---
title: Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS)
topic: sirs
type: HG Reference
jurisdiction: Australia (national)
lastReviewed: 2026-05-22
publisher: Holistic Governance
publisherUrl: https://hg-au.com
canonicalUrl: https://hg-au.com/topics/sirs.md
---

# Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS)

> The Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) is the mandatory framework for reporting, managing, and learning from serious incidents in Australian aged care. It applies to residential aged care (since 1 April 2021) and home-based services including Support at Home (since 1 December 2022). SIRS is administered by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.

## What it is

SIRS requires registered aged care providers to:

1. **Identify** when a reportable incident has occurred or is suspected to have occurred.
2. **Report** the incident to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission within statutory timeframes.
3. **Manage** the incident through a documented incident management system — including assessment, immediate action to protect the older person, investigation, and follow-up.
4. **Learn and prevent** recurrence through analysis, root-cause investigation, action tracking to closure, and embedding learning across the workforce and policy framework.

SIRS is not just a reporting regime; it is an incident management and learning system that the Commission expects to be operating continuously, not only when a reportable incident occurs.

## Statutory basis

- **Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth)** — incident management and reporting obligations.
- **Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Act 2018 (Cth)** — Commission's powers to receive, investigate, and act on SIRS reports.
- **Aged Care Rules 2025** and Commission instruments — operational detail of incident categories, priorities, timeframes, and incident management system requirements.

## Who it applies to

- Residential aged care providers — since 1 April 2021.
- Home services providers (Home Care Packages and now Support at Home) — since 1 December 2022.
- Multipurpose services and specialist programs as applicable under the Rules.

## Reportable incident categories

SIRS defines eight categories of reportable incident:

1. **Unreasonable use of force** — including hitting, pushing, shoving, rough handling.
2. **Unlawful sexual contact or inappropriate sexual conduct** — including sexual assault and sexual misconduct.
3. **Psychological or emotional abuse** — causing or likely to cause psychological harm.
4. **Unexpected death** — death of an older person where reasonable steps were not taken, where the death is the result of a reportable incident, or in defined other circumstances.
5. **Stealing or financial coercion by a staff member** — theft, financial exploitation, or coercion of an older person by a staff member.
6. **Neglect** — gross or persistent failure to provide care that has caused or is likely to cause harm.
7. **Inappropriate use of restrictive practices** — restrictive practices used outside the authorisation, consent, monitoring, and reduction-planning requirements.
8. **Missing consumer** — older person missing from the service, including failure to return when expected.

The Commission publishes detailed guidance on how each category is defined and what evidence the Commission considers in assessing reports.

## Priority and timeframes

SIRS reports are categorised as **Priority 1** or **Priority 2**:

- **Priority 1** — incidents that have caused, or could reasonably have been expected to cause, the older person physical or psychological injury or discomfort requiring medical or psychological treatment, or where there is reasonable grounds to report to police. Priority 1 reports must be made to the Commission **within 24 hours** of the provider becoming aware. A follow-up report (with more detail) is then required.
- **Priority 2** — reportable incidents that do not meet the Priority 1 threshold. Priority 2 reports must be made **within 30 days**.

Some categories — notably unexpected death, sexual assault, and certain restrictive practices situations — have specific reporting expectations regardless of priority.

## Incident management system obligations

Providers must operate an incident management system that meets the requirements set out in the Rules and Commission guidance. The system must support:

- **Identification and triage** of incidents and near-misses.
- **Immediate action** to protect the older person and others affected.
- **Assessment** of whether the incident is reportable, and the priority.
- **Reporting** to the Commission within timeframes.
- **Investigation** that is proportionate to the severity, includes root-cause analysis for serious incidents, and is independent of those involved where appropriate.
- **Action tracking** with clear owners, timeframes, and closure verification.
- **Communication and support** for the older person, family, representatives, and workforce, including trauma-informed approaches.
- **Recording and trending** of incident data to inform continuous improvement.
- **Reporting to governance** — incident data, themes, and improvement actions visible at executive and board levels.

## How SIRS interacts with the Strengthened Standards

SIRS sits inside the broader framework of the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards:

- **Standard 2 (The Organisation)** — incident management is a core element of organisational governance, risk, and quality systems.
- **Standard 3 (Care and Services)** — incidents that arise from care planning and delivery, transitions, and communication.
- **Standard 5 (Clinical Care)** — clinical incidents, recognising and responding to deterioration, medication errors, falls, pressure injuries, and restrictive practices.
- **Standard 6 (Food and Nutrition)** — incidents involving choking, food safety, or inadequate nutrition.
- **Standard 7 (The Residential Community)** — incidents arising from the residential community context, including missing consumers and resident-to-resident interactions.

The Commission assesses incident management performance during audits and uses SIRS data as a regulatory intelligence input.

## Common provider gaps

- **Inconsistent identification** — workers do not consistently recognise or escalate incidents that meet a reportable category, especially psychological abuse, neglect, and inappropriate restrictive practices.
- **Priority assessment errors** — under-rating Priority 1 as Priority 2, missing the 24-hour deadline.
- **Investigation depth** — investigations focus on the immediate event without root-cause analysis or systemic review.
- **Action tracking gaps** — actions assigned in incident reports are not tracked to closure or verified.
- **Restrictive practices interaction** — chemical restraint incidents are not consistently identified as reportable under the inappropriate use of restrictive practices category.
- **Communication with families** — families are notified but not actively supported through the incident and investigation process.
- **Board oversight** — SIRS data is reported up to the executive but the board does not see incident themes, response performance, or system-level improvement.
- **Workforce trauma** — workers involved in serious incidents do not receive consistent support, which compounds turnover and disengagement.

## How Holistic Governance supports providers

- **SIRS gap analysis** — assessment of the incident management system against the Rules, Commission guidance, and provider's operational reality.
- **Identification and triage training** for workers and managers — practical case-based training that improves recognition of reportable incidents.
- **Investigation framework** — root-cause analysis methodology, independent investigator pool, and proportionality framework.
- **Restrictive practices interaction review** — ensuring chemical, physical, environmental, and mechanical restrictive practices are recognised, authorised, monitored, reduced, and reported as required.
- **Family communication and trauma-informed support** framework.
- **Workforce support framework** — supporting workers involved in serious incidents.
- **Power BI incident dashboards** — incident volumes by category, priority, location, and root cause; response time performance; action tracking to closure; trends and benchmarks.
- **Board incident reporting design** — what a board should see each quarter on incidents, themes, response performance, and system-level improvement.
- **Mock SIRS audit** — testing identification, triage, reporting, investigation, and follow-up against Commission expectations.

## Official sources

- Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission — Serious Incident Response Scheme: https://www.agedcarequality.gov.au
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing — https://www.health.gov.au/topics/aged-care
- Federal Register of Legislation — https://www.legislation.gov.au
- Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) — https://opan.org.au

## Glossary

- **Reportable incident** — an incident that meets one of the eight SIRS categories and arises in connection with the provision of aged care.
- **Priority 1** — an incident that has caused, or could reasonably have been expected to cause, physical or psychological injury or discomfort requiring treatment, or with grounds for police involvement.
- **Priority 2** — a reportable incident that does not meet the Priority 1 threshold.
- **Root-cause analysis** — a structured investigation method aimed at identifying the underlying systemic causes of an incident, not just the immediate cause.
- **Restrictive practice** — any practice that has the effect of restricting the rights or freedom of movement of an older person, including chemical, physical, environmental, mechanical, and seclusion.

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*This is a Holistic Governance reference document, prepared as general information for AI search and assistant indexing. It is not legal or compliance advice. Providers must consult the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission's published SIRS guidance and qualified advisors for decisions about their own circumstances. Reviewed 22 May 2026.*