Baptcare Peninsula View Community Frankston South Aged care fined after coffee spill
A boiling beverage has cost a Frankston South aged care home thousands of dollars after a 100-year-old was burnt. Find out what went down after the coffee spill.
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A Frankston South aged care centre operator has been fined thousands of dollars after a 100-year-old resident suffered a hot coffee burn.
Baptcare Ltd was fined $20,000 after pleading guilty to one charge of failing to ensure people other than employees were not exposed to risks to their health and safety in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on October 31.
It comes after a subcontracted catering assistant went to the front desk for help instead of pressing the nearby emergency button when coffee was spilled on the resident’s leg at Baptcare Peninsula View Community home on January 11, 2018.
A WorkSafe spokesman said Baptcare failed to properly induct its subcontractors so they knew where to locate emergency buttons during an incident.
“There was a serious risk to the health and safety of residents as a result of delays in emergency assistance being provided because of the failure to ensure subcontractors were properly inducted,” the spokesman said.
WorkSafe health and safety executive director Julie Nielsen said subcontractors must receive the same level of induction as permanent staff members.
Ms Nielsen said the responsibility of the employer was to make sure all workers went through induction to understand workplace occupational health and safety requirements and how to report hazards or incidents.
“Employers have a duty of care to ensure that all staff are made aware of incident management procedures in high risk workplaces,” she said.
“No matter the workplace or the circumstances, delays in emergency procedures leave staff and others in the workplace at serious risk to their health and safety.”
The organisation was convicted and also ordered to pay more than $5600 in court costs.
brittany.goldsmith@news.com.au
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