015 Managing an Incident Procedure
FOR:
All Proactive Support staff
PROACTIVE SUPPORT RELATED DOCUMENTS:
001 Participant’s Rights Policy
003 Participant’s Privacy, Dignity and Confidentiality Policy
004 Risk Management Framework
005 Risk Management Policy
006 Work Health and Safety Policy
008 Incident Management Policy
011 Human Resource Management Policy
016 Reporting an Incident Procedure
‘Incident Report’ Form
Incident Register
1. Identify that an incident has occurred
An incident is:
- An act, omission, event, or circumstance which occurred which caused harm to the participant or could have caused them harm. e.g. participant trips and falls, injuring leg, whilst with Proactive Support staff
- An act by the participant that caused serious harm or risk of serious harm to another person
- An allegation of a reportable incident
2. Manage the incident
- Attend to the immediate need, if required.
- Administer First Aid
- Call emergency services 000, Fire, Police, Ambulance
- Reassure participant
3. Collect Evidence
- Note down contact details of persons involved and witnesses
- Take photos / video footage
- Take notes of circumstances, events, time etc.
4. Contact Proactive Support Management
- As soon as possible; essential if the incident is reportable
- Provide comprehensive information about the incident - initial verbal (phone or face to face) report, next with a written Incident Report and any evidence collected
Request support for participant if required – e.g. advocates, carers or nominees – including independent advocate
5. Facilitate Support for Participant
Support and assistance are to be given to each participant affected by the incident to ensure their health, safety, and wellbeing. Depending on the situation:
- Offer to contact the participant’s preferred personal advocate, carer or nominee
- Offer to contact an independent advocate: https://disabilityadvocacyfinder.dss.gov.au/disability/ndap/organisations
- Reassurance and care – being ‘with’ a participant
- Other practical supports such as arranging for extra staff to sit with them in hospital, for example
6. Record and Report
Proactive Support management should:
- Consult with involved staff, participants, and other persons to clarify details of the incident
- Record the details in the yellow ‘Incident Details’ section of the Incident Register; ensuring every field is completed, including the following mandatory information:
1. Time, date, and location of incident, or when the incident was first identified
2. Names and contact details of persons involved and witnesses
3. Description of incident including impact / harm to any participant
4. Action taken, by whom
5. Support / assistance given to participant
6. Name and contact details of person who is recording the incident
- Report the incident if required according to the Reporting an Incident Procedure
7. Investigation
Proactive Support management should further investigate certain incidents, especially if they are reportable. The investigation may include (depending on the circumstances):
- Further questioning of persons involved
- Referral to other services such as police, health practitioners, legal services
- Impact report to determine the effect of the incident on Proactive Support and participants
- Review of Proactive Support’s incident management system to determine if operational issues may have been the cause of the incident
If a Proactive Support staff member is found to be at fault as a result of the investigation, corrective action may be taken as per the 011 Human Resource Management Policy.
8. Resolution
All persons involved in the incident will have the opportunity to have input into determining why the incident occurred, give feedback about how well it was managed, and how similar incidences could be prevented in the future. The following details should be entered into the green ‘Management and Resolution’ section of the Incident Register by Proactive Support management:
Consultations undertaken with the participant, carer or nominee affected by the incident
- Action items following the consultation
- Details of further investigations if any were deemed necessary
- Outcomes following investigations and any action items
- Whether or not a report was made to the participant involved
9. Assessment
An assessment will be made of the management of the incident by Proactive Support management no later than one month following incident resolution. This assessment should be procedurally fair and will consider the participant’s views gathered from:
- Initial communications when the incident occurred
- Information received during consultation following the incident
- Any feedback received following the ‘resolution report’ made to the participant
Once the assessment has been made, the following details should be entered into the purple ‘Assessment’ section of the Incident Management Register:
- Ways the incident could have been prevented
- How well the incident was managed and resolved
- If any remedial action is required
- Any other persons who should be notified
This information is to be used in the yearly review of Proactive Support’s Incident Management System to enable identification of systemic issues and provide useful statistical information for improvement of the system.
