Incident, Injury, Trauma and Illness Records

Viewbank Early Childhood Centre is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children, educators, staff, students, volunteers and visitors to the Centre. Daily Safety and Hazard identification checks are undertaken, and hygiene procedures followed, to ensure that the risk of incident, injury, trauma and illness is minimised.

However, we understand that at times, incidents, injury, illness and trauma may occur. When these do, the following procedures must be followed to ensure that such incidents are dealt with in the best possible manner, and within the guidelines of the National Regulations and Law.

An incident, injury, trauma and illness record must be kept in accordance with Regulation 87 of the Education and Care Services National Regulations for the following occurrences:

An incident in relation to a child
An injury received by a child
A trauma to which a child has been subjected
An illness that becomes apparent whilst at the Centre

The incident, injury, trauma and illness record must include the following details:

The name and age of the child;
The time and date the incident occurred, the injury was sustained, the child was subjected to the trauma, or the apparent onset of the illness;
The circumstances leading to the incident, injury or trauma, or surrounding the child becoming ill (including any symptoms);
The action taken by the educator/s, including any first aid provided, medication administered or medical personnel contacted;
Details of any person who witnessed the incident, injury or trauma;
The name of any person the educator notified, or attempted to notify, of any incident, injury, trauma or illness a child has suffered at the Centre, and the time and date of the notifications or attempted notifications;
The name and signature of the educator making the entry in record, and the time and date that the entry was made.

The National Regulations require accurate incident, injury, trauma and illness records to be kept and stored confidentially until the child is 25 years of age.

Educators and team members should, at all times, ensure that:

the above details are included in the incident, injury, trauma and illness record as soon as practicable, but not later than 24 hours after the incident, injury or trauma, or the onset of the illness;
a parent/guardian (or another authorised person where they can not be contacted) is notified of an incident, injury, trauma and illness relating to their child as soon as practicable and within 24 hours of the occurrence;
they are aware of children’s medical management plans and their responsibilities in the event of an incident, injury or medical emergency;
they carry out their daily safety and hazard identification checklists to minimise hazards and the likelihood of incidents, injury and trauma;
they review the cause of any incident, injury or illness and take appropriate action to remove the cause, or minimise the chance of the incident reoccurring or the illness from spreading;
DEECD is notified in writing within 24 hours of a ‘serious incident’, including the death of a child while at the Centre or following an incident while at the Centre, or any incident involving serious injury or trauma to, or illness of, a child while at the Centre, which requires urgent medical attention by a registered medical practitioner or admission to a hospital;
they ensure that regulatory and legislative responsibilities are met, and that centre procedures are followed in regards to incident, injury, trauma and illness at all times.

Source: Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011

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