Policy: Category: Authorized by: Serious Occurrence Reporting Operations Joan Arruda, CEO Pages: 4 Date effective: Sep 1, 2006 To be reviewed: March 5, 2016 POLICY Family Day Care Services delivers services that are funded and licensed by the Ministry of Education (Ministry) and therefore are accountable to the Ministry to demonstrate that our service delivery is consistent with relevant legislation, regulations and ministry policy. The reporting of serious occurrences as defined by the Ministry is one component of this accountability relationship. Purpose Serious occurrence reporting provides the Ministry and Family Day with an effective means of monitoring the appropriateness and quality of our service delivery. Family Day is responsible for ensuring that Program Managers, Supervisors and staff can identify a serious occurrence, the immediate response procedures to an incident that is a serious occurrence and the expected steps in reporting a serious occurrence including the identification and reporting of a Critical Serious Occurrence. Scope All Managers, Supervisors, program staff and caregivers. Serious Occurrence Definition 1. Any death of a client which occurs while participating in a service. 2. Any serious injury to a client which occurs while participating in a service when professional medical treatment is required. This includes: a. any injury caused by the service provider b. a serious accidental injury received while in attendance at a service provider setting and/or in receiving service from the provider c. an injury to a client which is non-accidental, including self-inflicted, or unexplained and which requires treatment by a medical practitioner including a nurse or dentist. 3. Any alleged abuse or mistreatment of a client which occurs while participating in a service. This includes all allegations of abuse or mistreatment of clients against staff, volunteers and temporary care providers. 4. Any situation where a client is missing in accordance with Ministry requirements for applicable program sectors; otherwise, where the service provider considers the matter to be serious. 5. Any disaster, such as fire, on the premises where service is provided. 6. Any complaint concerning the operational, physical or safety standards of the service that is considered by the service provider to be a serious nature, including any report of adverse water quality. 7. Any complaint made by or about a client, or any other serious occurrence concerning a client that is considered by the service provider to be of a serious nature. Source: Serious Occurrence reporting procedures for service providers, Ministry of Education. Procedure When an incident/accident has been determined to be a serious occurrence, as defined by the above definition on page 1, it must be reported to the Ministry. Family Day Care Services Page 1 of 4
Policy: Serious Occurrence Reporting When emergency services (i.e. police, fire and/or ambulance) are used in response to a incident and/or the incident is likely to result in public or media attention, a Family Day Program Manager will be informed immediately. The child shall be provided with immediate medical attention as appropriate. Appropriate steps shall be taken to address any continuing risks to other participants health and safety. A Program Manager will ensure that the local coroner is notified immediately in all cases involving death regardless of location or circumstances. The staff or any other person witnessing or having knowledge of the occurrence shall report the matter to the Program Manager, Supervisor and/or Designate who will be responsible for conducting the serious occurrence inquiry. The Program Manager, Supervisor or Designate shall immediately begin to draft the Serious Occurrence Report on the Child Care Licensing System, gather information regarding the actual or alleged occurrence(s). All persons having knowledge of the occurrence should be asked to remain on the premises until the Program Manager/Supervisor or Designate has interviewed them or indicated that there is no need for their involvement at that point. If on the basis of this draft report, there is reason to suspect that abuse is involved refer to and follow the procedures for suspected child abuse in addition to the serious occurrence reporting procedures. A Child Care Serious Occurrence Report must be submitted within 24 hours to the Ministry of Education, using the online Child Care Licensing System. Serious occurrences that occur in the Toronto Home Child Care Program and Toronto child care centres must also be reported to City of Toronto Children s Services by phone (416-397-7359) within 24 hours. For serious occurrences that occur in the Peel Home Child Care Program and Peel child care centres and involve a subsidized client, a report must also be faxed to Region of Peel Children s Services (905-450-5757) within 24 hours. Situations that could escalate/involve the media, Critical Serious Occurrence Where a serious occurrence involves one of the following; a child has died; a child is missing and whereabouts are unknown; there has been media attention; or police are conducting an investigation The report will be forwarded from CCLS to the Program Advisor (PA), Compliance Manager, Manager of Children s Services, the City District Director and City Consultant. In the event that Family Day is not able to access the CCLS system within the required time period, Family Day shall inform their assigned Program Advisor directly by telephone and by email. In a situation that could potentially escalate to involve the media, Family Day will ensure that the Ministry is kept updated with any changes to the situation. Notification Report Posting Child Care Centres and Private Homes must complete and post a Serious Occurrence Notification Form using the Child Care Licensing System immediately after a Serious Occurrence. This form must be posted within 24 hours in an accessible location in the front area of the child care centre or private home day care setting. This Serious Occurrence Notification Form will be posted for ten (10) business days. Any changes to initial information posted require a revision to the Serious Occurrence Notification Form. This new information will be posted for an additional ten (10) business days. In situations of an allegation of child abuse, the Serious Occurrence Notification Form is posted Family Day Care Services Page 2 of 4
Policy: Serious Occurrence Reporting only when an investigation has been concluded. In situations of complaints, the Serious Occurrence Notification Form is posted only when the complaint has been verified or not verified and the operator has taken actions to address the complaint. This information will be high level, succinct and maintain the confidentiality of child(ren) and staff involved. It must not include personal information such as names, age, date of birth, room or age group of care. Family Day Care Services Page 3 of 4
Policy: Serious Occurrence Reporting Reporting Process - Annually On an annual basis, Family Day is responsible for completing an Annual Summary & Analysis Report (Appendix 1) by the end of January. It is the responsibility of each Supervisor and/or Program Manager to complete the summary for his or her own site. This report is to be kept on site for review by the Ministry. Copies of the submitted summary will be forwarded to the Program Manager, who will compile the reports and bring them to the Operations meeting in March for analysis. Program Managers will identify any cross-agency patterns and make necessary recommendations. Employee Review All Program Managers, Supervisors and program staff review the Serious Occurrence Reporting Policy at the time of hiring and annually thereafter. Employee Signature I have read and understand the Serious Occurrence Reporting Policy. I agree to follow the procedures outlined herein. Employee s Signature Employee s name (print) Date Attachments Appendix 1: Serious Occurrence Reporting Procedures Annual Summary and Analysis Report Family Day Care Services Page 4 of 4
Ministry of Education Serious Occurrence Reporting Procedures Annual Summary and Analysis Report INSTRUCTIONS: COMPLETE THIS FORM AND RETAIN ON FILE AT THE CHILD CARE CENTRE OR PRIVATE-HOME DAY CARE AGENCY OFFICE Period of Report: [add date] Name of Service Provider: Name of Child Care Centre/Private-Home Day Care Agency: Service Provider Contact: Ministry of Education Program Advisor: Did any serious occurrences take place during the reporting period? Yes: [ ] No: [ ] If no, please sign the report and retain on file. If yes, please provide the following information: Type of Serious Occurrence Total # Reported 1. Any death of a client while participating in a service. 2. Any serious injury to a client which occurs while participating in a service: (a) caused by the service provider, (b) accidental, (c) self-inflicted/unexplained treatment req d 3. Any alleged abuse or mistreatment of a client which occurs while participating in a service. 4. Any situation where a client is missing, in accordance with ministry requirements for applicable program sectors; otherwise where service provider considers matter to be serious. 5. Any disaster, such as a fire, on the premises where a service is provided. 6. Any complaint concerning the operational, physical or safety standards of the service that is considered by the service provider to be of a serious nature, including any report of adverse water quality. 7. Any complaint made by or about a client, or any other serious occurrence concerning a client, that is considered by the service provider to be of a serious nature. 8. Any use of a physical restraint of a resident in a residence licensed as a children's residence under the Child and Family Services Act or a service provider funded under the Developmental Services Act that provides group living supports to adults with developmental disabilities. Total Serious Occurrences Serious Occurrences initially reported within 24 hours: # % Serious Occurrence Inquiry Reports submitted within 7 working days: # % Number of serious occurrences requiring additional action or information, at the request of the ministry, after submission of the Serious Occurrence Inquiry Report: (Revised 03/2012)
Based on an analysis of all serious occurrences during the reporting period, describe any issues, trends or patterns relating to staff, clients, equipment and physical plant/site that contributed to or caused the serious occurrence(s): An outline of the action taken (or in progress) by your organization in response to these [please note that the outcome of any identified action-in-progress must be reported to your assigned MEDU Child Care Quality Assurance and Licensing office upon its completion]: Describe any issues, and actions taken, with regard to the timely reporting of serious occurrences: Further, the service provider certifies that internal policies, for the ongoing instruction of staff regarding serious occurrences, are currently in place. At a minimum these policies address: (a) the identification of serious occurrences; (b) the immediate response procedures to a serious occurrence incident; (c) the expected steps in reporting a serious occurrence; and (d) the serious occurrence notification form posting requirements. Signature of Service Provider Representative Date (Revised 03/2012)