Chevron left iconPolicies Index

Incident Management Policy

View as PDF

1. Overview

1.1. Purpose

The Incident Management Policy outlines the approach taken by Junior Adventures Group to respond and manage the instance of an incident, injury, trauma or illness whilst a child is attending the service.

1.2. Scope

All JAG People are required to comply with the provisions set out in this policy, their contract of employment, and all other relevant policies, procedures and legislation.

1.3. Paramountcy Principle

At JAG, the safety, rights and best interests of children are our paramount consideration in all aspects of our operations. In the delivery of education and care services, every decision, action and interaction must prioritize the wellbeing, protection, and dignity of children above all other considerations. JAG has a zero-tolerance approach to child abuse and misconduct.

All JAG people are required to act in a manner that safeguards children, upholds their rights, and promotes environments that are safe, inclusive, and respectful. Where competing priorities arise, the best interests of the child will always guide decision-making.

1.4. Legislative Requirements

Under the Education and Care Services National Regulations, Junior Adventures Group is required to have policies and procedures in place to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of the children in care.

2. Policy Statement

All JAG people and Team Members have a duty of care to identify, respond and manage the instance of an incident, injury, trauma or illness. To identify organisational learnings and support continuous improvement, Junior Adventures Group maintains a transparent approach to the reporting of all incidents, both internally and externally as required.

3. Principles

3.1. Duty of Care

In the event of an incident, injury, trauma or illness to a child, all Team Members have a duty of care to respond appropriately. All actions taken must be determined by the circumstances of the incident, the severity of the incident and the potential harm.

All children involved in an incident, injury, trauma or illness will be monitored and cared for until an authorised person takes charge of them, where applicable.

3.2. Confidentiality

All incidents will be managed confidentially.

Parents/Guardians will not be given information or identifying details about other children. This includes information given in an incident report.

3.3. Risk Management

All Team Members must read and understand all service risk assessments and implement the identified mitigation strategies. Team Members must continuously monitor their environment for potential hazards and risks. Risks and hazards must be mitigated where possible and otherwise escalated to their line manager.

3.4. Actions to Reduce Harm

In the event of an incident, injury, trauma or illness, Team Members must take immediate corrective actions to ensure no further harm to children.

Team Members must communicate the occurrence of an incident, injury, trauma or illness to other JAG People to ensure adequate supervision can be maintained.

3.5. First Aid Requirements

All Service Leaders are required to hold a current approved first aid qualification, including approved anaphylaxis and asthma management qualifications.

If an incident, injury, trauma or illness requires first aid treatment, only a Team Member with a current approved first aid qualification will attend to the child/ren involved.

Where a child has a medical condition, such as asthma, anaphylaxis, or diabetes, their individual medical management plan will be immediately referenced and followed without delay. If medication is required to be administered, this will be administered by the first aid trained team member in accordance with 02P004 Medical and Health Management Procedure.

Emergency services (000) will be contacted when the nature or severity of the incident or illness requires specialist medical attention, as per SD 2.8 First Aid Policy.

3.6. Serious Incidents

Team Members must escalate the instance of a serious incident to their line manager and emergency service as required and in accordance with 01P005 Incident, Injury, Trauma and Illness Procedure.

If a Team Member is unsure whether an incident is serious or not, it should be treated as serious and escalated accordingly.

All serious incidents must be reported to the regulatory authority within 24 hours.

3.7. Incident Reporting and Escalation

An incident report must be accurately completed for all instances of an incident, injury, trauma or illness before the end of session and within 24 hours.

All incident reports will be kept and stored as per regulatory requirements.

All Team Members are responsible for communicating and escalating the occurrence of a serious incident, injury, trauma or illness to their line manager as soon as practicable and in accordance with the Incident Escalation Matrix contained within 01P005 Incident, Injury, Trauma and Illness Procedure.

3.8. Notification to Parents/Guardians

The Parents/Guardians of any child affected by an incident, injury, trauma or illness must be notified within 24 hours.

Parents/Guardians are required to provide emergency contact details in the event that they cannot be contacted.

3.9. Family Responsibilities

Any costs incurred in ensuring prompt medical attention for a child will be met by Parents/Guardians.

3.10. Supporting Procedures

All Team members are guided by our procedures in managing incidents, including Crisis management and claims management. These processes ensure that the utmost care and clarity and consistency is provided by all JAG People, including proper documentation, reporting, and investigation processes to take appropriate action.

3.11. Safeguarding Children and Young People

Any incidents, allegations or disclosures of abuse or neglect must be documented in an incident report and escalated to management as soon as practicable.

All Junior Adventures Group People are considered mandatory reporters. For any safeguarding concerns, notifications to the regulatory authority, as well as state-based child protection reporting authorities must be made in accordance with the JAG 2.0 Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy and Procedure.

3.12. Death of a Child

The death of a child must immediately be reported to:

  • An Ambulance service

  • The Police

  • Management

  • The Regulatory Authority

It is not the role of Team Members to inform a parent of the death of their child.

A detailed report must be completed as soon as possible after the event and provided to management and other agencies as required.

3.13. Counselling and Support

Counselling services will be made available to all JAG People and children where required following a serious incident or death of a child.

3.14. Supervision

When an incident is identified, team members must ensure that all children are adequately supervised. Team members must communicate their intended movements to ensure that adequate supervision can be maintained throughout the incident management process.

3.15. Child Safety

Policies and practices reflect the relevant legislation, including the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. JAG provides policies and procedures to support and equip people with the knowledge, skills, and awareness to keep children safe. These practices are continuously reviewed and improved to ensure up to date practices are in effect throughout the business. This policy identifies the process for JAG People for responding appropriately to incidents, allegations and disclosures of abuse. Where appropriate, families are informed and involved in actions toward Incident Management.

4. Key Terms

Term

Meaning

JAG People / JAG Person

Any adult that governs, manages, conducts work for, or provides activities to, JAG in a paid or unpaid activity spanning all levels of the organisational structure.

Team Members

JAG People who work directly with children.

Service Leaders

Anyone who oversees the Service in one of the following roles: 1. The Approved Provider; if the approved provider is an individual, in other cases, a person with management or control of the Service 2. The Nominated Supervisor of the Service 3. A Responsible Person who has been placed in day-to-day charge of the Service in the absence of the Nominated Supervisor.

Line Manager

The persons in the direct supervisory role overseeing the work of the particular JAG person; the JAG persons escalate matters toward the person in this role, in the event of incidents and breaches

Serious Incident

A serious incident as defined by the National Regulations as: the death of a child while that child is being educated and care for; or following an incident occurring while that child was being educated and cared for; any incident involving serious injury or trauma to a child where urgent medical attention was required, sought, or ought to have been sought e.g. a broken limb; any illness where a child attended or ought to have attended a hospital e.g. asthma attack or anaphylaxis reaction; any emergency where emergency services attended; any circumstance where a child: appears to be missing or cannot be accounted for; appears to have been taken or removed from the service in a way that breaches the National Regulations; is mistakenly locked in or locked out of the service or premises.

Incidents Notifiable to the Regulatory Authority

Any incidents that seriously compromise the safety, health or wellbeing of children are notifiable to the Regulatory Authority. An Approved Provider must notify the Regulatory Authority of: any serious incident; any complaints alleging that a serious incident has occurred or is occurring, that this law has been contravened, or information regarding any other prescribed matters; any incident that requires the service to close or reduce the number of children attending; any circumstance that poses a risk to the health, safety or wellbeing of a child attending the service; any incident where the approved provider reasonably believes that physical or sexual abuse of a child or children has occurred or is occurring; allegations that physical or sexual abuse of a child or children has occurred or is occurring; the service is caring for extra child/ren due to an emergency

Injury

Any physical damage to the body caused by violence or an incident

Trauma

Trauma is when a child feels intensely threatened by an event he or she is involved in or witnesses.

Approved first aid/ asthma/ anaphylaxis qualification

A qualification that has been approved by ACECQA and published on the list of approved first aid qualifications and training on the ACECQA website.

ACECQA

Australia Children's Education and Care Quality Authority

NQAITS

National Quality Agenda IT System

5. References

Education and Care Services National Law and Regulations

  • Section 165 – Offence to inadequately supervise children

  • Section 167 – Offence relating to the protection of children from harm and hazards

  • Section 174 – Offence to fail to notify certain information to Regulatory Authority

  • Regulation 85 – Incident, injury, trauma and illness policies and procedures

  • Regulation 86 – Notification to parents of incident, injury, trauma and illness

  • Regulation 87 – Incident, injury, trauma and illness record

  • Regulation 89 – First aid kits

  • Regulation 95 – Procedure for administration of medication

  • Regulation 103 – Premises, furniture and equipment to be safe, clean and in good repair

  • Regulation 104 – Fencing

  • Regulation 136 – First aid qualifications

  • Regulation 161 – Authorisations to be kept in enrolment record

  • Regulation 168 – Education and care service must have policies and procedures

  • Regulation 170 – Policies and procedures to be followed

  • Regulation 177 – Prescribed enrolment and other documents to be kept by approved provider

  • Regulation 183 – Storage of records and other documents

Related Policies

  • Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy

  • Absent and Missing Children Policy

  • Medical Conditions Policy

  • Governance, Management and Leadership Policy

  • First Aid Policy

Related Procedures

  • 02P005 Incident Management Procedure

  • JAGP007 Critical Incidents and Crisis Management

  • 02P014 Claims Management Process

Other

6. Appendices

6.1. Appendix 1 – Incident Reporting Flow Chart

[Refer to PDF for the flow chart image]

  1. Incident Occurs (Implement ACTID)

  2. COMMUNICATE — Regularly with children/families and any other stakeholders during review and resolving incident. (runs alongside the whole process)

  3. IMMEDIATE RESPONSE — Ensure safety of child/visitor/student/staff

  4. NOTIFY — Team members to ensure that adequate supervision is maintained. Incident Type Identified

  5. Branches into either:

    • MINOR INCIDENT — Evaluate and seek RMs assistance where needed

    • SERIOUS INCIDENT — Escalate to Service Leaders, RMs & Emergency Services

  6. COMPLETE INCIDENT REPORT — by end of day, including initial investigation

  7. REVIEW INCIDENT REPORT — Complete reviews and actions, Update Incident report

  8. REVIEW IMMEDIATE RESPONSE — Outcomes, and actions completed. Determine further actions and seek advice and guidance where appropriate

  9. SEEK SUPPORT — Internal Support: OHS, HR, Compliance

  10. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT / REVIEW OUTCOME — Determine any follow up actions required and complete action. Identify improvements including systemic improvement such as procedures and practice. Determine measures for success and evaluation timeframe.

Version: 3.3
Change History: JAG Policy Change Register
Date Approved: 29.05.2026
Date Implemented: 12.06.2026
Document Owner: Quality Service Development
Document Approvers: CEO / Approved Provider
Next Review: 12 Months