WORKERS AT SUPPORT FOUNDATION & THEIR MANDATORY TRAINING

Under the NDIS Commission, a worker is anyone who is employed or otherwise engaged to provide NDIS supports and services to people with disability. Workers can be paid or unpaid, and can be people who are self-employed, employees, contractors, consultants, and volunteers. At Support Foundation we engage all type of workers including paid or unpaid, self-employed, employees, contractors, consultants, volunteers and placements from college and university to work with people with disability. With all our workers, we make sure everyone maintains their mandatory checks and quality indicators to meet the requirements set by NDIS commission. Some of the indicators are:

Mandatory Worker Training Modules:

The NDIS Commission has a range of resources available that are designed to support NDIS workers to understand their obligations under the NDIS Code of Conduct and to better support people with disability.

NDIS Commission’s Worker Orientation Module – Quality, Safety and You is a free eLearning module that explains the obligations of workers under the NDIS Code of Conduct – from the perspective of NDIS participants. All registered NDIS providers under the NDIS Commission should include the module within their induction process for workers and encourage existing workers to undertake the module over time, as part of their ongoing learning and to support compliance with the NDIS Code of Conduct. We at SF have implemented this as a mandatory training for all the workers.

Mandatory Workers Screening:

All states and territories have now commenced implementing NDIS Worker Screening Check arrangements.  If you are a worker delivering NDIS supports and services, you may need to have a NDIS worker screening clearance. A condition of provider registration is to fulfil worker screening requirements and ensure all workers have been screened.

The NDIS Worker Screening Check is an assessment of whether a person who works, or seeks to work, with people with disability poses a risk to them. The assessment determines whether a person is cleared or excluded from working in certain roles with people with disability. The NDIS Worker Screening Check is conducted by the Worker Screening Unit in the state or territory where a person applies for it. The Worker Screening Unit also decides whether a person is cleared or excluded. Registered NDIS providers are required to ensure that they only engage workers who have been cleared in certain roles, called risk assessed roles. Hence, as a registered NDIS provider, SF had made it mandatory for all its worker to obtain workers screening to work with people living with disabilities.

NDIS Code of Conduct:

The Code of Conduct requires workers and providers who deliver NDIS supports to:

• act with respect for individual rights to freedom of expression, self-determination, and decision-making in accordance with relevant laws and conventions
• respect the privacy of people with disability
• provide supports and services in a safe and competent manner with care and skill
• act with integrity, honesty, and transparency
• promptly take steps to raise and act on concerns about matters that might have an impact on the quality and safety of supports provided to people with disability
• take all reasonable steps to prevent and respond to all forms of violence, exploitation, neglect, and abuse of people with disability
• take all reasonable steps to prevent and respond to sexual misconduct.

There are guidelines available to help both NDIS providers and workers understand their obligations under the NDIS Code of Conduct. We at SF make sure that all our workers understand the NDIS code of conduct during their induction.