When incidents happen, it’s not just about fixing what went wrong—it's about creating a safer, better future for everyone involved. An incident management system is more than a tool; it’s a structured approach to improving safety, care quality, and compliance. 

Whether it’s a near miss or a serious event, having the right system ensures you can respond effectively, prevent similar issues, and continuously enhance your services.

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What is an incident?

An incident is any act, omission, event, or situation connected to the provision of care or services that:

• Has caused, or could reasonably be expected to cause, harm to a participant, staff member, or visitor.
• Is suspected or alleged to have caused harm.
• Has caused harm to a customer, which the provider becomes aware of later.

Examples of incidents that can be reported to the NDIS Commission* include:

• The death of the participant
• Serious injury of the participant
• Abuse or neglect of the participant
• Unlawful physical contact with, or assault of, the participant
• Unlawful sexual contact with, or assault of, the participant
• Sexual misconduct committed against, or in the presence of, the participant, including grooming of the person for sexual activity...........
• The unauthorised use of a restrictive practice in relation to the participant

Examples of incidents that can be reported to the Commission under the SIRS* can be:

• Unreasonable use of force or abusive behaviour toward a participant.
• Unlawful or inappropriate sexual conduct.
• Psychological or emotional abuse.
• Theft or financial coercion by staff.
• Neglect of a customer
• Unexpected death of a participant.
• Use of restrictive practices outside of approved guidelines (Quality of Care Principles)
• Unexplained absence of a participant (in residential care settings)
• Missing participant (in the course of provision of care in home and community settings)

* For more information on the reporting requirements under NDIS Commission, please refer to this NDIS Incident Report Guidance. For requirements under the SIRS, you can refer to Serious Incident Response Scheme Guidelines for residential aged care providers and for providers of home services.

What is a near miss? A near miss is an event that doesn’t cause harm but could have. You should capture near misses to assess their potential impact on your customers. Examples include tripping hazards or equipment left in blind spots. Reporting near misses promotes a safety culture, helping you understand risks and prevent future incidents. Supporting staff in recognising and learning from near misses enhances overall quality and safety.

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What is an Incident Management System?

An incident management system helps identify, assess, respond to, and document all incidents and near misses when providing care and services. It’s a structured approach to improving safety and service quality.

These systems apply to all incidents—whether known, suspected, or alleged—and focus on:

• ‍Understanding and Preventing Risks: Helps services identify risks early to stop incidents from happening.‍
• Protecting Health and Safety: Keeps the well-being of customers and anyone affected by an incident as the top priority.‍
• Clarifying Staff Roles: Clearly defines what staff and others need to do when managing incidents.‍
• Clear Policies and Procedures: Developed with input from customers and staff, these documents guide users to:
• Recognise and report incidents and near misses.
• Assess impacts and respond to affected individuals.
• Analyse and, if needed, investigate incidents.
• Use findings to improve services and prevent future issues.‍
• Staff Training and Awareness: Ensures everyone understands how the system works through training and regular updates.‍
• Open Communication: Encourages dialogue with customers, families, and advocates about the system, including using interpreters if needed.‍
• Record-Keeping Tools: Provides a way to store and access incident information easily.‍
• Governance and Accountability: Supports oversight to keep the system effective and continuously improving.

The system should also outline which incidents must be reported to the relevant authorities (like under SIRS) and who is responsible for doing so.

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What are the different types of Incident Management Systems?

Incident management systems vary based on your organisation’s size, location, services, and customers. Some use advanced quality or risk management software, while others rely on Excel or paper-based systems. Even paper systems must ensure efficient reporting and trend analysis, possibly using colour coding or incident logs. 

Paper-based incident management system

Think of a paper-based incident management system as a trusty filing cabinet—it’s straightforward, simple, and always there when technology fails. It’s like using a classic map to navigate; you might not have the speed or convenience of GPS, but it gets the job done with a little patience and effort.

When incidents happen, your team will fill out a form. They write down key details like the time, place, people involved, and what was done to respond. After the form is completed, it’s logged in a book or spreadsheet. This helps track what’s happening over time. The completed forms are stored in folders or cabinets.

Advantages: Paper-based systems are easy to set up and require minimal training for staff, making them accessible for organisations with limited resources.

Challenges:

• Time-consuming: Manually documenting and managing records is a slow process, especially when dealing with multiple or complex incidents.
• Human error: Handwritten records can lead to errors, such as incomplete information or illegible handwriting, which could result in compliance issues.
• Limited accessibility: Physical records can only be accessed by one person at a time, and there is always a risk of loss or damage.
• Difficulty in analysis: Identifying trends or generating reports manually is time-intensive.
• Storage issues: Over time, paper records require significant storage space, and maintaining secure and organised files can become challenging.

If you are using paper-based methods, you might want to consider switching to electronic systems for better efficiency, real-time reporting, and clearer visibility of incidents and trends.

Incident management software

Incident management software is a modern, tech-driven solution designed to handle incidents more efficiently and effectively. Unlike paper-based systems, software solutions streamline the entire process—recording, tracking, and resolving incidents—while offering tools to improve safety, compliance, and decision-making.

Communicating with customers, their families, and representatives about your incident management system is key to building trust and improving care. Encourage their questions, feedback, and reporting of incidents or near misses. This involvement enhances the system’s focus on customer needs and promotes continuous learning and improvement.

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Key Principles for Managing Incidents Effectively

Effective incident management is built on a few key principles. These help ensure a strong, responsive system that benefits everyone involved. 

It’s advisable for your organisation to develop, support, and communicate these principles continuously. By doing so, you can build a reliable incident management system that protects customers and improves your organisation’s safety culture.

Here are the principles:

• ‍Customer-Centred: Put customers at the heart of your incident management approach. Respect their dignity, choices, and unique needs. When incidents or near misses happen, involve customers (and their representatives) in resolving the issue and deciding on any actions to prevent future occurrences.
• ‍Outcomes-Focused: Prioritise health, safety, and well-being. Your system should aim to understand risks, prevent incidents, minimise harm, and take steps to avoid similar events in the future.
• ‍Open Disclosure: Be transparent when things go wrong. Apologise and have open conversations with those affected. Address their immediate needs and explain how you’ll prevent similar incidents in the future.
• ‍Accountable: Everyone involved should know their role and responsibilities in managing an incident. Hold staff accountable for their actions and decisions throughout the process.
• ‍Clear, Simple, and Consistent: Make your policies and procedures easy to understand for both staff and customers. Document everything clearly, ensure information is readily accessible, and apply it consistently across your organisation.
• ‍Timely: Respond quickly to incidents and aim to resolve them as soon as possible. Keep affected parties updated regularly throughout the process.
• ‍Continuous Improvement: Learn from every incident. Identify trends and areas for improvement. Use this information to enhance your services and maintain high-quality care.

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How Incident Management Systems Benefit Your Organisation?

Incident management isn’t just about handling problems—it’s about creating a proactive, learning-focused environment that benefits everyone involved. 

An effective incident management system offers numerous benefits, enhancing the safety, quality, and transparency of care and services. Here’s how:

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Supports Safe, Quality Care: It provides tools to prevent incidents and continuously improve care delivery, ensuring a safer environment for customers and staff.

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Helps Understand and Manage Risk: Incident management helps you assess risks and adapt practices, not to eliminate risk entirely but to understand it better. Consulting with customers and their families allows for balancing safety with personal choices and independence.

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Empowers customers and Builds Confidence: Proactively managing incidents fosters trust. Open communication about incidents and near misses reassures customers and their families that you are committed to learning and improving care. Involving them in identifying risks and strategies empowers them while maintaining their safety.

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Promotes a Blame-Free Culture: A supportive culture encourages staff to report errors without fear. This focus on learning rather than blaming improves collaboration among staff, customers, and families in finding solutions when things go wrong.

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Informs Care Assessment and Planning: Incident management helps identify health changes, such as physical or cognitive decline, allowing timely adjustments to care plans. For example, a fall might indicate a physical decline, while aggressive behaviour could signal a mental health issue.

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Retains and Develops Staff: When staff feel supported in reporting and learning from incidents, their confidence grows. Clear processes help them recognise and respond to risks, turning near misses into learning opportunities that improve service delivery.

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Prevents Future Incidents: Beyond responding to immediate issues, incident management uncovers root causes, such as governance gaps, policy deficiencies, or environmental factors. Addressing these helps prevent recurring problems.

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Supports Broader Responsibilities: An incident management system helps you meet key NDIS and Aged Care standards:

• NDIS: Core Module 2 focuses on provider governance and operational management. This includes maintaining a system that acknowledges, responds to, and learns from incidents
• Age Care: Standard 8 requires managing high-impact risks and addressing abuse or neglect. An effective system identifies risks and prevents incidents, ensuring customer safety. Standard 6 focuses on open disclosure when incidents occur, promoting transparent communication with customers and their families.
• Effective incident management demonstrates your compliance with broader provider responsibilities and shows your commitment to high-quality care.

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Supports Compliance with NDIS Quality Commission Requirements: An effective IMS provides a framework for documenting incidents, which is essential for demonstrating compliance during audits by the NDIS Quality Commission. This includes maintaining records of reportable incidents and actions taken in response to them.

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Supports Compliance with SIRS Requirements: An incident management system helps ensure compliance with SIRS by enabling staff to identify and assess incidents and near misses, respond appropriately to minimise harm and notify the Commission and other relevant authorities as required.

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Manage incident effectively with Pnyx

With the Pnyx Quality Management System, incident management becomes seamless, proactive, and impactful.

Our system helps you log, track, and resolve incidents efficiently, ensuring every detail is captured and every action is accounted for. With compliance tools, customizable templates, and real-time analytics, you stay audit-ready all time. Pnyx enables your team to respond faster, learn from incidents, and continuously enhance the quality of care.

Learn how Pnyx helps you take control of incident management and turn every challenge into an opportunity to deliver exceptional care.