1. Purpose
Uniting is committed to meeting its legal obligation to exercise reasonable care in all aspects of its work
with consumers, Uniting representatives and other stakeholders and at all levels of the organisation. The
purpose of this protocol is to set out how this commitment will be enacted at Uniting. This protocol
provides guidance as to what constitutes reasonable care, however consideration must be given to the
particular circumstances of each situation.
2. Protocol
Uniting is committed to providing an environment where care, protection, safety and wellbeing are
paramount and will ensure that all actions comply with current legislation. Uniting accepts that a duty of
care legally involves anticipating and avoiding reasonably foreseeable harm. This means that all reasonably
practical measures must be taken to control risks and minimise potential incident or injury. Risks include
both identified and anticipated problems associated with service providers, consumers and service users,
standards of practice and risk management measures.
Uniting will create and maintain a secure environment, which means open communication, active
participation, clear boundaries, managing complaints or disclosure, accurate documentation and notifying
appropriate authorities.
This commitment will be enacted by Uniting representatives, by:
• Accepting the standards outlined in the Uniting Code of Conduct
• Modelling and promoting the Uniting values
• Working in accordance with lawful contractual instructions
• Undertaking all duties and adhering to principles as outlined in position descriptions; ensuring
knowledge and skills are kept up to date in line with best practice
• Accepting a duty of care for their own health and safety as well as for the health and safety of
others within the workplace
• Taking reasonable care to avoid causing harm to another person to whom they have a
responsibility
• Having a duty of care to any person reasonably likely to be affected by their activities, including
other Uniting representatives, consumers and their families
• Taking reasonable care in the course of their work and not acting in a way that is careless or
negligent
• Anticipating foreseeable risks to others and managing to prevent others experiencing injury or
harm
• Identifying risks in consultation with supervisors and managers
• Reviewing any breach of duty of care in line with Uniting’s risk management process
A duty of care is breached if a person:
• Fails to do something that a reasonable person in that position would do in the same circumstances
• Acts or fails to act in a way that causes harm to someone to whom the person owed a duty of care,
including harm that is physical, emotional, psychological or financial.
3. Definitions
Breach: Breach of a duty of care occurs if a person acts unreasonably or fails to act
where action could be reasonably expected, and harm is caused to a
person
Duty of Care: Duty of care is an obligation of a person to take reasonable care to avoid
injury to another person to whom they have responsibility
Harm: Includes physical injury, nervous or emotional injury and financial loss
Reasonable Care: The degree of caution and concern for the safety of himself/herself and
others that an ordinarily prudent and rational person would use in the
circumstances
Risk: A situation exposing an individual to danger, harm or loss
Uniting Representatives: Employees, contractors, agency employees, volunteers, carers and those
associated with Uniting
4. Related Policy, Instructions and Advice
Code of Conduct
Organisational Governance Policy
Quality and Compliance Policy
Privacy Policy
Please refer to Uniting’s intranet for the most updated version of this policy.