Core module: Safe environment

Each participant can easily identify the workers who provide their supports, for example through visible identification and advance notice of who is attending, as part of receiving supports in a safe environment suited to their needs.

• Photo identification cards and the policy requiring them to be worn
• Roster notifications to participants naming the worker attending
• Participant interview responses about knowing who is coming

• Workers arrive unannounced without identification
• Agency staff not introduced to the participant

The provider works with each participant and others in the settings where supports are delivered, including the participant's home, to make the support delivery environment safe.

• Home visit safety assessments completed with the participant
• Site hazard inspections for centre-based settings
• Actions taken on identified hazards and follow-up records

• Home risk assessment done without the participant
• Identified hazards not followed up

Where relevant, the provider works with other providers, including health care and allied health providers and providers of other services, to identify and manage risks to participants and to interpret their needs and preferences correctly.

• Shared risk management plans or joint care plans
• Minutes from care team meetings that discuss participant risks
• Referral and feedback correspondence with health and allied health providers

• Risks known to another provider not communicated or acted on
• Conflicting advice from different providers not reconciled

For each participant who needs communication support, clear arrangements help workers understand the participant's communication needs and how the participant shows emerging health concerns.

• Communication profiles or dictionaries describing how the participant expresses pain or illness
• Speech pathology or communication assessments
• Worker training records on the participant's communication methods

• No guidance on non-verbal signs of pain or illness
• Communication aids not available during supports

To avoid delays in treatment, each participant has a protocol for responding to their medical emergencies, and every worker supporting them is trained to respond, including telling urgent from non-urgent health situations.

• Individual medical emergency protocols such as epilepsy, anaphylaxis or diabetes plans
• First aid and emergency response training certificates for rostered workers
• Training content on distinguishing urgent from non-urgent situations

• Protocols missing for known conditions
• First aid certificates expired

The provider establishes escalation systems for each participant in urgent health situations, so workers know whom to contact and what steps to take, at any hour, when a participant's health deteriorates quickly.

• Escalation flowcharts or after-hours on-call procedures
• Participant files with escalation contacts and steps
• Incident records showing escalation was followed

• Workers unsure who to call after hours
• Escalation steps not individualised

Standard infection prevention and control precautions are applied in every setting where supports are provided.

• Infection prevention and control policy covering standard precautions
• Hand hygiene or infection control audits across settings
• Outbreak management plan

• Standard precautions not followed in participants' homes
• No infection control audits

Settings where supports are delivered, other than participants' homes, are routinely cleaned, with particular attention to frequently touched surfaces.

• Cleaning schedules and completed checklists for centres and vehicles
• Cleaning contractor agreements or task lists
• Spot-check records of high-touch surface cleaning

• Cleaning logs incomplete
• Vehicles used for transport not included in cleaning schedules

Every worker is trained, and receives refresher training, in standard infection prevention and control precautions, including hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette.

• Infection control training records with completion and refresher dates
• Training register showing coverage of all workers
• Training module content on hand and respiratory hygiene

• Refresher training overdue
• Casual workers not captured in the training register

Every worker who provides supports directly to participants is trained, with refresher training, in the use of personal protective equipment.

• PPE donning and doffing training records
• Competency observations for PPE use
• Refresher schedule for PPE training

• PPE training given only during an outbreak and never refreshed
• No competency check on correct PPE use

Personal protective equipment is available to each worker and each participant who requires it, in every setting where supports are delivered, so infection prevention measures are never limited by missing stock.

• PPE stock register and reorder records
• Records of PPE supplied to participants
• Stock checks in vehicles and homes

• Workers buying their own PPE
• No PPE stocked for participants who need it