Protecting precious passengers

Sesame Lane Care and Kindergarten has installed an alarm system on its entire fleet of buses to ensure the safety of children in its care.

Head of Sesame Lane Kerri Smith says all 10 buses used to take children on excursions and collect them from school for after-school care have been fitted with the technology at a cost of about $30,000.

“We are vigilant about transporting children. It’s a high priority item that has had some media attention and we’ve put strategies around it to manage the risk and protect the children in our care,” Ms Smith says.

“We have relooked at all of our policies and procedures and implemented mandatory staff induction and training, but the most important thing we’ve done is we’ve fitted our buses with technology to ensure that there’s a reminder check on the buses.”

An alarm will sound unless a staff member walks to the back of the bus and turns it off. Positioning it at the back of the bus ensures the person checks the bus for sleeping children as they walk through the bus to turn off the alarm and again as they exit.

Ms Smith says Sesame Lane investigated many options and different types of technology before deciding on the alarm system.

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