Incident management is one of the first things a SIL auditor opens, and one of the easiest to fail — not because providers don't respond to incidents, but because the record of what they did doesn't line up. This is a plain walk through the six reportable categories, the notification windows, and what 'good evidence' actually looks like.
Who this is for
You run SIL houses and you're registered — or you will be from 1 July 2026, which puts you fully inside this regime. Reportable incidents sit at the centre of the new Safeguarding outcome, so getting this tight does double duty.
What counts as a reportable incident
A reportable incident is one that happens in connection with the delivery of NDIS supports. There are six categories:
- Death of a participant
- Serious injury of a participant
- Abuse or neglect of a participant (it doesn't have to be intentional to be reportable)
- Unlawful sexual or physical contact with, or assault of, a participant
- Sexual misconduct committed against, or in the presence of, a participant — including grooming
- Unauthorised use of a restrictive practice — any restrictive practice used without authorisation, or outside an authorised behaviour support plan
The clock: 24 hours, then 5 business days
This is where providers slip. The windows are tight and they start the moment you become aware, not the moment it's convenient.
- Any of the first five categories — notify the Commission within 24 hours of becoming aware.
- Unauthorised use of a restrictive practice — within 5 business days, unless it caused serious injury or death, in which case it's 24 hours.
- After the initial notification — a fuller follow-up report within 5 business days, with what you've done and what you found.
If you don't have the full picture inside 24 hours, notify anyway with what you've got — then fill in the rest within five business days. The clock starts when a worker tells key personnel, a supervisor, or whoever your incident system names as responsible for Commission notifications. That hand-off is the moment the 24 hours begins — so it has to be fast and recorded.
Where it goes wrong at audit
The incident lives in a shift note and never reaches the register. A worker writes it up at handover, but it never makes the organisational incident register — so on paper, it never happened.
The threshold call gets made by the wrong person. A worker isn't sure it 'counts', so it sits over a weekend. Workers don't decide reportability — your process does, and it should escalate fast by default.
The trail doesn't reconcile. The register says one thing, the notification says another, the participant file says a third. Auditors cross-check all three. Gaps between them are where this fails.
What good evidence looks like
An auditor follows a single incident end to end. Strong evidence is a trail that holds together:
- The incident recorded with date, participant, category, immediate action and who was notified
- The Commission notification lodged inside the window, with the timestamp to prove it
- The 5-business-day follow-up with the response and any investigation
- The learnings flowing back — a supervision topic, a policy change, retraining — so the same thing is less likely twice
That last one matters more than people expect. The Commission isn't only asking 'did you report it' — it's asking 'did anything change because of it'.
Common questions
What are the reportable incidents under the NDIS?
Death; serious injury; abuse or neglect; unlawful sexual or physical contact; sexual misconduct; and the unauthorised use of a restrictive practice.
How long do I have to report an NDIS incident?
Within 24 hours of becoming aware for the first five categories; within 5 business days for an unauthorised restrictive practice (24 hours if it caused serious injury or death). A fuller follow-up report is due within 5 business days of the initial notification.
When does the 24-hour clock start?
When a worker notifies key personnel, a supervisor, or whoever your system names as responsible for Commission notifications.
Where Clearline fits — honestly
Aura OS by Clearline Health logs every incident against the participant, prompts the 24-hour and 5-business-day windows so the clock doesn't run out on you, and keeps the register, the notification record and the follow-up in one place — the trail an auditor actually wants. When they ask, the 60-second audit test packages it: pick a participant, a date and a Practice Standard, and a branded PDF is in their inbox in two clicks.
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Honest about the limit: software can't make the threshold call for you. What it can do is start the clock, hold the trail, and make sure nothing falls down the gap between a shift note and the register.
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This is general information drawn from the NDIS (Incident Management and Reportable Incidents) Rules and the Commission's published guidance, not legal advice. Notification categories, timeframes and final-report requirements can change and can turn on the specifics — check the current rules on the NDIS Commission's website and your incident-management policy before you act.