Critical Incident Policy and Procedure

1. Purpose

The purpose of this policy and procedure is to ensure that Academus Training Institute has a clear, structured and effective process for responding to critical incidents that may occur during training, assessment, student support activities, workplace-based activities, practical training, simulated workplace activities or any ATI-approved activity.

Academus Training Institute recognises that critical incidents can affect the safety, wellbeing, dignity, learning progress and confidence of students, staff and visitors. This policy ensures that critical incidents are managed promptly, calmly, confidentially and appropriately.

This policy also ensures that staff understand their responsibilities, students and staff receive appropriate support, emergency services are contacted where required, incidents are recorded accurately, and the response is reviewed for continuous improvement.

2. Scope

This policy applies to all persons involved with Academus Training Institute, including:

• Domestic students
• Prospective students attending ATI premises or activities
• Trainers and assessors
• Administration staff
• Management staff
• Contractors
• Visitors
• Industry representatives
• Any approved third-party personnel involved in ATI activities

This policy applies at:

• ATI premises
• Classrooms
• Practical training areas
• Simulated workplace environments
• Workplace-based training or assessment locations arranged by ATI
• Work placement locations arranged by ATI
• Any approved external training venue
• Any ATI-approved event or activity

This policy applies to critical incidents that occur during or directly affect ATI training, assessment, student support, business operations, staff duties or student participation.

3. Policy Statement

Academus Training Institute is committed to providing a safe, respectful and supportive training environment.

ATI will take reasonable steps to:

• Prevent critical incidents where possible.
• Respond immediately to serious risks.
• Protect the safety of students, staff and visitors.
• Contact emergency services where required.
• Provide support to affected persons.
• Maintain privacy and confidentiality.
• Record incidents accurately.
• Communicate appropriately with relevant parties.
• Review incident responses to improve future practice.
• Meet duty of care, workplace health and safety and RTO compliance obligations.

4. Definition of Critical Incident

A critical incident is any serious event or situation that causes, or has the potential to cause, significant harm, trauma, distress, injury, disruption or risk to a student, staff member, visitor or ATI’s operations.

Critical incidents may include, but are not limited to:

• Serious accident or injury
• Medical emergency
• Death of a student, staff member or visitor
• Physical assault
• Sexual assault
• Threat of violence or actual violence
• Serious bullying, harassment or intimidation
• Physical, verbal or psychological abuse
• Self-harm or threat of self-harm
• Threat of harm to others
• Bomb threat
• Explosion
• Fire or evacuation
• Gas leak or chemical hazard
• Biological hazard
• Natural disaster
• Flood, storm or severe weather event
• Serious security threat
• Intruder or unauthorised person creating risk
• Serious incident during practical training or assessment
• Student or staff member becoming missing during an ATI activity
• Police, ambulance or fire brigade attendance
• Any incident that may attract media, regulator or public attention

5. Critical Incident Principles

5.1 Safety First

Immediate safety takes priority over training delivery, assessment, attendance, business activity or administrative processes.

5.2 Immediate Response

Staff must respond quickly and calmly to reduce harm and prevent escalation.

5.3 Duty of Care

ATI will take reasonable steps to protect students, staff and visitors from foreseeable harm.

5.4 Privacy and Dignity

Affected persons must be treated with dignity and respect. Information must be shared only with authorised persons and only where necessary.

5.5 Support

Students, staff and visitors affected by a critical incident will be provided with reasonable support and referral information.

5.6 Accurate Records

Incident records must be factual, objective and completed as soon as practicable after the event.

5.7 Continuous Improvement

Each critical incident response must be reviewed to identify improvements to procedures, training, communication, facilities or risk controls.

6. Immediate Emergency Response

Where a critical incident occurs, staff must follow the immediate response steps below.

1. Assess immediate danger: Identify whether there is an immediate threat to life, safety or property.
2. Call emergency services if required: Call 000 immediately for police, ambulance or fire brigade assistance where there is serious injury, medical emergency, violence, fire, threat, danger or immediate risk.
3. Protect people from further harm: Move people away from danger if it is safe to do so.
4. Provide first aid if safe and appropriate: First aid should be provided by a trained person where available.
5. Notify the CEO or delegated senior staff member: The CEO must be notified as soon as practicable.
6. Follow evacuation or lockdown procedures if required: Staff and students must follow emergency directions.
7. Preserve the incident area where necessary: Where police, emergency services, WHS or investigation requirements may apply, the area should not be disturbed unless required for safety.
8. Record key details: Staff must record what occurred, who was involved, when and where it occurred, and what actions were taken.

7. Emergency Contact Procedure

Emergency contact information must be maintained and made available to staff.

Emergency contacts must include, where applicable:

• Police, Ambulance and Fire: 000
• NSW State Emergency Service: 132 500
• Local police station contact details
• Nearest hospital emergency department
• Fire and Rescue NSW local station details
• Local council emergency contact details
• Electricity faults and hazards contact
• Water faults and emergencies contact
• Building manager or landlord contact
• CEO contact
• Training Manager contact
• Student emergency contact details, where relevant

ATI must maintain an Emergency Contact Register for its active delivery site at Bankstown and any approved external delivery site. The register must be reviewed at least annually and whenever ATI changes delivery location.

Where a critical incident involves a student, ATI may contact the student’s emergency contact where appropriate, particularly where there is serious injury, medical emergency, hospitalisation, risk of harm or police involvement.

8. Responsibilities

8.1 CEO

The CEO is responsible for:

• Leading the response to serious critical incidents.
• Ensuring emergency services are contacted where required.
• Making key decisions about safety, communication, closure of premises, suspension of training or escalation.
• Communicating with regulators, authorities or external stakeholders where required.
• Approving any public or media statements.
• Ensuring affected persons are supported.
• Ensuring incidents are reviewed and improvement actions are recorded.
• Ensuring records are maintained securely.

8.2 Training Manager / Delegated Senior Staff

The Training Manager or delegated senior staff member is responsible for:

• Supporting the immediate incident response.
• Assisting trainers and staff to manage student safety.
• Coordinating student communication where required.
• Supporting incident documentation.
• Arranging catch-up training or assessment adjustments where appropriate.
• Ensuring affected students are referred to support.

8.3 Trainers and Assessors

Trainers and assessors are responsible for:

• Maintaining a safe training and assessment environment.
• Taking immediate action if a critical incident occurs during training.
• Stopping training or assessment where safety is affected.
• Calling emergency services where required.
• Notifying the CEO or delegated staff member.
• Providing reasonable assistance to students.
• Recording incident details.
• Supporting debriefing and review processes.
• Following emergency procedures.

8.4 Administration and Support Staff

Administration and support staff are responsible for:

• Assisting with communication where directed.
• Accessing emergency contact information where required.
• Supporting affected students with information and referral options.
• Maintaining incident records securely.
• Supporting follow-up actions.

8.5 Students and Visitors

Students and visitors are responsible for:

• Following staff directions during an emergency.
• Reporting hazards or incidents promptly.
• Not interfering with emergency response activities.
• Leaving or evacuating when directed.
• Behaving safely and respectfully.

9. Critical Incident Response Procedure

Step 1: Identify the Incident

Any staff member who becomes aware of a critical incident must assess whether there is immediate danger and whether emergency services are required.

Step 2: Make the Area Safe

Staff must take reasonable steps to prevent further harm. This may include moving students away from the area, stopping training, removing access to equipment, evacuating the room or isolating the area.

Step 3: Contact Emergency Services

Emergency services must be contacted immediately by calling 000 if the incident involves serious injury, medical emergency, fire, violence, threat of violence, sexual assault, physical assault, risk of self-harm or harm to others, bomb threat, gas leak, chemical hazard or any major safety risk.

Step 4: Notify ATI Management

The CEO or delegated senior staff member must be notified as soon as practicable.

Step 5: Support Affected Persons

Affected students, staff and visitors should be moved to a safe area where possible. Support may include first aid, emotional support, emergency contact notification, referral information or arranging safe transport.

Step 6: Preserve Evidence Where Required

Where an incident may involve police, WHS, misconduct, assault, damage or investigation, staff should preserve the scene and evidence where safe to do so.

Step 7: Record the Incident

An Incident Report must be completed as soon as practicable. The report must be factual and include who, what, when, where, how and what immediate action was taken.

Step 8: Communicate Carefully

Only authorised staff may communicate with external parties. Media, public or regulator communication must be approved by the CEO.

Step 9: Follow Up

ATI must follow up with affected persons, arrange support where appropriate, and determine whether training, assessment or attendance arrangements need to be adjusted.

Step 10: Review and Improve

The CEO or delegated staff member must review the response and record any improvement actions.

10. Incident Report Requirements

A critical incident report should include:

• Date of incident
• Time of incident
• Location of incident
• Name of person completing the report
• Names of persons involved, where appropriate
• Names of witnesses, where appropriate
• Description of what happened
• Immediate risks identified
• Action taken
• Emergency services contacted
• First aid provided, where applicable
• Persons notified
• Support provided
• Follow-up action required
• Outcome of incident
• Recommendations for improvement
• Signature of person completing the report
• CEO or delegate review

11. Support for Affected Persons

ATI will provide reasonable support to students, staff and visitors affected by a critical incident.

Support may include:

• Immediate reassurance and assistance
• First aid
• Contacting emergency contact or family member where appropriate
• Referral to medical services
• Referral to counselling or wellbeing support
• Referral to external support services
• Temporary adjustment to training or assessment
• Rescheduling of affected assessment
• Catch-up training where appropriate
• Follow-up welfare contact
• Information about complaints and appeals where relevant

ATI is not a medical or counselling provider. Where professional support is required, the person will be referred to appropriate external services.

12. External Support and Referral Services

Where appropriate, ATI may provide details for external services, including:

• Emergency services: 000
• Lifeline: 13 11 14
• Beyond Blue
• Headspace
• NSW Health services
• Local medical centre or hospital
• Police assistance line
• Legal Aid NSW
• Domestic violence support services
• Community counselling services

13. Communication and Public Relations

Critical incidents must be communicated carefully to protect privacy, dignity, safety and the accuracy of information.

The CEO is the authorised spokesperson for ATI unless another person is formally delegated.

The CEO is responsible for:

• Gathering verified information.
• Checking facts before communication.
• Deciding what information may be released.
• Protecting privacy and confidentiality.
• Communicating with staff, students, regulators, emergency contacts or external stakeholders where appropriate.
• Managing media enquiries where relevant.

Staff must not release information to the media, public, students, families or external parties unless authorised by the CEO.

Information released must be accurate, necessary and respectful.

14. Privacy and Confidentiality

Critical incident information must be handled confidentially.

Information may only be shared where:

• The person gives consent.
• It is necessary to protect safety.
• It is required to provide support.
• It is required by law.
• It is required for emergency services or police.
• It is required for regulatory or compliance purposes.
• There is a serious risk to the person or others.
• ATI has a duty of care obligation.

Incident records must be stored securely and accessed only by authorised personnel.

15. Training, Induction and Awareness

ATI will ensure that staff are provided with information about critical incident procedures.

This may include:

• Staff induction
• Emergency procedure briefing
• Trainer briefing
• Student orientation information
• Emergency contact information
• Evacuation procedure information
• Incident reporting requirements
• Duty of care expectations
• Privacy and communication requirements

Students must be informed of basic emergency procedures, including evacuation expectations and how to report safety concerns.

16. Emergency Preparedness

ATI will maintain reasonable emergency preparedness arrangements for its training site.

This may include:

• Emergency contact register
• Evacuation information
• First aid kit
• Incident report form
• Staff emergency briefing
• Student emergency contact information
• Emergency signage where required
• Review of emergency procedures
• Site-specific emergency information for external venues

Emergency information must be reviewed regularly to ensure it remains current.

17. Site-Specific Emergency Planning

ATI must ensure that emergency planning is suitable for each delivery site.

For the Bankstown delivery site, emergency planning must consider:

• Building evacuation routes
• Assembly area
• Fire safety arrangements
• First aid arrangements
• Local emergency contacts
• Building manager or landlord contact
• Accessibility needs
• Student cohort size
• Practical training risks

Where training is delivered at another approved site, ATI must confirm emergency procedures for that site before training commences.

18. Critical Incident Review

After a critical incident has been managed and immediate risk has passed, ATI must review the response.

The review may consider:

• What happened
• Whether the response was timely
• Whether emergency services were contacted appropriately
• Whether communication was effective
• Whether affected persons received support
• Whether records were completed properly
• Whether staff understood their responsibilities
• Whether any procedure failed or was unclear
• Whether training, assessment or facilities contributed to the incident
• Whether further action is required

The review must identify any corrective or improvement actions.

19. Continuous Improvement

Areas for improvement identified through a critical incident review must be recorded and managed through ATI’s continuous improvement process.

Improvement actions may include:

• Updating this policy or procedure
• Updating emergency contacts
• Improving staff induction
• Improving student briefing
• Updating incident forms
• Improving signage
• Reviewing training delivery arrangements
• Reviewing practical activity safety controls
• Improving communication procedures
• Providing staff training
• Reviewing facility or equipment risks
• Updating WHS controls

Improvement actions must be monitored until completed.

20. Records

ATI must maintain records relating to critical incidents.

Records may include:

• Incident report forms
• File notes
• Witness statements
• Emergency service contact records
• Communication records
• Support referral records
• Debrief notes
• Review reports
• Continuous improvement records
• Complaint or appeal records, where applicable
• Training or assessment adjustment records

Records must be stored securely and retained in accordance with ATI’s records management requirements.

21. Complaints and Appeals

Students who are affected by a critical incident or disagree with a decision made following a critical incident may access ATI’s Complaints and Appeals process.

This may include decisions relating to:

• Suspension from training
• Rescheduling of training or assessment
• Cancellation of enrolment
• Removal from class
• Safety directions
• Support arrangements
• Conduct-related decisions

22. Related Documents

This policy should be read together with:

• Student Health and Wellbeing Policy
• Student Support During Training Policy
• Workplace Health and Safety Policy
• Alcohol and Other Drugs Policy and Procedure
• Student Code of Conduct
• Staff Code of Conduct
• Complaints and Appeals Policy
• Records Management and Data Reporting Policy
• Privacy Policy
• Training Delivery Policy
• Assessment Policy
• Continuous Improvement Policy
• Emergency Evacuation Procedure
• Incident Report Form

23. Review and Approval

This policy will be reviewed annually or earlier where required due to:

• A critical incident
• WHS concern
• Student or staff feedback
• Complaint or appeal
• Change to legislation or standards
• Change to delivery site
• Internal audit finding
• Continuous improvement outcome
• Change to ATI operations or risk profile

24. Version Control

Version	Date Approved	Approved By	Summary of Changes
1.0	July 2026	CEO, Academus Training Institute	Initial issue for critical incident management

Next Review Date: July 2027

Appendix A – Critical Incident Quick Response Checklist

Step	Action	Completed
1	Assess immediate danger.	☐
2	Call 000 if emergency services are required.	☐
3	Move people away from danger if safe to do so.	☐
4	Provide first aid where safe and appropriate.	☐
5	Notify CEO or delegated senior staff member.	☐
6	Stop training or assessment if safety is affected.	☐
7	Preserve the scene or evidence where required and safe.	☐
8	Contact emergency contact where appropriate.	☐
9	Complete incident report.	☐
10	Provide support or referral information.	☐
11	Review incident response.	☐
12	Record continuous improvement actions.	☐

Appendix B – Emergency Contact Register Template

Site: Academus Training Institute

Address: Level 1, 18–20 Greenfield Parade, Bankstown NSW 2200

Contact Type	Organisation / Contact	Phone	Address / Notes
Emergency Services	Police / Ambulance / Fire	000	For immediate danger, serious injury, fire, violence, medical emergency or life-threatening situation.
Police – Local Station	Bankstown Police Station / Bankstown Police Area Command	02 9783 2199	2 Meredith Street, Bankstown NSW 2200. Open 24 hours.
Police – Non-Urgent Assistance	NSW Police Assistance Line	131 444	For non-urgent police assistance.
Crime Information	Crime Stoppers NSW	1800 333 000	For confidential reporting of crime information.
Fire – Local Station	Fire and Rescue NSW – Bankstown Fire Station	02 9493 1062	353 Hume Highway, Bankstown NSW 2200. In an emergency call 000.
Ambulance / Hospital Emergency	Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital	02 9722 8000	Eldridge Road / 68 Eldridge Road, Bankstown NSW 2200. For emergency ambulance assistance call 000.
Storm and Flood Emergency	NSW State Emergency Service	132 500	For storm and flood emergency assistance.
Local Council	City of Canterbury Bankstown Council	02 9707 9000	Council customer service available 24 hours, 7 days. Postal address: PO Box 8, Bankstown NSW 1885.
Water Faults / Emergencies	Sydney Water Faults Hotline	13 20 90	24/7 faults and emergencies hotline.
Electricity Faults / Hazards	Ausgrid Electrical Emergencies	13 13 88	24/7 electrical faults, hazards and emergencies. For life-threatening danger call 000 first.
Mental Health Emergency Support	NSW Mental Health Line	1800 011 511	24/7 mental health support and advice. For immediate danger call 000.
Crisis Support	Lifeline	13 11 14	24/7 crisis support.
Youth Mental Health Support	headspace Bankstown	02 9393 9669	For youth mental health support. Not an emergency service.
ATI CEO	Sukanta Chakraborty	0490 522 838	CEO / Lead Trainer / Assessor, Academus Training Institute.
ATI Office	Academus Training Institute Administration	02 7807 2229	Level 1, 18–20 Greenfield Parade, Bankstown NSW 2200.
Building / Landlord Contact	To be maintained internally	__________________	Insert current landlord, building manager or after-hours building contact.
Assembly Area	Site-specific evacuation assembly point	__________________	To be confirmed and displayed at the Bankstown site.

Appendix C – Critical Incident Report Form

Date of Incident:

Time of Incident:

Location of Incident:

Reported By:

Person/s Involved:

Witness/es:

Type of Incident:

• ☐ Medical emergency
• ☐ Serious injury
• ☐ Violence or assault
• ☐ Threat or intimidation
• ☐ Fire or evacuation
• ☐ Bomb threat
• ☐ Natural disaster
• ☐ Student welfare concern
• ☐ Death
• ☐ Other: ______________________________________

Description of Incident:

Immediate Action Taken:

Emergency Services Contacted:

• ☐ Yes
• ☐ No

If yes, details:

First Aid Provided:

• ☐ Yes
• ☐ No

If yes, details:

CEO / Management Notified:

• ☐ Yes
• ☐ No

Support Provided / Referral Made:

Follow-Up Action Required:

Continuous Improvement Required:

• ☐ Yes
• ☐ No

Details:

Completed By:

Signature:

Date:

CEO / Delegate Review:

Date Reviewed: