Disability support services are confused about the conflict in their duty of care to their staff and duty of care to their clients with disability in an emergency situation. Under Occupational Health and Safety policies, disability support services may refuse to send support staff to areas that are identified as being a high fire danger area on given days, leaving their clients with disability stranded without support.
In some contexts, disability support staff are not considered as ‘emergency personnel’ and may not be allowed to attend to their clients with disability in areas where people have been encouraged to evacuate.
