Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy

1. Purpose

Brizzy Jumping Castles hires out jumping castles, inflatables and party equipment. Our equipment is designed for children, and our work takes us to schools, early childhood services, community events and private homes where children are present. Children are therefore at the centre of what we do, and their safety is our first responsibility.

This policy sets out how Eetlust Pty Ltd, trading as Brizzy Jumping Castles, protects children and young people from harm. It states what we commit to, what we require of every person who works for us, and what must happen when a concern is raised.

The policy is written to meet the Queensland Child Safe Standards and the Universal Principle for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children under the Child Safe Organisations Act 2024 (Qld), and to satisfy the child protection expectations of the schools, dioceses and education bodies we supply.

2. Scope

This policy applies to every person engaged by the business in any capacity, referred to throughout as a worker:

• The director and any executive officer of Eetlust Pty Ltd
• Permanent, part-time, casual and school-aged employees
• Independent contractors, subcontractors, labour hire crew and any person driving or crewing on our behalf
• Volunteers, work experience students and trainees

It applies at every location where we work, including schools, out of school hours care and early childhood services, church and parish sites, community and council events, sporting clubs, shopping centres, private residences and our own depot. It applies during delivery, installation, supervision, pack-down, maintenance and all customer contact before and after a hire.

Every worker is given a copy of this policy at induction and must sign the acknowledgement at Annex A before attending any site. Compliance is a condition of engagement.

3. Definitions

4. Legislative and regulatory framework

This policy is made under and read with:

• Child Safe Organisations Act 2024 (Qld): the ten Queensland Child Safe Standards and the Universal Principle
• Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) Act 2000 (Qld): the blue card system
• Child Protection Act 1999 (Qld)
• Criminal Code Act 1899 (Qld), sections 229BB and 229BC: failure to report and failure to protect a child from a sexual offence
• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) and the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) where we handle information for an education body
• AS 3533 series: Amusement rides and devices, as it applies to inflatable devices

Where a site we attend has its own child protection policy, code of conduct or visitor procedure, that document applies to our workers in addition to this policy. Where the two differ, our workers follow the stricter requirement.

5. Our commitment

Brizzy Jumping Castles is committed to the safety, wellbeing, participation and empowerment of all children. We have zero tolerance for child abuse and harm of any kind. Every allegation and every concern is taken seriously and acted on.

We commit to listening to children, believing them, and acting on what they tell us. We commit to being a place where a child, a parent, a teacher or a worker can raise a concern and know that it will be handled properly.

Our public statement of this commitment is issued as POL-052 Statement of Commitment to Child Safety. It is published on our website, displayed at our depot, and provided with our supplier documentation.

6. How we meet the Queensland Child Safe Standards

The ten Child Safe Standards, and the Universal Principle for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, are embedded across this policy and our operations as follows.

7. Roles and responsibilities

7.1 Director and Child Safety Officer

The Director, Jason Weier, is accountable for child safety across the business and is the nominated Child Safety Officer. The Director is responsible for:

• Approving, maintaining and reviewing this policy and the related child safety documents
• Verifying that every worker holds the screening required for their role before they attend a site
• Maintaining the employee register required under the blue card system
• Receiving, recording and acting on all complaints, concerns and disclosures
• Making reports to the Queensland Police Service, the Department responsible for child safety, Blue Card Services and the relevant school or education body
• Ensuring workers are trained, inducted and supported

Contact: Jason Weier, Director, 1300 310 820, jason@brisbanejumpingcastles.com

7.2 All workers

Every worker must:

• Comply with this policy and the Code of Conduct at Annex A at all times
• Hold and maintain the screening required for their role, and immediately tell the Director of any change to their police information or card status
• Report any concern, disclosure, suspicion or observed breach immediately, without deciding first whether it is serious enough
• Follow the directions of school and site staff on their site
• Never investigate a concern themselves, question a child about a disclosure, or discuss it with anyone other than the Director and the relevant authority

7.3 Customers and site controllers

For every inflatable hire, a competently trained supervisor must be present and actively supervising for the full duration of the hire. Where the customer accepts that responsibility, it is recorded in the Hire Agreement and Liability Waiver and confirmed at delivery. Where a Brizzy supervisor is engaged, that person is a worker for the purposes of this policy and must hold a current blue card.

8. Recruitment, screening and blue cards

8.1 Screening before engagement

Every prospective worker is screened before engagement. Screening comprises identity verification, a review of work history, at least one referee check that expressly asks about suitability to work around children, and a blue card check where required for the role. Suitability to work around children is a criterion in every position description and every interview.

8.2 Blue card requirements

Blue Card Services lists "jumping castles or rides directed mainly towards children" as a regulated business under the Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) Act 2000 (Qld). The following rules apply.

8.3 Linking, register and notifications

The business is registered with Blue Card Services and links every applicant and cardholder to the organisation before they start child-related work. The Director maintains the employee register required by the Act, recording for each worker their name, date of birth, whether a card is required, and where a card is required the application status, card number and expiry date. Where a card is not required, the register records the basis. Cards are verified on engagement, on renewal and at least annually.

The Director notifies Blue Card Services within seven days of any change to business details, any change to a disclosable matter, or the business ceasing or starting a regulated business.

8.4 Changes in a worker's status

A worker must immediately tell the Director if their blue card is suspended or cancelled, if they are issued a negative notice, if they are charged with or convicted of an offence, or if they become a restricted person. Where a card ceases to be current, the worker is stood down from all child-related work immediately, and the matter is reported to Blue Card Services and to any school or education body the worker has attended.

9. Code of conduct

The Child Safe Code of Conduct at Annex A sets the behaviour required of every worker around children. It forms part of this policy. Every worker signs it at induction and re-signs it at each annual refresher. A breach is managed under section 15.

10. Training and induction

Every worker completes a child safety induction before their first attendance at any site. The induction covers this policy, the Code of Conduct, the complaints and reporting process under Child Safety Complaints and Concerns Policy, the risks and controls in Child and Youth Risk Management Plan, recognising indicators of harm, responding to a disclosure, cultural safety, and the specific rules for school and early childhood sites in section 12.

Refresher training is completed annually and whenever this policy is materially revised. Attendance, date and content are recorded in the training register. Workers who have not completed current training are not rostered to school sites.

11. Responding to harm, disclosures and concerns

This section states what a worker does. The full process, timeframes and external reporting obligations are in POL-051 Child Safety Complaints and Concerns Policy.

11.1 If a child is in immediate danger

Call 000. Take reasonable steps to keep the child safe. Then notify the Director and, if on a school or education site, the site's principal or nominated child protection contact.

11.2 If a child discloses harm

1. Listen. Stay calm. Let the child say what they want to say in their own words.
2. Believe them and tell them they were right to speak up.
3. Do not ask leading or investigative questions, and do not press for detail.
4. Do not promise to keep it secret. Tell the child, honestly and gently, that you have to tell someone whose job it is to help.
5. Make sure the child is safe and not left alone with the person the concern is about.
6. As soon as practicable, and the same day, write down what was said in the child's own words, with the date, time, place and who was present. Do not add your own interpretation.
7. Report to the Director immediately. If the concern is about the Director, report directly to the Queensland Police Service and, on a school site, to the principal or the education body.

11.3 External reporting

The Director reports to the appropriate authority. Reporting to police or the child protection authority is not optional and does not wait for the business to form its own view of whether the allegation is true. Where the concern arises at a school or education site, the site and the relevant education body are notified in parallel. Contact details are listed in Child Safety Complaints and Concerns Policy.

Under sections 229BB and 229BC of the Criminal Code, an adult who gains information causing a reasonable belief that a child sexual offence is being or has been committed must report it to police, and a person in a position of authority must not fail to protect a child from that risk. These duties fall on the individual worker as well as on the business.

12. Working on school, early childhood and church sites

The following rules apply on every education, care or church site, in addition to any requirement of the site itself.

• Report to the office on arrival, sign in, and wear the visitor identification issued by the site. Sign out on departure.
• Wear Brizzy Jumping Castles uniform or identification at all times so that any adult on site can identify who you are and why you are there.
• Remain in the areas you are directed to. Do not move through the school beyond the route to your work area.
• Never be alone with a student. If a student approaches you while you are alone, move to where you are visible to another adult and direct the student to a staff member.
• Never enter student toilets, change rooms or sick bays. If a child needs assistance of that kind, find a staff member.
• Do not give a child a lift, take a child anywhere, or transport a child in a company vehicle under any circumstances.
• Do not give gifts, food, drink or money to a child, and do not offer a child work or a private arrangement.
• Do not exchange phone numbers, social media contact or any private contact details with a student.
• Maintain an exclusion zone around vehicles, blowers, leads, pegs and equipment during set-up and pack-down, and do not commission an inflatable until it is safe and a supervisor is present.
• Follow every direction given by school staff, including directions to stop work or move.
• Report any child safety concern to the school's principal or nominated contact and to the Director the same day.

13. Photography, images and social media

Photographs of our equipment are important to the business, and children in those photographs are not. The following rules apply without exception.

• No worker photographs or films a child on a school, early childhood or church site, for any purpose, unless the site has given prior written permission and the required parental consents are held by the site.
• At all other sites, no image of an identifiable child is captured or used without the prior written consent of a parent or guardian.
• Images are taken on business devices only, never on a personal phone, and never stored on a personal device or personal account.
• No image of a child is posted to our website, social media or marketing without a recorded consent, and any consent may be withdrawn at any time, on which the image is removed.
• No image is captioned or tagged with a child's name, school or location.
• Workers do not contact, follow, friend or message a child or a student on any personal account.

Marketing photography of equipment is taken before the hire begins or after it ends, with no children present, wherever practicable.

14. Records, privacy and information sharing

Records of child safety concerns, complaints, disclosures, reports and their outcomes are held securely by the Director, separately from general personnel and customer files, with access restricted to the Director. They are retained for at least seven years after the last action, and for a child-related matter for at least seven years after the child turns 25.

Personal information is handled under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Confidentiality is maintained as far as the law allows, and is never used as a reason to withhold information from police, the child protection authority, Blue Card Services, or a school or education body exercising its own child protection duties.

15. Breaches of this policy

A breach of this policy or the Code of Conduct is treated seriously and may result in a worker being stood down from site attendance immediately while the matter is dealt with. Depending on the nature of the breach, the response may include additional training and supervision, a formal warning, removal from all child-related work, termination of employment or engagement, a report to Blue Card Services, and a report to the Queensland Police Service.

Where a worker is stood down or removed, every school and education body they have attended is notified. Any breach and its resolution are recorded and reviewed under section 16.

No worker is disadvantaged for making a report in good faith. Victimisation of a person who raises a child safety concern is itself a breach of this policy.

16. Monitoring and review

This policy is reviewed at least annually by the Director, and immediately following any child safety incident, complaint, legislative change, or change to our services or sites. Review includes an examination of complaint and incident records for patterns, the outcome of the Child Safe Standards self-assessment, and feedback from children, families, workers and the schools we supply. Changes are recorded in the revision history and reissued to all workers.

17. Related documents

18. Revision history

Annex A: Child Safe Code of Conduct

This Code applies to every worker of Brizzy Jumping Castles at every site. It is not a list of suggestions. Each line is a condition of engagement.

A1. I will

• Treat every child with respect, patience and dignity, whatever their background, culture, ability, gender or beliefs.
• Put the safety and wellbeing of a child ahead of the job, the schedule and the customer.
• Listen to children, take what they tell me seriously, and act on it.
• Keep myself visible to other adults whenever children are present.
• Explain the safety rules for the equipment in words a child can understand, and stop the activity if a child is distressed, unwell or does not want to continue.
• Recognise the right of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to cultural safety, and challenge racism if I see it.
• Report any concern about a child's safety immediately, even if I am not sure it is serious.
• Report any behaviour by another worker that breaches this Code, including behaviour by a supervisor or the Director.
• Follow the directions of school and site staff.
• Keep my screening current and tell the Director straight away if my status changes.

A2. I will never

• Be alone with a child, or in a place where I cannot be seen by another adult while a child is with me.
• Use physical force, rough handling, or physical discipline of any kind.
• Use language that is sexual, violent, degrading, discriminatory, intimidating or profane in the presence of a child.
• Engage in any sexual, romantic or intimate behaviour, contact or conversation with a child, or show or send a child sexual material.
• Touch a child other than as necessary for their immediate physical safety, and then only the minimum contact required, in view of another adult.
• Transport a child in any vehicle, or take a child anywhere, for any reason.
• Contact a child privately by phone, message, email, social media, gaming platform or any other channel, or accept a contact request from a child.
• Photograph or film a child except under section 13 of POL-050, and never on a personal device.
• Give a child gifts, money, food, drink, alcohol, tobacco, vapes or any drug, or offer a child work or a private arrangement.
• Develop a special or exclusive relationship with a particular child, or keep a secret with a child.
• Enter a student toilet, change room, sick bay or any other private space used by children.
• Attend a site under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
• Discourage, delay or discredit a child, parent or worker who wants to raise a concern.

A3. Key contacts