Fight risk for prison officers
PRISON officers are risking injury while trying to break up fights between inmates, a union claims.
Community and Public Sector Union spokesman Julian Kennelly said officers had been injured while breaking up fights between prisoners at Barwon Prison.
MP Stuart Grimley has called for urgent action to reduce the likelihood of guards being assaulted at work.
But Mr Kennelly denied guards were targeted and said Barwon Prison was one of the safest places for jail officers.
He said officers did risk injury trying to stop inmates trying to kill or harm each other.
WorkSafe data shows prison officers have made 58 occupational violence and aggression claims for compensation since 2018, with eight made this financial year.
Mr Grimley claimed five assaults against prison officers had occurred in just six weeks, with one guard hospitalised.
But the state government denied any officers working at the Banksia unit needed to be hospitalised in the past year.
The government confirmed eight prison staff were assaulted at the Banksia unit, five occurring between December 2020 and February 2021.
BEING thrown in the deep end is hard enough when learning to swim, let alone fully clothed.
But a local swim school is trying to ensure children are prepared for accidents around water by doing just that in a bid to teach lifesaving swim safety skills.
It’s just one of the activities in a new part of the program at JUMP! Swim School Geelong West.
As part of its water safety week, safety-focused sessions address core skills and knowledge kids require if they get into trouble in the water.
JUMP! Swim Schools chief executive Mark Collins said sessions included giving kids a sense of what it felt like to fall into water and swim fully clothed and get them comfortable without goggles.
“It’s critical to have core swimming skills that allow children to stay afloat and get themselves into a safe position, but falling into the water and having the confidence to handle the situation is much different to an organised swimming lesson environment,” he said. “Water accidents don’t always happen when children are in their swimmers.
“We’ve heard of situations where a child has ridden his bike into a lake and another where a young girl fell off a boat ramp — incidents can happen when you least expect.”