Problem
Case Study 1
Sue is a new employee in an aged care facility. On her first shift she is required to move a resident using lifting equipment which she is not familiar with. The workload is heavy with manual handling tasks and Sue is concerned about injury to herself or the resident. John is her "buddy" and is able to explain step by step the correct use of equipment during the task. Sue feels confident to ask questions and demonstrates to John what she has learnt from his instructions.
Part I:
Read case study 5 and then complete the tasks that follow.
• How can you as a support worker contribute to the development and implementation of safe workplace policies and procedures in own work area?
• Identify the issues in the case study.
• How could a buddy system encourage the development of the staff members WHS competency?
• What are the indicators in the case study that shows camila is not coping well with the situation?
Part II:
• What strategies can you use to maintain currency of safe work practices in regards to workplace systems, equipment and processes in own work role as support worker?
Case Study 2
Camilla has been working at the community services centre for seven years. She has young children, and a partner who also works long hours. Because there is a shortage of staff she has been unable to take leave owed to her for some time. Camilla always feels tired, and feels she is increasingly forgetful. She stays calm at work, but often gets irritable as soon as she walks into the house in the evenings.
In the last two months she has been sleeping poorly. For the last four years her mother-in-law has been unwell and has needed more support such as transport and shopping. This seems to take up more and more of the weekends and evenings. All this has put considerable strain on Camilla's relationship with her partner.
Read case study 6 and provide a response to the question below.
Part I:
• What support services are available to Camila to help her deal with the stress at work? Who can she talk to?
Part II
• List at least 2 rights and 2 responsibilities of workers and client when working in home based environment.
Rights Responsibilities
Worker
Client
Part III
• What is workplace debriefing? How can it benefit aged care workers?