Access and Equity Policy

Access and Equity Policy

RELEVANT STANDARD(S): Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015 Standards 1, 4, 5, and 8

SCOPE

Sydney Rescue Consultants is committed to providing equal opportunity for all staff and students by promoting inclusive practices and integrating the principles of access and equity into its policies and procedures.

This policy is the basis for providing and maintaining training and support services that reflect fair and reasonable opportunity, as well as consideration for all students and staff regardless of characteristics such as race, colour, religion, gender, age or physical disability, regardless of the prevailing community values. In addition, all staff and contractors employed or engaged by Sydney Rescue Consultants are obliged to comply with this policy.

The “Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015” defines access and equity as:

…“policies and approaches aimed at ensuring that VET is responsive to the individual needs of clients whose age, gender, cultural or ethnic background, disability, sexuality, language skills, literacy or numeracy level, unemployment, imprisonment or remote location may present a barrier to access, participation and the achievement of suitable outcomes.”

This Access and Equity Policy meets the requirements of the VET Quality Framework.

Educational and support services mayinclude, but are not limited to, equipment, resources and/or programs to increase access for learners with disabilities and other learners in accordance with the access and equity policy.

POLICY PRINCIPLES

The Human Resource manager and personnel of Sydney Rescue Consultants will ensure that the staff and student recruitment and admission processes are bias-free and non-discriminatory.

To ensure that the learning environment is free from harassment, discrimination and victimisation, all staff will act in accordance with Sydney Rescue Consultants’s Staff Handbook and all students will be made aware of their rights and responsibilities in this regard in the Student Handbook.

Equal Opportunity Employment

              Sydney Rescue Consultants is an equal opportunity employer, and does not discriminate against, or favour target groups in either recruiting or training. Target Groups are defined as:

  1. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders;
  1. People with disabilities;
  1. People from non-English speaking backgrounds;
  1. People in transition and other special groups (i.e. people re-entering the workforce, long term unemployed, sole parents, people with literacy problems, and those who have been institutionalised);
  1. Women; and
  1. People from regionally isolated communities.

Rules in Support of Access and Equity

              Sydney Rescue Consultants will apply easily defined and tangible rules in support of access and equity, namely:

  1. All staff are to be given fair and reasonable opportunities to participate in relevant decision making processes and the allocation of resources and services as required to fulfil their duties and responsibilities.
  1. All students are to be given fair and reasonable opportunities to attend and complete training.
  1. All perceived deficiencies in the Access and Equity Policy are to be documented in the annual Access and Equity Review (conducted every calendar year).  Deficiencies are to be investigated to determine whether a problem or policy discrepancy exists, and if so, the impact of that deficiency, how the policy should be amended to eliminate the deficiency and whether the suggested amendment is consistent with a ‘best practice strategy’.

Resources Available

  1. Training Information Centre
  1. Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
  1. Work Health and Safety
  1. WA Equal Opportunity Commission
  1. Department of Education, Employment, and Workplace Relations
  1. National Centre for Vocational Education Research
  1. Job Network Information Line
  1. Department of Immigration

VET Quality Framework

              The National VET Quality Framework has laws that govern Vocational Education additional Training. The VET Quality Framework comprises:

  1. Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015 (Standards)
  1. the Fit and Proper Person Requirements (Schedule 3 of Standards)
  1. the Financial Viability Risk Assessment Requirements 
  1. the Data Provision Requirements, and
  1. the Australian Qualifications Framework.

In addition to the VET Quality Framework, there are also the Standards for VET Accredited Courses.  The Standards for VET Accredited Courses apply to all courses regulated by ASQA, including those courses that were accredited by referring state and territory course accreditation bodies prior to the introduction of the new national arrangements.

              Sydney Rescue Consultants also utilises information and processes relevant to Vocational Education and Training (VET) legislation: http://www.ivet.com.au/a/73.html.

Equal opportunity legislation

            There are laws to protect those involved in the training system. This legislation makes discrimination and harassment in the provision of education, employment and the provision of goods and services unlawful. Examples of equal opportunity legislation are the following:

  1. Racial Discrimination Act 1975
  2. Sex Discrimination Act 1984
  3. Disability Discrimination Act 1992
  4. Age Discrimination Act 2004
  5. Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986  
  6. Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012
  7. Fair Work Act 2009

In Queensland, equal opportunity is controlled by the following legislation:

  1. Anti-Discrimination Act 1991
  2. Disability Services Act 2006

In New South Wales, equal opportunity is controlled by the following legislation:

  1. Anti-Discrimination Act 1977
  2. Disability Services Act 1993

In South Australia, equal opportunity is controlled by the following legislation:

  1. Equal Opportunity Act 1984
  1. Disability Services Act 1993

In Victoria, equal opportunity is controlled by the following legislation:

  1. Equal Opportunity Act 2010

In Western Australia, Equal Opportunity is controlled by the following legislation:

  1. Equal Opportunity Act 1984

              Details concerning the scope of Sydney Rescue Consultants’s Access and Equity Policy are to be clearly displayed throughout the Sydney Rescue Consultants’s staff handbook and contained within the Sydney Rescue Consultants’s Code of Practice.

              Access to a safe work/training environment is a high priority for Sydney Rescue Consultants.  All training rooms and environments are to be audited annually for safety related issues.  Any issues highlighted will be documented in the Classroom Hazard Register, and are to be minimised or rectified in accordance with relevant WHS legislation.

Annex A: Work Health and Safety

The Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act and the Work Health and Safety (WHS) Regulations came into effect on 1 January 2012.

Safe Work Website includes 11 model Codes of Practice:

  1. How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks
  2. Hazardous Manual Tasks 
  3. Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces 
  4. Labelling of Workplace Hazardous Chemicals 
  5. Preparation of Safety Data Sheets for Hazardous Chemical 
  6. Confined Spaces 
  7. Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work 
  8. Managing the Work Environment and Facilities 
  9. Work Health and Safety Consultation Cooperation and Coordination 
  10. How to Safely Remove Asbestos 
  11. How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace

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