Childcare incident, injury, trauma and illness policy: regulations 85 to 87

Last reviewed: 29 October 2026. Checked against the Education and Care Services National Regulations, reprint current as at 12 August 2026.

This page is about the policy and procedures. The incident report guide covers the record form and the serious incident table in detail; this page covers what the policy must say, how illness is handled alongside injury, and what officers look for under Element 2.1.2 and 2.2.2.

What regulation 168 requires

The provisions the procedures must comply with

Provision	What it requires	Penalty
r 86	A parent must be notified as soon as practicable, and not later than 24 hours after, any incident, injury, trauma or illness involving the child while in the service’s care.	$6,600
r 87	The record must include, for an incident, injury or trauma: the child’s name and age, the circumstances, and the time and date; for an illness: name and age, the circumstances and apparent symptoms, and the time and date of onset; the action taken including medication or first aid and any medical personnel contacted; any witness; the name of any person notified or attempted to be notified and the time and date; and the name and signature of the person making the entry and the time and date. The record must be made as soon as practicable and not later than 24 hours after the event.	Prescribed record (s 175: $13,500 / $68,700)
r 12	Serious incident: a child’s death; serious injury or trauma needing urgent medical attention from a doctor or for which the child attended or ought to have attended hospital (example: a broken limb); serious illness for which the child attended or ought to have attended hospital (examples: severe asthma attack, seizure, anaphylaxis); an emergency for which emergency services attended; a child missing, unaccounted for, taken or removed in contravention of the Regulations, or locked in or out.	Definition
s 174(2)(a), r 176(2)(a)	Notify the regulatory authority of a serious incident within 24 hours; a death as soon as practicable and within 24 hours.	$13,500 / $68,700
r 175(2)(c), r 176(2)(c)	Any circumstance arising at the service that poses a risk to the health, safety or wellbeing of a child: notify within 7 days.	Part of s 174
r 175(2)(d), (e); r 176(2)(bb), (bc)	An incident the provider reasonably believes involved physical or sexual abuse, or an allegation of it: within 24 hours.	Part of s 174
r 88	Reasonable steps to prevent the spread of an infectious disease and notification of a parent or emergency contact of each child as soon as practicable.	$6,600
r 89, r 136	Suitably equipped first aid kits wherever care is provided; a first aid, anaphylaxis and asthma qualified educator in attendance and immediately available.	r 89: $6,600; r 136: $6,600
r 93, r 94	Medication only on authorisation except in an anaphylaxis or asthma emergency, when parent and emergency services are notified as soon as practicable.	r 93: $6,600
r 183(2)(a)–(c)	Incident, injury, trauma and illness records kept until the child is 25; death records for 7 years.	$6,600
r 177(3), r 181	The record is available to the child’s parent on request; information in it is confidential.	$6,600 each

What the policy must contain

1. Definitions the service uses: incident, injury, trauma, illness, near miss, and serious incident restated from regulation 12 with the examples.
2. Immediate response: the first aider attends (regulation 136), the rest of the group is supervised (section 165), emergency services are called for the regulation 12(b) and (c) categories without waiting for a parent, and medical management plans are followed for children with conditions (regulation 90).
3. Illness procedure: symptoms that trigger exclusion, comfort and isolation of the child, hygiene steps, parent contact and the expectation of collection, the exclusion periods applied on return, and the regulation 88 notification to all families when an infectious disease occurs.
4. Head injuries, bites, falls: the escalation thresholds the service uses for medical attention and for calling an ambulance, so educators are not making the judgement alone.
5. Parent notification: by whom, how (phone for anything beyond minor, with the conversation recorded), and the 24-hour outer limit in regulation 86.
6. The record: the regulation 87 form, who completes it, the 24-hour completion limit, the signature, witness details, and where it is filed; a separate near-miss log is good practice but the regulation 87 record is the legal one.
7. Notification decision: a step that tests every record against regulation 12 and regulation 175(2)(c), (d) and (e), who lodges the notification on the NQA ITS, and the 24-hour and 7-day limits.
8. Trauma: what the service treats as trauma (witnessing a serious event, a frightening incident, a disclosure), the support to the child and family, and that it is recorded and notified like an injury.
9. Staff injuries are a work health and safety matter under state law and are kept separately; the policy should say so to avoid the regulation 87 record being used for them.
10. Review: every serious incident and every notifiable circumstance leads to a review of the relevant risk assessment and, where it reveals a gap, a QIP entry.
11. Family day care: the educator keeps the record (regulation 87(2)), notifies the provider of serious incidents (section 174A, $6,600) and the provider notifies the regulatory authority.

What assessors look for

Incident handling is assessed under Element 2.1.2 (health practices and procedures) and Element 2.2.2 (incident and emergency management). Officers read the record for the last several months and test entries: was the parent told within 24 hours, was anything that meets regulation 12 notified, is the time of the event and the time of the entry both recorded, is the signature there. They ask an educator what they would do for a suspected fracture. Missing notifications found this way become compliance matters separate from the rating.

Common gaps

• Records with the date of the event but not the time, or completed days later.
• Illness treated as not needing a regulation 87 entry because “it was just a temperature”.
• A child sent to hospital as a precaution and not notified because the injury turned out minor: regulation 12(b)(ii) turns on attendance at hospital, not on the diagnosis.
• Parent notified by app message with no evidence it was read, and no phone call.
• Records of a child who left the service destroyed after 3 years instead of being kept to age 25.

Frequently asked questions

This page is a research summary, not legal or compliance advice. Element and regulation wording is reproduced from the current reprint of the National Regulations; confirm the position with your regulatory authority before relying on it for a compliance decision.