Home Visit Safety Guide

The information in this guide has been adapted from the Aunty Grace’s Remote and Isolated Worker Policy. The key principles of that policy, such as maintaining effective communication, identifying and managing hazards, defining worker responsibilities, and following safe work procedures—form the foundation of the guidance provided here.

This Home Visit Safety Guide aligns with those requirements while presenting the information in a practical, easy-to-use format specifically tailored for staff entering a client’s home. Its purpose is to ensure consistency, strengthen safety practices, and support all personnel in meeting their obligations under the broader organisational WHS framework.

When we are exposed to language that describes worker safety, it makes important conversations more frequent.

Home visits are an essential part of the support we provide, but they also present unique risks, because workers are entering environments that the organisation cannot fully control. Effective home visit safety practices are vital for several key reasons:

This guide applies to any person who may enter a client’s home while performing duties on behalf of Aunty Grace. This includes, but is not limited to: 

• Care Managers
• Care Partners
• External contractors or service providers
• Field sales staff
• Marketing or content creators attending clients’ homes for interviews, filming, photography, or story development

Any worker or representative entering a client’s home is expected to follow the safety practices, guidelines, and responsibilities outlined in this document to ensure the wellbeing of both staff and clients.

As a worker entering a client’s home, you play a crucial role in maintaining a safe environment for yourself, your colleagues, and the people you support. You are responsible for:

1. Complying with all remote or isolated work procedures, including the advice outlined in this Home Visit Safety Guide
2. Using the tools, equipment, and supplies provided to help you work safely and effectively during home visits.
3. Following all relevant safe work procedures that apply to any remote or isolated activity.
4. Promptly notifying the organisation if you become unwell, feel unsafe, or are unable to continue working safely during a home visit.
5. Understanding how to identify risks, including hazards in the home environment, behaviours of concern, or unsafe conditions.
6. Reporting risks or concerns early, using established reporting processes and communicating directly with your manager or the appropriate contact.
7. Leaving or terminating a visit immediately if you believe your safety is at risk. You are never expected to remain in a situation that feels unsafe.
8. Communicating any immediate risks to your health and safety by calling the office, your manager, or using approved check-in systems or emergency procedures.

These responsibilities are about equipping you with the confidence, authority, and organisational backing to always prioritise your own safety.

The client, as a person who owns the workplace, has a specific responsibility to ensure

“as is reasonably practicable that the workplace and the means of entering and leaving it are safe and without risks to health.”

So, if there is an element of the environment that poses a risk to your health and safety, we can reasonably ask for that element to be modified or removed to make the space safer for everyone.