Explore the essential insights and guidelines for understanding the Risk Assessed Role in NDIS and gain clarity on your responsibilities.
Risk Assessed Roles in the NDIS: Protecting Participants and Ensuring Compliance
Ensuring the safety and wellbeing of NDIS participants is critical, which is why the NDIS requires providers to assess and manage risks associated with specific roles. Understanding these requirements is essential for maintaining compliance, safeguarding participants, and upholding the integrity of NDIS services. As a registered NDIS provider, it is crucial to ensure compliance with worker screening requirements, especially for employees in risk-assessed roles. This article explores the key obligations for providers, the importance of the screening process and worker screening, and how to effectively implement risk management strategies within your organisation. Additionally, it discusses transitional and special arrangements, such as exemptions for certain roles like an accountant with incidental client contact, as outlined in the NDIS worker screening clearance regulations.
What is a Risk Assessed Role?
A ‘risk assessed role’ as defined by the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), is the position and/or task of a worker who has a level of involvement which poses a potential risk to the safety and well-being of participants. When verifying applications for NDIS Checks, the role of a self-managed participant is crucial, as applicants must search for them using the participant's surname, indicating the unique relationship and responsibilities involved in the verification process. This term is often used when discussing the different role accountabilities that need to be carefully evaluated and managed to ensure that all risks, where possible, are minimised and appropriately handled.
Self-managed participants can decide whether to require NDIS Worker Screening Checks for their workers, and while it's not mandatory, it is encouraged. They can also change their decision at any time regarding the necessity of the screenings.
Foundations of a "risk assessed role":
- Risk Identification: These roles typically involve assessing the level of interaction and accessibility to participant information to identify potential risks, such as safety hazards, abuse, neglect, or even issues related to privacy and confidentiality.
- Management: Once risk assessed roles have been identified and matched to the appropriate individuals, it is then a requirement of those individuals to obtain an NDIS worker screening clearance through their state and/or territory worker screening unit.
- Screening and Training: For risk assessed roles, there are specific requirements for staff, such as:
- Background checks (e.g. completing a NDIS Worker Screening Checks and Working with Children Check)
- Specialised training to ensure that individuals are prepared to handle the specific risks related to working with people with disabilities.
- Continuous Monitoring: The risks associated with these roles require to be monitored and reviewed over time, with regular evaluations of both the role and the person fulfilling it.
Examples of Risk Assessed Roles in NDIS:
- Support workers providing direct care to participants
- Plan managers involved in managing participants’ finances
- Registered nurses or allied health professionals working with participants
- Behaviour support practitioners who are involved in working with participants with complex needs
- Directors who have access to participant information
- Administrators/Receptionists who may have incidental contact with a participant who visits the organisations office space and have access to participant information
Contact with participants can be physical, face-to-face or oral, written or electronic communication.
Who is not considered to be in a Risk Assessed Role?
- Office Cleaning Staff who don’t interact with participants and only come to clean the office after business hours
- Administrative or Office Staff if they only have incidental contact with NDIS participants as their roles are strictly admin related.
- Silent Partners who are not directly involved in governing the business and only have incidental contact with participants.
- Contractors or Third-Party Suppliers who supply goods and services indirectly i.e. suppliers of medical equipment and have no interaction with the participant or their care.
- Visitors who are visiting for non-participant related reasons such as guest speakers at a head office.
Registered NDIS providers must ensure that all workers in risk assessed roles have the necessary clearances, even if their contact with participants is incidental.
Why is it important to identify Risk Assessed Roles?
The NDIS emphasises greatly on participant safety, and personnel in these roles within registered NDIS providers must be assessed to ensure they can responsibly manage any potential risks that are involved in their day-to-day duties. This is to ensure that a participant feels safe with their service provider setting and that the operations are ethical, aligning with the needs and rights of NDIS participants.
NDIS Worker Screening Check
For those individuals identified to be in a Risk Assessed Role, they are required to obtain an NDIS worker screening clearance as a registered NDIS Provider. This check ensures that a person who works, or seeks to work, with people with disability does not pose a risk to them.
Each State and Territory has their own worker screening units, and each worker is to apply in the State that they are currently working in. The Worker Screening Check is nationally applied, and information is shared across jurisdictions to ensure that a worker cannot have more than one clearance or exclusion.
Organisations are required to check their State and Territory screening check requirements, to determine if a person can work with a pending application (under supervision), or if there is a “no check, no work” policy in place.
Applicants who have been approved to work will be issued with a clearance. Applicants who have not been approved to work will be issued with an exclusion.
If an employee receives a banning order from an NDIS worker screening check, employers must take immediate action to comply with NDIS requirements. This includes ceasing the worker’s engagement in any risk assessed role and, if necessary, terminating their employment. Providers must also update their records and notify the NDIS Commission if required. Failing to act on a banning order can result in serious penalties, putting both participants and the organisation at risk.
Proactively managing workforce risks not only protects vulnerable individuals but also strengthens trust and accountability within the sector. Staying informed and adhering to NDIS worker screening obligations is essential for delivering safe and high-quality supports.
