Orange Sky has made some key changes to our processes for operating laundry vans, both upgraded and non-upgraded. We’d like to thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to work with local leadership teams to find resolutions to minimise disruption to your volunteer experience.
If you have any questions that aren’t covered in the below FAQ, or you believe that your shift could be impacted but you haven’t been contacted about this, please use this form to let us know!
FAQs
Our vehicles undergo rigorous testing and regular safety audits to ensure they meet compliance standards and current legislation. This benchmarking is completed alongside external organisations to ensure that Orange Sky meets and exceeds the safety standards across all parts of our operations. This issue arose during a routine audit of our van fleet. Once we were aware that there was a compliance standard issue, the operations and risk teams began operating and acting on it immediately and with urgency.
Yes. Specifically, once the requirements for non-upgraded laundry vans and upgraded laundry vans are executed on to reduce weight they are safe to drive.
At Orange Sky, we’ve always found ways of tackling challenging problems with innovative solutions. These changes are currently permanent until we can find a longer term solution. As we continue to upgrade the remainder of our fleet, we’re looking to refine the upgrade design further and are exploring alternative compliance options and future enhancements to allow our laundry vans to carry passengers and water again whilst driving.
Services with upgraded vans
This can still be achieved. Training a new driver in an upgraded laundry van can be completed by ensuring there is no water onboard, so an experienced driver of an Orange Sky van can travel as a passenger while the new volunteer becomes competent in driving the van. We recommend a volunteer travels to and from shift twice before travelling on their own.
Services with non-upgraded vans
As no passengers are able to travel in a non-upgraded Orange Sky van, we recommend holding off on asking new volunteers to drive until your van has been upgraded. However, we understand that this may not be possible under certain circumstances, and you may need a new driver to keep the shift running. In this instance, an experienced Orange Sky volunteer should use the New driver guide (for non-upgraded vans) to train volunteers in driving the Orange Sky van.
Yes. You will have to drive back to the van base on your own in the van. However, if you feel unsafe dropping the van back to base late at night on your own, we would encourage a buddy system, where another volunteer follows in their own car back to base until you are safely back in your own car or form of transport. In light of these changes, we are now looking to have water and waste available at all of our shift locations. On the rare occasion where you may need to empty or refill late at night, our advice is to hand this task to the next available shift to complete in daylight hours by communicating with your service leader that you will no longer be able to fulfil this requirement.
No, unfortunately Orange Sky is not able to assist with parking costs associated with attending shift. However, where possible, Orange Sky will prioritise shifts with parking available and in close proximity to public transport. However, this isn’t always possible. If you are being impacted by these changes, please fill in this form, and someone from Orange Sky HQ can contact you to discuss alternative options to support your ongoing volunteering with Orange Sky
If there is another OS volunteer available (not a friend or member of the public) ask them to be a spotter to help guide the van when reversing. If no one is available to spot, make sure the hazard lights are on, and the driver’s and passengers’ windows are down so you can hear noises from any oncoming vehicles or approaching pedestrians. Be mindful of members of the public wearing headphones and not paying attention, and other vehicles passing by.
Vehicle leaders are being instructed on how to remove the spare tyre from the van, which will happen within the next two weeks. As we have comprehensive roadside assistance in place, in the event of a breakdown we encourage all volunteers to contact Service Support.
All of our vans have roadside assistance available, so there is no reason to have a spare tyre onboard the van. Please contact Service Support and the team will provide assistance.
These options are at the discretion of the team’s involved, and could change from shift to shift depending on circumstances. We encourage the driver of the vehicle to always check if the water tanks are empty before allowing a passenger to drive with them in the van.
We are currently upgrading our training documents and will be adhering instructional stickers inside our vans, so a reminder will always be present for our flexible volunteers.
Here is a list of upgraded vs non-upgraded laundry vans.
Upgraded laundry vans
| Van | Location |
| Mikey | Sunshine Coast, QLD |
| Peggy | Townsville, QLD |
| Splasher | Adelaide, SA |
| Sandy | Brisbane, QLD |
| Tubbsy | Canberra, ACT | Koorda | Perth, WA |
Non-upgraded laundry vans
|
Van |
Location |
|
Bubbles |
Townsville, QLD |
|
Sadie |
Melbourne, VIC |
| Bluey |
Geelong, VIC |
|
Marcia |
Melbourne NW, VIC |
| Dasher |
Melbourne SE, VIC |
|
Jelley Fish |
Hobart, TAS |
| Cathy |
Port Macquarie, NSW |
| Tumbles |
Central Coast, NSW |
|
Hunter |
Newcastle, NSW |
| Rebecca |
Sydney, NSW |
| Daisy |
Wollongong,NSW |
You can empty the clean water tank by using the manual drainage point on the tank. The draining point is located at the rear of the vehicle, inside under the washing machines. A hose at least a few feet in length will be required to ensure that there is clearance from the van (however, it doesn’t have to be a full length hose).
VOLUNTEERS WITH SHIFT CANCELLED
Our main goal as a result of these changes is to limit the number of cancelled shifts as much as possible. If a shift has been paused during this process, our Community Impact Team will be working hard to find alternative solutions to allow the shift to resume as soon as possible. We will be in contact with impacted teams if circumstances change and we are able to resume a shift and/or if we have new information regarding the changes that have come into effect.
Yes, if there is an alternative shift that you can attend, please apply to be included on this team in Volaby under Volunteering > Activities.
Unfortunately, we are unable to directly notify friends of cancelled shifts. There are two ways that they will be able to learn this information. Firstly, via our ‘find a shift’ locations page on the website where when they search for a shift it will come up as ‘cancelled’. They will then have the option to explore other shifts available in their local area. Secondly, we encourage you and your fellow volunteers to share via word of mouth with our friends and service providers if a shift can no longer go ahead.
Yes. After your van has been upgraded, your van will be able to carry water in the water and waste tanks to and from the service location (but won’t be able to carry passengers). This means that your shift will be able to restart and continue to provide friends with access to clean laundry and genuine, non-judgmental conversations.
Please see below an indicative timeline of when vans will be upgraded. Please note this is subject to change: we will keep you in the loop as these upgrades are rolled out.
|
Van |
Location |
Scheduled Upgrade |
|
Sadie |
Melbourne, VIC |
October 2022 |
|
Bluey |
Geelong, VIC |
October 2022 |
|
Marcia |
Melbourne NW, VIC | October 2022 |
| Dasher | Melbourne SE, VIC |
October 2022 |
|
Jelley Fish |
Hobart, TAS | October 2022 |
| Cathy | Port Macquarie, NSW |
Cathy is being replaced with laundry pods. |
|
Tumbles |
Central Coast, NSW | November 2022 |
| Rebecca | Sydney, NSW | November 2022 |
| Daisy | Wollongong, NSW | November 2022 |
| Hunter | Newcastle, NSW | December 2022 |
Unfortunately not. The Orange Sky HQ team is working as fast as they can to ensure that the vehicle upgrades can be completed to the highest standard and in the fastest time frame in line with our project delivery plan. The team are currently exploring what changes we can make to address the weight issues and minimise their ongoing impact on the future delivery of our services.
No. We have been in touch with all affected service providers that we partner with that have had shifts cancelled as a result of these changes, and let them know if we will no longer be able to attend the shift at this time.
Yes. If your shift has been cancelled temporarily and you would like to opt out of any non-essential operational emails, please fill in this form.
