Malmsbury Youth Justice Workers to stop work if staff don’t increase

A WorkSafe report details the critical errors that led to the savage ambush of a Central Victorian youth prison worker as staff demand better conditions.

Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre staff walk out in 2019. Picture:Rob Leeson.

Youth prison workers are prepared to walk out of the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre amid violent attacks and poor working conditions.

The Community and Public Sector Union said workers at the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre were considering stopping work if the Justice Department does not increase staff.

It comes a month after a 27-year-old man was brutally attacked by a boy in the secure Deakin unit at the Central Victorian centre.

A WorkSafe report, obtained by the Herald Sun, detailed the Monday July 19 ambush and recommended three-to-one minimum staffing ratios in the Deakin Unit.

The report found despite two risk assessments made each day, the centre did not have an official policy against workers being left alone with a group of inmates.

The inspector’s report said while workers were encouraged to avoid it, there was “no specific policy or procedure at the workplace instructing employees not to work alone with up to nine young people”.

It said on the date of the assault, there were six employees assigned to manage the nine inmates.

But five workers left the secure unit’s recreation room, leaving the 27-year-old victim by himself with the teenagers.

The report said CCTV captured the worker playing solitaire while watching a group of four young people, who were playing video games.

The WorkSafe report said one other employee was briefly in the room, but they left meaning there were no staff witnesses to the assault.

CCTV footage showed the video gamers talking before one boy left the group.

He spoke to another person in the doorway before chatting with the lone worker.

The report said the video gamers were watching the boy with the supervisor, before the teenager “violently assault(ed)” the seated man.

Ambulance Victoria said the man suffered serious head and facial injuries and was taken to hospital.

It’s understood the 27-year-old was stomped and beaten more than 20 times by the teenager, and required a titanium plate inserted into his face.

The WorkSafe report said the supervisor had been working at the centre for two to three years, and had been trained in situational awareness, and trigger behaviour identification.

Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre.Picture:Rob Leeson.

A WorkSafe Inspector interim direction said there should be a minimum ratio of three inmates to one employee in the Deakin Unit.

It said the changes must be fixed by October 21.

The union representatives said many of the workers were suffering “vicarious trauma” following the savage assault.

“It’s pretty distressing,” he said.

“It undermines the confidence of the workforce,.”

The spokesman said workers were worried about their safety, while violence between inmates was becoming “almost a daily occurrence, unfortunately”.

The spokesman said the rising tensions in the centres were a “chicken and egg” problem.

He said every time there was an assault, it triggered a lockdown, increasing the inmates’ frustrations.

“The circle that we need to break,” he said.

He said workers were waiting to see if the department would increase staff numbers to recommended levels.

“Cease work is not going to be on the table unless there’s further assaults, or if the department fails to comply with the WorkSafe recommendations,” he said.

The union said the worker had the right to remove themselves from danger under the Health and Safety Act.

He said this action would trigger further WorkSafe inspections.

In 2019, Malmsbury workers walked off the job after a succession of assaults on workers forcing the centre into lockdown.

WorkSafe data reported more than 40 WorkSafe claims in the youth justice sector this year.

Half of the claims ranged from abuse, threats and assaults, verbal abuse, spitting, swearing, demeaning language to gendered violence and physical assault.

Last year there were 100 claims to WorkSafe.

The Department of Justice and Community Safety has started a reset across all units at Malmsbury this month, while a new occupational safety training package was being rolled out at Malmsbury and Parkville Youth Justice centres to assist in the prevention and management of incidents.

A Department spokeswoman said safety of the staff, young people and the community was their highest priority.

“Violent behaviour or assaults at youth justice centres are absolutely unacceptable and we have a zero-tolerance approach,” she said.

“All violent incidents are reported to Victoria Police.”

“To support a safer system we have already introduced dynamic risk assessments, additional behaviour support specialists, targeted behavioural programs and an Intensive Intervention Unit for the most high-risk young people in custody.”

The spokeswoman said the department had boosted staff numbers over the past two years, with an additional 75 full-time equivalent front line youth justice staff.

“These changes are making a difference,” she said.

She said the number of serious incidents in Youth Justice facilities has decreased over the past three years, including a 42 per cent reduction in Category One incidents from 2018-19 to 2020-21.