Volunteer OHS Management

1. Engaging volunteers and assessing the task

When engaging volunteers, the principal or delegate must determine the type(s) of work to be undertaken by volunteers and whether the volunteers in question have the skills and competencies to undertake the tasks. The principal or delegate should consider whether the task is appropriate for a volunteer to undertake given the nature of the task, or whether it should be undertaken by trained school staff or paid contractors with relevant skills, training and experience.

The principal or their delegate must then identify hazards and assess the risks depending on what tasks the volunteers are undertaking. This must be done in consultation with the volunteers, school staff, who are or are likely to be affected, and health and safety representatives, where elected. Refer to the OHS Risk Planning and Management policy for further details on ways to assess risk including completing risk assessments where appropriate. Depending on the types of work undertaken, other policies may help to assess risk such as the Excursions policy or the Outdoor Activities and Working Outdoors policy.

The principal or delegate may need to repeat this process if the scope of works or services change or the skills and competencies of the volunteers change. Any risk assessments conducted during this process must be retained as per the Records Management policy.

Volunteer work can be divided up into volunteer work commonly undertaken and high-risk work.

1.1 Volunteer work commonly undertaken

Below are examples of common activities typically undertaken by volunteers in schools. They include but are not limited to:

• gardening/landscaping (that is, working bees)
• breakfast club or school canteens
• painting
• clean-up of grounds
• theatre performances or presentation days
• school fetes
• school administration
• assisting in a classroom
• school excursions
• school camps
• sporting coaching.

Some examples of hazards and risks associated with these tasks could include:

• environmental risks, where volunteers are off site, such as on an excursion or a camp
• handling of hazardous substances such as herbicide, where volunteers are doing gardening or maintenance tasks such as working bees
• volunteers working in classrooms where challenging behaviours may be present
• canteen facilities with older equipment or limited first aid kits
• poor food handling practices in canteens/breakfast clubs
• bringing non-tested or tagged electrical equipment onto site
• inappropriate behaviour from volunteers
• bringing pets on site
• natural hazards, such as insect bites
• using equipment such as lawn mowers and power tools
• task creep/completion of extra work not discussed with the principal or delegate.

1.2 High-risk work

Some schools might engage a volunteer to complete high-risk work specific to the volunteer’s usual profession. The principal or their delegate must verify that volunteers are competent to undertake these tasks and have received the required training or experience.

Examples of volunteers undertaking high-risk work could include, but are not limited to:

• using powered mobile plant, such as ride-on lawnmowers
• working at heights over 2 metres, such as to clean gutters
• landscaping and garden maintenance next to roads.

High-risk work (refer to the ‘related definitions’ section in the Policy tab) requires stringent controls to ensure the work is done by a competent, qualified individual. To support with identification of high-risk work and the specific requirements, principals or their delegate must also consider any other relevant policies when assigning these tasks. These include the Prevention of Falls When Working at Heights, Plant and Equipment Management, Hot Work, Confined Spaces and Asbestos Management policies. High-risk work requires the completion of Safe Work Method Statements by the volunteer, in consultation with the principal or their delegate, to prepare for the task – refer to the relevant policy for more information.

For any work that involves a school-owned item of restricted plant and equipment, the volunteer must be provided with any Safe Work Procedures associated with that item. Refer to the Plant and Equipment Management policy and procedure for further details and other requirements.