A five-year-old boy was left alone on a locked bus until someone finally realised he was there, resulting in a West Australian childcare service being ordered to pay $12,500.
The boy was picked up from a primary school in Margaret River and driven to Bluebird Before and After School Care on June 25.
But the bus was not checked after the other children got out, leaving the boy alone for seven minutes.
The service was this week fined $11,000 by the State Administrative Tribunal and ordered to pay $1500 in costs to the Department of Communities for failing to adequately supervise the child.
The bus was parked about 20m from the front door of the service.
“The educator signed the three children out on the daily bus sign-in sheet at 3.34pm while sitting in the driver’s seat, then went around to open the bus door,” the statement of agreed facts read.
“The educator walked with two children into the service. She assumed that the child had run into the service as soon as she opened the bus door.”
A few minutes later, the centre director of a sister service parked behind the bus and noticed a seat moving.
“She called the service director to alert her that a child might have been left on the bus,” the facts read.
“The educator who had driven the bus came out, unlocked the bus and took the child into the service.”
At the time, there was no requirement for an immediate headcount at the service.
“The educator acknowledged … her training was that she should have stood outside the bus door and called out the names of the children as they left the bus. She failed to do that,” the statement of facts read.
The educator also failed to do a sweep of the bus,xjmtzyw including checking under the seats.
Following the incident, further training was provided and the policy was updated so that each child’s name would be called out before they left the bus.
Two staff members are now also required for bus runs.
