Incidents and incident investigation

Regulations 97 and 168 of the Education and Care ServicesNational Regulations, 2011 mandate services to have policies and procedures which set out instructions for what must be done in an emergency. It also requires services to have an evacuation plan displayed near the exits to the service.

Regulation 97 of the Education and Care

Services National Regulations 2011 states:

‘(1) The emergency and evacuation procedures required under regulation 168 must set out— (a) instructions for what must be done in the event of an emergency; and (b) an emergency and evacuation floor plan.

(2)For the purposes of preparing the emergency and evacuation procedures, the approved provider of an education and care service must ensure that a risk assessment is conducted to identify potential emergencies that are relevant to the service. Penalty: $2000.

(3)The approved provider of an education and care service must ensure that—

(a)the emergency and evacuation procedures are rehearsed every 3 months that the service is operating, by the nominated supervisor, staff members and volunteers and children being educated and cared for by the service; and (b)the rehearsals of the emergency and evacuation procedures are documented. Penalty: $2000.

(4)The approved provider of an education and care service must ensure that a copy of the emergency and evacuation floor plan and instructions are displayed in a prominent position near each exit at the education and care service premises, including a family day care residence and approved family day care venue. Penalty: $2000.’

(MCEECDYA, 2011, p.116).

If a worker is injured, the first thing the PCBU must do is to get appropriate medical treatment. If the injury is serious, they must notify their regulatory authority to report it as a notifiable incident.

A notifiable incident is:

• the death of a person • a ‘serious injury or illness’, or • a ‘dangerous incident’ arising out of the conduct of a business or undertaking at a workplace.

Notifiable incidents may relate to any person – whether an employee, contractor or member of the public (Safe Work Australia, 2015).

Only the most serious health and safety incidents are notifiable.

Requirements of injury notification

Once a PCBU (employer) has taken care of the worker, they must make a report of the incident. This can be done in a register of injuries that is to be kept in the workplace. The register of injuries must not only record accidents and injuries, but also near misses. A near miss is when a staff member has nearly been injured but fortunately an injury was avoided. The requirements are as follows: • Employers must keep a register of injuries at each workplace for employees to record any workplace injury or illness. The register of injuries can be a diary, exercise book or electronic file.

• An injured worker (or someone acting on their behalf) must notify the employer in writing of any work-related injury or illness within 30 days of becoming aware of the injury or illness. • Employers must provide written confirmation to the injured worker that they received notification of the injury or illness.

• Employers should provide a signed and dated copy of this entry to the injured worker.

When the employer is informed that a worker is injured and is not able to return to their normal duties, it is good practice to give the staff member information

about returning to work. This includes information on the employer’s obligation to assist the worker to return to work, and the staff member’s return to work rights and obligations.

In addition to reporting an incident, it must also be investigated. The main purpose of the investigation is to establish the contributing factors to the incident.

The following steps could be followed to undertake an investigation: • Interview the victim and any witnesses, one by one and privately, to determine what happened. • Try not to blame anyone. It is not a witch hunt. • Inspect the scene of the accident and take photos if you need to.

• Thank everyone who has contributed to the investigation. • Record all data accurately, in writing. Use your register of injuries. In your analysis, include actions that should be taken to prevent this type of incident re-occurring.

A sample form is attached to the end of this resource (see Appendix 3).