Negligence
Your community organisation will need to consider your duty of care, and the standard of care you need to meet, when providing services to your clients or the public. A Victorian community organisation may owe its clients or the public a duty of care under the common law (judge made law) of negligence, or under the negligence provisions in the Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic).
This means a community organisation may be liable for any acts or omissions made by the organisation, which results in an injury to a client or the public or damage to their property. There are a number of legal tests that must be satisfied before your organisation will be held liable for negligence (for more information see the link below to the Fitzroy Legal Service Law Handbook).
While negligence claims against community organisations are rare, your organisation should look to operate in a way that reduces the risk of injury to your clients and the public (and the risk that your volunteers or employees will be injured whilst volunteering or working for your organisation - go to Volunteers). You need to consider any obligations you may be under to do background checks on the people involved in your organisation (go to Recruitement for a Guide to Working with Children Checks). You should also look at getting appropriate insurance coverage to protect you from liability in the event of any unforeseen incidents (go to Insurance). Your organisation should seek legal advice about its potential liability if you think it may be exposed to legal action.