In this guide learn about:
Incident reporting in Storypark
Logging an incident report
Publishing and approving an incident report
Editing or deleting an incident report
Viewing a published incident report
What families see
This article is about incident reporting use on the Storypark website, a guide is also available regarding use in the iOS Storypark for Educators app.
Incident reporting in Storypark
Incident reports can be logged for a single child by any educator via the Storypark website on a computer or any mobile device.
If the educator logging the incident report is a non-Admin on Storypark, the report is automatically submitted for approval by Admins at their service before it can be viewed by the child's family Admins.
Note: We strongly recommend each service on Storypark has at least two Admins on their account. This means incident reports do not get delayed if an Admin is sick or away.
Admins do not need further approval and can publish incident reports directly to Storypark with the option to notify the child's family Admins.
Incident reports can be printed as well as records collated into an exported report for compliance and/or safety hazard reviews.
Logging an incident report
Start a new incident report from anywhere on the Storypark website by selecting the + Create button at the top right-hand side of the screen and select the warning triangle icon:
Select a child from the list and then next:
Alternatively, navigate to the routines page and select the + button at the end of the child's row:
Time, day and observers
The time and day are automatically set to the present, as well as the observer set to the educator that is currently logged into Storypark. Each of these fields can be edited however. Select the time or day to change them. Select the educator's name to bring up more options:
Select one or multiple educators. If at a service with a lot of educators, use the search bar at the top to narrow down the selection.
If the incident was not observed select Not observed at the top of the list and then Done:
Location, details and circumstances of the incident
Adding the location, details and circumstances of the incident are all free text fields. Tap into each text box to start typing.
Note: Fields here are not mandatory, so they can be skipped if not needed. If a section of the incident report has been left empty, the headings will not be shown in the final report.
Nature of the illness/injury
Tap or click Injury, illness to select the nature of the illness/injury from a drop-down list. These are separated into common entries at the top, followed by an alphabetised list of all possible descriptors:
Select one or multiple, there is no limit to the number of descriptors that can be selected.
If you cannot find an accurate descriptor, at the bottom of the drop-down list select Other (please specify) - this will allow you to type in the nature of the illness/injury in a field below:
Action taken
In this free text field you can include any actions taken to address the illness/injury, such as the application of first aid or medication given.
Below this are three optional fields involved emergency services, involved doctors/hospitals and further services. If you select the tick box next to any of these, you can then fill out further information, for example:
Notifications
Before sending the incident report, you may wish to detail any prior attempts to contact the child's family. Fill in the notifications free text field at the bottom of the report before sending:
If this field is left blank, the completed incident report will only display the time and date the incident report notification was sent to family admins.
The option to send notifications to the child's family admins on publication of the incident report will automatically be ticked.
This will trigger both email notifications sent to all of the child's family Admins. Note: Family admins cannot opt out of these notifications.
Admin educators can however untick this to prevent notifications being sent - if for example, they've already spoken to the child's family.
If ticked, the published incident report will display the time and date the incident report notification was sent to family admins.
Publishing and approving an incident report
If the educator logging an incident report is a non-Admin on Storypark, they will first need to submit it for approval before it can be seen by the child's family.
On the completed incident report, select Submit report to send it to all Admins at the service:
Admins will receive a notification informing them there is a pending incident report awaiting their review. This will be available in their pending folder:
Approvers can make edits to the incident report before selecting Approve to publish the incident report. They can also Save and exit to leave the incident report pending.
When an incident report created by a non-Admin educator has been approved, they'll also be notified:
If the report doesn't need approval (i.e. it was created by an Admin educator) selecting
Add report will publish the incident report:
This will trigger email notifications sent to all of the child's family Admins if that option has been ticked. Note: Family admins cannot opt out of these notifications.
Editing or deleting an incident report
Incident reports can only be edited before approval and publication. While pending approval, the author and the admin can go back and edit the incident until the report is approved.
Delete a published incident report
Find the published incident report on the Storypark website. This can be done by going to the child's profile or by going from the service's routines page and selecting the day the incident report was recorded.
Tap the i icon next to the incident to open up the incident report:
Within the incident report select the three dots at the top right-hand side and Delete:
Note: Incident reports cannot be recovered once deleted.
Viewing a published incident report
Incident reports can be viewed by educators at the service where they created and the child's family Admins.
From the Storypark website
This can be done by going to the routines on a child's profile or by going from the service's routines page and selecting the day the incident report was recorded.
Tap the i icon next to the incident to open up the incident report:
Read receipt
When at least one of the child's family Admins has viewed the incident report, it will display a read receipt at the top:
This allows educators to confirm that family have received and opened the incident report - as the read receipt is only generated if at least one family Admin opens the incident report.
Note: The read receipt will only detail by name the first family Admin to open the incident report. Views by subsequent family Admins will not be shown on the read receipt.
What families see
Publishing an incident report can trigger email notifications to be sent to all of the child's family Admins:
From the notification, family Admins will be taken to view the incident report on the Storypark website.
Frequently asked questions
Q. Multiple children were involved in an incident, can you add multiple children to one incident report?
A. At this time seperate incident reports must be created for each child.
Q. Who can delete an incident report?
A. Admin educators can delete a pending or approved incident report.
Q. Can approval be turned off or approvers changed?
A. At this time all incident reports must either be created by Admin educators or approved by them. For this reason, we strongly recommend each service on Storypark has at least two Admins on their account. This means incident reports can be approved in a timely manner (rather than pending if a sole Admin is sick or away).
Q. How does this feature meet parent/guardian signing requirements in my region?
A. Incident reporting has been designed to suit services in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. There, regulations do not require a physical (sometimes known as 'wet') signature, only proof that the incident report was given to a parent/guardian. This can be confirmed via the 'read receipt' that is displayed on incident reports in Storypark once at least one family Admin has opened and viewed the incident report.
This approach was chosen to minimise burden on educators to follow up with parents/guardians for signatures. Read receipts meet the requirements of the NZ Ministry of Education as well as ECRA and ACECQA in Australia.
📝 Other articles you may be interested in:
Educators: Incident reporting records
Educators: Incident reporting in the iOS Storypark for Educators app