1. The MWF System

1.0 Employees/Volunteers

All employees and volunteers should be considered as staff within Making Waves Foundation (MWF) and treated in the same manner with the same rights and responsibilities. To make things easier in the reading, volunteers and employees will be called staff from here on in throughout this document.

1.1 Induction

It is the responsibility of the General Manager to ensure that all new staff receive an induction. All new staff must participate in an induction program.

MWF will schedule all new staff to attend an induction within the first week of employment.

An appropriate amount of time and resources should be used to ensure that all the required information is communicated to the new staff member.

An induction includes familiarisation with this Standard Operating Procedures, Workplace Health & Safety as outlined herein, the onboard Safety Management System, duties to be undertaken, dealing with clients/customers, physical layout of the site, etc.  This will ensure that staff can work safely and represent MWF effectively.

The induction program should be tailored to suit the needs of the staff being inducted.

The General Manager is responsible for following up the employee’s induction during the first month of employment.

All new staff are inducted through the MWF Staff Induction as outlined in the online Learning Management System (LMS).

1.2 Training

Staff members are encouraged to detail any training requests in an email to the appropriate Coordinator who will liaise with the General Manager.  Limited funding (or part funding) may be available.

Staff may be requested to undertake training at any time by MWF. Any support for this training will be detailed at the time of the request.

1.3 Terms and Conditions

All staff members are considered employees and work according to a schedule that is agreed in advance as well as adhering to all MWF policies, procedures, and processes.

1.4 Qualifications

There will always be adequate supervision of all activities by a person or persons holding the relevant qualifications and/or experience within MWF.

Suitably experienced and skilled staff will lead all activities.

Each staff member has an associated staff file where details of their qualification and experience are recorded. It is the responsibility of staff to ensure that the office receives any updated qualifications or certification to be added to that file.

1.5 First Aid

It is strongly recommended that all staff always have and maintain a valid First Aid certificate when they are engaged in activities with MWF.

1.6 Working with Children

All staff must have a current Working with Children Certificate (WWCC) for the region they are in whilst working on any program within MWF. Staff are also required to adhere to MWF’s Child Safety & Welfare Policy.

1.7 Monitoring the Standard of Programs

We pride ourselves on the quality of our programs. Great emphasis is placed on the quality of leadership given by all staff members who work for MWF.

Supervisors will observe all staff and offer constructive advice to support improvements in the quality of all our programs. This advice will not be confined only to sailing practices.

If there is a perceived lack of development or a problem with performance, the Supervisor will in the first instance provide feedback to the staff concerned and if further action is needed, he/she will provide feedback to the relevant Coordinator.

Any actions that impact on the quality of our programs or the services delivered to our clients will be taken very seriously and followed up by the office.

Details of any incident, accident or near miss are to be recorded on the form contained in Forms at the end of this document and passed to the relevant Coordinator. A review of any incident, accident or near miss shall be initiated by the General Manager to understand what exactly happened and to ensure that there is not a repetition of the incident in the future.

In the case of a serious incident the Skipper or most senior person shall contact the General Manager at the earliest opportunity and provide details.

In the case of a major Incident (such as a fatality), the Skipper or most senior person shall contact the General Manager at the earliest opportunity and proved details. In all circumstances the Emergency Communications provisions within the Communications Policy will be followed including the timing for reporting the accident, incident or near miss.