Gold Coast approved provider fined $13,500 in relation to 2022 serious incident

An approved provider from Queensland’s Gold Coast has been fined $13,500 plus $1,750 in legal costs in relation to a 2022 incident which saw two children leave the service through an open gate and wander to a busy road. 

 

The children, aged one year, nine months and two years, four months at the time of the incident walked along a footpath to a carpark area adjacent to a busy road, where they were observed by a member of the public and kept safe until staff from the service were made aware that the children were missing and intervened. 

 

At the time the children left the centre, via an emergency gate which had been left open by a tradesperson engaged by the centre, staff were unaware that they were missing, and the children were unattended for approximately six minutes. 

 

In hearing the case Magistrate Sarah Thompson said there had been clear breaches in supervision and that there was a systemic failure by staff to supervise children attending the service.

 

The approved provider pled guilty to contravening: 

 

(a) Section 165(1) of the National Law – failing to ensure that children were adequately supervised at all times; and; 

 

(b) Section 167(1) of the National Law – failing to ensure that every reasonable precaution was taken to protect children from harm or from any hazard likely to cause injury.

 

Since the incident took place the service has taken measures to prevent the likelihood of a recurrence, including through strengthening policies, and requiring staff to photograph different areas of potential harm and hazard and upload them to an app. 

 

Bronte Bezzina, prosecutor for the Queensland Department of Education, who act as the Regulatory Authority for the state, indicated that two employees had been given warnings in relation to the incident, for having failed to check the gate on the day the incident occurred. 

 

Were it not for the intervention of a bystander, she said, the risk to the children may have been far more serious. 

 

In response defence barrister Andrew O’Brien, acting on behalf of the approved provider, described the incident as an aberration, and noted the providers’ otherwise exemplary history. 

 

For further details of the incident, and subsequent advice for other providers from the Queensland Department of Education, please see here.