Volunteer Agreements
VOLUNTEER CONTRACT
Rescue and Transport
Thank you for wanting to volunteer for Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc and support our native Australian wildlife. Your contribution will be an invaluable part of the organisation and the community. Please read the information provided and sign this contract to commence your role.
1. You are a volunteer
This position as a Rescuer and Transporter at Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. is a volunteer position. This means that, if you accept the role, you perform all duties on a voluntary basis and you will not receive remuneration or payment for your work, other than reasonable reimbursement of expenses.
Neither you nor Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. intend any employment or contractual relationship to be created (ie. you are not an employee, independent contractor or consultant at Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. If this changes at any time, and there is a possibility that you might undertake paid work for the organisation or be involved in vocational training, we will discuss this and document the arrangement in a formal employment contract, contract for services or other arrangement.
2. What you can expect when volunteering at Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc.
Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. values its volunteers and we will endeavour to provide you with:
a written position description so you understand your role and the tasks you are authorised to perform
orientation and any training necessary for the volunteer role, with further opportunities to grow your knowledge and skills
a safe environment in which to perform your role
respect for your privacy, including keeping your private information confidential
a supervisor, so that you have the opportunity to ask questions and get feedback (see
para. 4 below) and insurance to cover you for the volunteer duties you are authorised to perform (see para. 9 below).
3. What Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. asks of its volunteers?
We ask that you to:
Support Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. aims and objectives
participate in all relevant induction and training programs
only undertake duties you are authorised to perform and
always operate under the direction and supervision of nominated staff and obey reasonable directions and instructions
maintain confidentiality
understand and comply with the organisation’s policies and procedures and any other
relevant policies for your position.
notify your supervisor or another member of staff as soon as possible of any health
and safety issues or potentially hazardous situations that may pose a risk to you or others and report any accidents or incidents relating to staff, volunteers, or the workplace
behave appropriately and courteously to all staff, clients and the public in the course of your role
use any property or equipment given to you in your role safely and only for purpose of the role and return it to the organisation when you finish your volunteer role
let us know if you wish to change the nature of your contribution (e.g. hours, role) to Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. at any time
comply with the law at all times, and be open and honest in your dealings with us and let us know if we can improve our volunteer program and the support that you receive.
4. Contact person
Your contact person at Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. will be the Phone Operators or the Volunteer Coordinator. If you have any questions or concerns about your role, your health and safety, or if there is any assistance you need to help you undertake your role, please don’t hesitate to contact them as soon as possible.
5. Role description and details
Rescuer and Transporter
It is important that you only perform the tasks in this role description and that you follow the instructions of Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. staff.
In Victoria there are laws that protect volunteers in community organisations from civil liability (i.e. legal action like a negligence claim) in specific circumstances. It is therefore important that you only perform the tasks in the role description and as instructed by the organisation. To be covered by these laws it is also important that you are not affected by drugs or alcohol when you are volunteering.
If you are unsure whether a particular task or work is authorised, please do not hesitate to talk to your contact person.
6. The health and safety of you and others
At Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. volunteer safety, and the safety of everyone who is involved in our organisation, is a priority.
In Victoria, the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (OHS Act) applies to many volunteers because all organisations that engage workers on a paid basis or manage or control a workplace are responsible for OHS duties to everyone in the organisation (including volunteers). Also, there may be other legal actions (such as negligence claims) that means we always need to consider work health and safety issues.
Under the OHS Act and other laws, Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. has a duty of care to minimise risks to everyone affected by its conduct (including paid employees and volunteers).
It also means that as a volunteer, you may have OHS duties too. These include:
to take reasonable care for your own health and safety
to take reasonable care for the health and safety of others
to comply with any reasonable instruction by Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. to let (Warriors 4
Wildlife Inc. know of any concerns you may have about safety and/or fitness in
undertaking our role, and to cooperate with any reasonable policies and procedures of Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc.
We will provide you with an orientation and training when you commence with our organisation. However, please do not hesitate to talk to your contact officer at any time if you have any health and safety concerns.
7. Induction and training required before you start in the volunteer role
Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. is committed to providing suitable training in support of our health and safety, discrimination and privacy policies. For this reason it is our policy that all volunteers undertake induction and/or training at Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. prior to commencing their volunteer position.
8. Information we require before you can start in the volunteer role
Before you can commence the volunteer role, we will need a copy of your driver’s licence. We also may need the following information: ID checks, reference checks, police checks, certificate verification as appropriate etc.
All background check information will be conducted in accordance with our policies and procedures.
9. Insurance
We are committed to providing adequate insurance cover for volunteers whilst carrying out their volunteering roles that have been approved and authorised by us.
Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. has the following insurances: Public Liability, Associations Insurance and Volunteer Insurance. To ensure this insurance covers you for any incidents that occur while you are volunteering with us, you need to: Sign this form and email to info@warriors4wildlife.org, and report any incident as soon as it is possible or practicable.
We want to let you know that the following events are unlikely to be covered by our insurance:
actions that are beyond the scope of your volunteer role, or that occur without appropriate authority or permission from us
criminal activity (including criminal charges arising out of driving incidents)
dishonest or reckless activities
If a Volunteer accepts a rescue from another entity they may be covered under that other entity's insurance. The volunteer will need to clarify this with the other entity. Doing so will render the volunteer not covered under W4W Inc. ́s insurance.
10. Intellectual Property
All volunteers at Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. agree to transfer all intellectual property rights and interests in any ideas or materials they create relating to their provision of voluntary services at Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. to Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc.
Volunteers are taken to consent to Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc. use of such creations in a manner reasonably contemplated by the voluntary services provided under this document. As a volunteer you also agree not to bring any claim for infringement of your moral rights in respect of that use.
11. Police Checks
All volunteers will be required to provide a Nationally Co-ordinated Criminal History Check through our provider Crimcheck. W4W Inc.’ uses registration forms, references and may meet the volunteers face to face for a discussion about their suitability.
• The selection process is conducted by appropriately briefed/trained members/managers and aims to allow both parties to give and receive sufficient information to assess whether the volunteer opportunities available match the potential volunteer's skills, qualities and interests.
• There is a procedure for dealing with unsuccessful applications whereby individuals will be offered an opportunity to discuss the outcome and identify possible alternatives within or outside of W4W Inc.
Confidentiality Policy and Agreement
1. Introduction
We designed this confidentiality policy to explain how we expect our volunteers to treat confidential information. Volunteers will unavoidably receive and handle personal and private information about volunteers, partners and our charity. We want to make sure that this information is well-protected.
2. Scope
This policy affects all Committee members, managers, sponsors, contractors and volunteers who may have access to confidential information.
3. Policy
Confidential information is secret, valuable, expensive and/or easily replicated. Common examples of confidential information are:
• Unpublished financial information
• Data of Volunteers, shelters, partners and contractors
• Customer lists (existing and prospective)
• Data entrusted to our company by external parties
• Pricing/marketing and other undisclosed strategies
• Documents and processes explicitly marked as confidential
• Unpublished goals, forecasts and initiatives marked as confidential
The executive committee, managers and volunteers may have various levels of authorised access to confidential information.
What Volunteers should do:
• Lock or secure confidential information at all times
• Shred confidential documents when they’re no longer needed
• Make sure they only view confidential information on secure devices
• Only disclose information to other volunteers when it’s necessary and authorised
What Volunteers shouldn’t do:
• Use confidential information for any personal benefit or profit
• Disclose confidential information to anyone outside of Warriors 4 Wildlife Inc.
• Replicate confidential documents and files and store them on insecure devices
When Volunteers cease being a volunteer, they’re obliged to return any confidential files and delete them from their personal devices.
This Agreement does not include any information that is already publicly available unless the information became publicly available due to a breach of confidentiality itself.
4. Disciplinary Action
Volunteers who don’t respect our confidentiality policy will face disciplinary and, possibly, legal action according to State Laws.
Any volunteer who wilfully or regularly breaches our confidentiality guidelines for personal profit will face disciplinary action or termination of their volunteer position. Volunteers may also face disciplinary action or termination if any unintentional breach of this policy has occurred depending on its frequency and seriousness. We will investigate any volunteer who repeatedly disregards this policy, even when they do so unintentionally.
This policy is binding even after separation of volunteer position.