Sector Update 

Child found shut in a shed

The Learning

Inadequate supervision incidents continue to occur in education and care services. Sector Updates and other publications from the Education and Care Regulatory Unit (ECRU) seek to share information about important issues in relation to education and care services. Maintaining adequate, flexible supervision is critical to ensure children don’t gain unnoticed access to places where they could get overheated or injured. In this instance, the child was accidentally shut inside a metal shed for approximately 10-15 minutes when the temperature on the day was 30 degrees. This could have easily resulted in serious injury. Educators need to be aware of how carrying out cleaning tasks or packing away equipment can impact on active supervision practices. Services are encouraged to think it through when developing rosters for everyday tasks such as cleaning, packing away and writing up observations.

The Incident

An investigation by the Department of Communities found that on 7 March 2023 a two-year-old child was accidentally shut inside a shed at MercyCare Early Learning Service Heathridge.  

An educator at the service had initially packed away outdoor play equipment and shut the shed with a slide latch. The same educator reopened the shed to pack away more toys and did not notice the child had entered the shed prior to latching it shut. The educator had not conducted a search of the shed before the door was closed and secured it with a slide latch.

The educators at the service only noticed the child was missing when an older sibling stopped at the fence on their way home and the child could not be seen. A search was then conducted of the service and the child was found lying on a piece of wood on the floor of the shed. The child was visibly sweating and drank a large amount of water after being found.

The Penalty

Mercy Community Services Limited has been ordered to pay $15,000.00 by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) for contravening section 165(1) of the Education and Care Services National Law (WA) Act 2012 for an offence relating to the inadequate supervision of a child.

Mercy Community Services Limited was also ordered to pay a further $2,000.00 towards the Department of Communities’ legal costs.

More information on the SAT order is available on the eCourts website.