This policy sets out the guiding principles to ensure the highest level of health and safety for staff, students and visitors.
This policy applies to all College staff and students.
- The College is committed to ensuring the highest level of health and safety of staff, students and other persons within its premises. This includes workplace physical safety as well as anti-discrimination, harassment and bullying.
- The College will provide a workplace that is, as far as reasonably practicable: safe and healthy for staff, students, and visitors; and, without risk to the environment, in compliance with relevant OH&S legislation, national standards and codes of practice.
- Occupational health and safety is both an individual and shared responsibility. The success of the Occupational Health and Safety Policy and programs depends on the commitment and co-operation of all members of the College community. Staff, students, visitors and contractors are required to co-operate and actively contribute to the health and safety of themselves and others within the workplace.
- The College will promote ongoing education and training programs to encourage all staff to integrate occupational health and safety into their work areas and role.
- All persons shall co-operate to ensure knowledge and implementation of occupational health and safety principles. The existence and effective functioning of an occupational health and safety Committee will ensure consensus on occupational health and safety issues.
- The College will integrate continuous improvement into its occupational health and safety performance and auditing of occupational health and safety systems compliance will be an ongoing activity.
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The College shall not condone the unfair treatment of a person or group of persons on the basis of prejudice. The College acknowledges that any behaviour which fails to treat people equally because of bias based upon individual characteristics such as race, religion, sex, gender, national origin, sexual orientation and disability is unfair treatment and as such is discrimination. The College shall not condone denial of access to benefits such as education and employment on the basis of unequal consideration of a person's merit or other meaningful criteria. The College shall not condone any behaviour which abuses, smears, defames, hurts or offends another person, regardless of whether the behaviour was intentional or unintentional. The College shall strive at all times to create an environment which promotes and assists the elements of equal opportunity.
Eastern College Australia is a multi-denominational Christian Higher Education Provider which aims to equip God’s people to be
agents of transformation in the world by providing quality Christian education which is Christ-empowered, biblically based, ministry-oriented, academically sound, positively expressed and spiritually empowered. Therefore, the College shall apply entry or admittance requirements to all aspects of College involvement which are in agreement with established Christian principles. Notwithstanding, the College reserves the right to waive any or all of the entry or admittance requirements to the College when it is satisfied that the ability, experience and spiritual standing of an applicant for employment or study are sufficient to give the applicant a good chance of integrating harmoniously into the College milieu and succeeding in his or her chosen undertaking. The College acknowledges the Commonwealth and State legislation designed to protect people from acts of discrimination, including disability discrimination.
Such legislation includes:-
Racial Discrimination Act 1975
Sex Discrimination Act 1984
Disability Discrimination Act 1992, including the Disability Standards in Education
Victorian Equal Opportunity Act 1995
Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act 1975
Racial Religious Tolerance Act 2001 - For College employees, the steps to follow when there is an issue and to whom a particular matter should be reported are outlined in the Complaints and Grievance Procedures with respect to Discrimination, Equal Opportunity, Racial Vilification and Affirmative Action policy on the College website in the Staff Policies and Procedures Manual.
- For students, the issues itemised above are regarded as non-academic matters. Therefore, students who wish to make a complaint or grievance about an issue of discrimination should follow the procedures indicated in the Complaints and Grievances: Non-Academic Policy which is published on the College website.
Racial Discrimination Act 1975
Sex Discrimination Act 1984
Disability Discrimination Act 1992, including the Disability Standards in Education
Victorian Equal Opportunity Act 1995
Commonwealth Racial Discriminiation Act 1975
Racial Religious Tolerance Act 2001