Incident, Injury, Trauma and Illness Policy
Care for the child and ensure they are safe and comforted
Once recovered, take a photo for the incident report – (respectful)
Bites and head injuries- call parents before completing the injury report- no more than 30 mins after the injury.
The incident report then needs to be completed within one hour of the injury occurring. Injuries need to reported in a timely manner with the online system.
Show your Director/2IC or Ed Leader your report BEFORE signing the incident report.
DO NOT SIGN the incident report until it has been approved by your Director/2IC or Ed Leader.
This is a legal document and we cannot change it once it is signed.
Once your Manager approves your incident report, sign it and the Director/2IC/ Responsible Person will sign in the witness section.
Once the incident report is submitted, you need to write onto the afternoon ratio sheet that there is an incident report for the parent to digitally sign at pick up.
(If the internet is down– you need to follow the same process and time limits with a paper incident form.- Back up Step).
Once the internet is on again, you must then complete a digital copy of the same incident report so that it is documented on Xplor. (Next day if needed).
Written reports will be kept for legal reasons. They will then need to have the Educators signature on the bottom of the front page to say they have been entered online and what date it was entered. Signed and uploaded to the child’s profile by 2IC/ Director.
Any questions please ask your Director/ 2IC/ Ed Leader for help.
Incident, Injury, Trauma and Illness Policy
References: Regulation 85, 168(2)(b)
National Quality Standard 2.1
Staying Healthy: Preventing Infectious Diseases in Early Childhood Education and Care Services (5th)
Policy Purpose
Our service is aware that incidents, injury, trauma, and illness may occur in the Education and Care Service despite the adherence to policies and procedures in place to minimise such events. It is the aim of this policy to reassure all stakeholders of the Education and Care Service (families, team members, members of the community and the children), they can feel confident all educators effectively respond to, and manage any incident, injury, trauma, or illness that occurs.
This policy is guided by the National Quality Framework including the National Standards, National Law, National Regulations, and input from the Regulatory Authority. As such, this Policy is linked to the Completion of Regulatory Authority Forms Policy that assists Education and Care Service team members to report instances of incident, injury, trauma or illness where necessary.
Scope
Background Information and Procedures
Serious Incidents include but are not limited to:
Incidents that are not considered serious but may cause distress/trauma/injury to the child, family or other stakeholders of the Education and Care Service may include, but are not limited to:
Policy Guidelines regarding incidents that involve injury to a child in the Education and Care Service
The Education and Care Service will:
Serious Incident that results in death of a child, educator, family member whilst in the Education and Care Service.
The Education and Care Service will:
The Nominated Supervisor will:
Other Serious Incidents
These may include but are not limited to:
The Education and Care Service will ensure:
The Nominated Supervisor will contact relevant stakeholders immediately. This may include but is not limited to:
The Nominated Supervisor will conduct a full investigation and direct educators to make comprehensive observations of anything seen or actions taken before or after the incident and complete any documentation required.
Trauma to children, team members, families, visitors etc, from incidents occurring at the Education and Care Service or related to the Education and Care Service.
Trauma can occur in instances where children/team member/family/visitor, etc. are exposed to or are involved in a significant incident in the education and care service. This can include but not limited incidents such as:
Trauma may occur in a physical sense but can also result in a mental injury such as post traumatic stress, depression and/ anxiety. A child or person’s reaction to a traumatic event can vary according to:
The following procedure will occur if children, educators, family members, visitors, etc. were witness to or involved in an incident that potentially may cause trauma symptoms:
The Nominated Supervisor will contact relevant stakeholders immediately. This may include but is not limited to:
The Nominated Supervisor will conduct a full investigation and direct educators to make comprehensive observations of anything seen or actions taken before or after the incident and complete any documentation required.
Reportable infectious illness/ infectious illness or sudden illness at the Education and Care Service
There are some infectious diseases that require notification to Public Health/Regulatory Authority relevant to Qld. Confirmation of Diagnosis of these illnesses is achieved through blood tests/ tests (some doctors will say a child has measles due to a measles like rash, but blood test will prove if it is measles or if it is a viral rash).
These infectious illnesses include but are not limited to:
In the event that the Education and Care Service is notified that a child has a reportable infectious illness/infectious Illness the following applies:
Sudden Illness at the Education and Care Service
There are times when a child may suddenly display illness symptoms whilst at the education and care service. Children will also sometimes exhibit out of character behaviours which may be the beginning stages of illness eg. lethargic and asking to lay down, or falling asleep outside of rest time, becoming quiet and withdrawn and not participating in activities they normally would, etc.
Educators that see these behaviours should start the illness observation process and note these behaviours on the Xplor Playground Incident Register under the child’s profile. Even if no temperature is present at this time, it may rise, so 10-minute temperature checks should commence and continue until the behaviour, illness or observation is deemed ceased or a parent/ guardian comes to collect the child and signs the illness observation form.
There are specific guidelines relating to fever and vomiting/diarrhea (please see section below). Should sudden illness occur the Education and Care Service will:
Should a child be sent home from the Education and Care Service due to sudden illness the parent/legal guardian should seek further medical treatment and may be required to provide a clearance letter from a medical practitioner.
Policy Review
Related Centre Policies and Source Acknowledgements
Policy Reviewed | Modifications | Next Review Date |
January 2020 | Information added regarding time frames and what injuries to the body require educators to notify parents/caregivers in relation to an incident. | January 2021 |
July 2020 | Information regarding updating of logging incidents and illnesses to occur on Xplor Playground Child Profiles. | July 2021 |
July 2021 | Updates to completion times for incident reports and also regarding illness observation forms for temperatures. | July 2022 |
July 2022 | Educators will not leave the future steps, opportunities for prevention as N/A in an incident report of a minor or moderate injury. This will be filled in with some learning or future supervision opportunity for educators and children. | July 2023 |
May 2023 | Clarification to state that educators under the age of 18 cannot create the incident report but can contribute to the incident report. | May 2024 |
June 2024 | No changes required | June 2025 |