This information outlines the process for OSHC services when reporting critical incidents requiring notification (within 24 hours for a serious incident or 7 days for a non-serious incident) to:

• South Australian Department for Education
• Education Standards Board (ESB).

These processes support school governing council and third-party providers operating an OSHC service on department sites. You can also find out about:

• critical incident and injury reporting
• notification types and timeframes
• reporting during vacation care
• reporting security incidents and complaints.

Reporting critical incidents and injuries

1. An incident or injury occurs.
2. The OSHC director or educator completes the incident, injury, trauma and illness record for all critical incidents and injuries.
3. The OSHC director or delegate of the approved provider notifies the principal within 12 hours.
4. The OSHC director or delegate of the approved provider notifies the Education Standards Board (ESB) through the National Quality Agenda IT System (NQAITS) public portal within the 24 hour regulated timeline.
5. The OSHC director or delegate of approved provider provides a copy of both the incident, injury and trauma record and the NQAITS notification record to the principal.
6. The principal (or their nominee) reports the incident on the Incident Response Management System (IRMS) within 12 hours and uploads the provided records.
7. The approved provider must notify SafeWork SA where required.

Notification types and timeframes

The types of critical incidents to be reported in IRMS within 12 hours and NQAITS portal within 24 hours are:

• death of a child
• serious illness of a child where the child attended or ought reasonably to have attended a hospital
• injury or trauma where the child attended or ought reasonably to have attended a hospital, or a reasonable person would consider the child would require urgent medical attention
• an emergency when emergency services attended
• when a child is missing or cannot be accounted for, or appears to have been removed by a person not authorised by a parent
• when a child is mistakenly locked in or out of the premises or any part of the premises
• a complaint that an incident as outlined above has occurred.

Incidents to be reported within 7 days:

• circumstances that are a risk to the health, safety and wellbeing of a child attending the service
• any incident alleging physical or sexual abuse has or is occurring while at the service
• allegations of physical or sexual abuse of a child has or is occurring while at the service.

The reporting process remains the same with non-critical incidents with only a change to the required timeframe.

Reporting during vacation care

If the principal or their nominee will not be available during vacation care, they must authorise a delegate with access to IRMS to enable timely reporting in their absence.

To request access to IRMS complete the IRMS request for access form (PDF 149 KB) .

Important note: The principal or their nominee is responsible for updating IRMS with any follow up actions that have been made about the incident, injury after the submission of the critical incident.

Reporting security incidents

The approved provider must make sure security incidents occurring at the OSHC service are reported to the principal.

The principal should report security issues to:

• the Security and Emergency Management Unit during business hours on 1800 000 279
• or the Police Security Services Branch (PSSB) control room during out of hours on 8116 9230.

For more information on incident reporting, contact the Early Childhood Policy and Strategy unit on 08 8226 6427 or email Education.oshc@sa.gov.au.

Reporting complaints in government schools

OSHC directors must follow the service grievance or complaints policy and report the complaint to the principal and school governing council.

The approved provider must report the complaint to the ESB through the National Quality Agenda IT System (NQAITS) public portal within the regulated timelines.

Complaints alleging that a serious incident has occurred or that the National Law has been contravened must be reported within 24 hours of the complaint.

The principal may record complaints on the department’s Incident Recording Management System (IRMS).

You can also contact the Education Standards Board for matters regarding Regulations and National Law.

The Education Complaint unit takes feedback and complaints about a school or preschool.