Around 50 workers from the Coniston office voted this afternoon to take industrial action in response to the death of a child in the area who was known to community services.

Assistant Secretary of the Public Service Association, Steve Turner, would not discuss details of the death or the identity of the child, as he said it was the subject of a police investigation.

But Mr Turner said staff were deeply upset and frustrated by a lack of resources and claimed caseworker vacancy rates were running at up to 25 per cent in Wollongong.

‘‘There has been a tragic and avoidable child death,’’ said Mr Turner.

“[Staff] recognised it has occurred because of the understaffing, the vacancy rates and the job cuts.’’

The staff walked out of the office between 2pm and 3pm.

The inability of community services staff to follow up every report of a child at risk of harm has long been a problem in NSW and was occuring at levels deemed ‘‘unnacceptable’’ by the NSW Ombudsman in a 2011 report.

Around one in five reports to community services of children at risk of significant harm was not followed up in 2011 because of ‘‘competing priorities’’, or staff being too busy with other cases, Fairfax reported last month.

The problem was even worse in previous years: in 2010, one in four reports was closed without assessment for these reasons. This was down from 38 per cent in 2006-2007.

The state government has repeatedly stated short-staffing is not a problem in community services.

The Minister for Community Services, Pru Goward, was not immediately available for comment