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.
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.
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.
Junior Adventures Group is committed to providing a safe and positive environment in which children and young people can participate in a broad range of experiences and learning opportunities. To facilitate this, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Team Members must escalate the instance of a serious incident to their line manager and emergency service as required and in accordance with the Incident Management 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.
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.
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.
Any Costs incurred in ensuring prompt medical attention for a child will be met by Parents/Guardians.
Reportable incidents are those that the approved provider is required to notify to an external agency or organisation.
Where required, incidents and serious incidents will be notified to the appropriate authority within the prescribed timeframes.
3.11 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.
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 Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy and Procedure.
The death of a child must immediately be reported to:
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.
Counselling services will be made available to all JAG People and children where required following a serious incident or death of a child.
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.
Policies and practices reflect the relevant legislation, including the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. JAG provides polices 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.
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Term |
Meaning |
|---|---|
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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. |
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Team Members |
JAG People who work directly with children. |
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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 |
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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: o appears to be missing or cannot be accounted for o appears to have been taken or removed from the service in a way that breaches the National Regulations o is mistakenly locked in or locked out of the service or premises. |
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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 o that a serious incident has occurred or is occurring o that this law has been contravened o 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 |
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Injury |
Any physical damage to the body caused by violence or an incident |
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Trauma |
Trauma is when a child feels intensely threatened by an event he or she is involved in or witnesses. |
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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. |
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ACECQA |
Australia Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority |
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NQAITS |
National Quality Agenda IT System |
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Education and Care Services National Law and Regulations |
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Section 165 – Offence to inadequately supervise children |
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Section 167 – Offence relating to the protection of children from harm and hazards |
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Section 174 – Offence to fail to notify certain information to Regulatory Authority |
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Regulation 85 – Incident, injury, trauma and illness policies and procedures |
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Regulation 86 – Notification to parents of incident, injury, trauma and illness |
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Regulation 87 – Incident, injury, trauma and illness record |
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Regulation 89 – First aid kits |
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Regulation 95 – Procedure for administration of medication |
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Regulation 103 – Premises, furniture and equipment to be safe, clean and in good repair |
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Regulation 104 – Fencing |
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Regulation 136 – First aid qualifications |
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Regulation 161 – Authorisations to be kept in enrolment record |
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Regulation 168 – Education and care service must have policies and procedures |
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Regulation 170 – Policies and procedures to be followed |
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Regulation 177 – Prescribed enrolment and other documents to be kept by approved provider |
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Regulation 183 – Storage of records and other documents |
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Related Policies |
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Governance, Management and Leadership |
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First Aid |
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Related Procedures |
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02P005 Incident Management |
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Other |
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OCG Guide to Child Safe Standards - https://ocg.nsw.gov.au/child-safe-scheme |
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CCYP Child safe Standards - https://ccyp.vic.gov.au/child-safe-standards/ |
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National Principles for Child Safe Organisations - https://childsafe.humanrights.gov.au/national-principles |
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Escalation Required |
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|---|---|---|---|
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Incident Scenario |
Level |
Notification |
Action Required |
|
Injury/Trauma/Illness
Child Safety (Safeguarding children)
|
Critical |
Reported immediately to the CEO who will then notify the Board within 24 hours (as appropriate) and Risk and Service Development manager. |
1. Immediate and urgent Executive management action required. 2. Monitor daily. 3. Cease activity until risk can be reduced to an acceptable level. Activity shall not be undertaken without the express approval from CEO. |
|
Injury/Trauma/Illness
Child Safety (Safeguarding children)
Compliance Breach
Complaint
Missing/Unaccounted Child
|
High |
State GM report to Risk and Service Development Manager and CEO within 24hrs. |
1. Compliance attention required immediately. 2. Weekly monitoring. 3. Any activity shall not be undertaken without the consultation of CEO and Compliance. |
|
Injury/Trauma/Illness
Complaint
|
Medium |
Regional Manager to report to State GM. |
1. Management attention required. 2. Action plans developed and implemented, and accountability specified. 3. Manage by routine procedures and business-as-usual processes 4. Supporting Departments may be required for consultation. |
|
Injury/Trauma/Illness
Child Safety (Safeguarding children)
Missing/Unaccounted Child
|
Low |
Regional Manager to report to the Regional Director |
1. Manage by routine procedures and business-as-usual processes. 2. Unlikely to need specific application of resources. 3. Monitor as appropriate |
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Version |
3.0 |
|---|---|
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Change History |
JAG Policy Change Register |
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Date Approved |
01/07/2023 |
|
Date Implemented |
01/07/2023 |
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Document Owner |
Quality Service Development |
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Document Approvers |
CEO / Approved Provider |
|
Next Review |
12 months |
