operated while 20 of them are owned by members but outsourced.

We know that early childhood and outside school hours care services are often high risk environments, and therefore, thoughtful and careful planning is required to ensure that the work environment is safe for everyone including employees, families and visitors.

It is important to understand that responsibility for workplace health and safety is shared by both employers and employees.

• Employers must provide and maintain a safe work environment and have effective policies and procedures in place to manage health and safety risks.
• Employees must ensure their own health and safety, and that of colleagues, families and all other visitors to the workplace. They must know and follow all health and safety policies and procedures at all times.

LGIS job dictionaries

A Job dictionary is a valuable tool for local governments as it provides an understanding of the specific job tasks and inherent requirements of a job role.

They can be used throughout an employee's lifecycle.

• During the pre-employment process when looking to determine the appropriateness of a candidate against the inherent requirements of the role.
• While tailoring of injury prevention programs to the physical and psychological requirements and demands of the role
• When identifying suitable duties in establishing a return to work program for injured workers.

The LGIS job dictionary includes a breakdown of each job role outlining the physical demands (such as lifting, pushing, pulling, and walking), the postural demands (such as height of bending, reaching) and the frequency of these demands.

Psychological risk is also identified using an assessment tool outlining cognitive demands, emotional demands, and the organisational demands. The job dictionary report will highlight the exposure to physical and psychological risks inherent to the job role.

Each job role is presented with a summary cover sheet, musculoskeletal risk matrix, psychological demands matrix, and manual task images.

Take a look at the job dictionaries here.  (You need a member login to access this dictionary)

Refer to our LGIS job dictionary user manual here.

For more information on our other job dictionaries, please contact our WorkCare services manager, James Larkin on 0419 355 943, or email health@lgiswa.com.au