Section 3800.16. Reportable incidents

(a) A reportable incident is the following:

(1) A death of a child.

(2) A physical act by a child to commit suicide.

(3) An injury, trauma or illness of a child requiring inpatient treatment at a hospital.

(4) A serious injury or trauma of a child requiring outpatient treatment at a hospital, not to include minor injuries such as sprains or cuts.

(5) A violation of a child’s rights.

(6) Intimate sexual contact between children, consensual or otherwise.

(7) A child absence from the premises for 4 hours or more without the approval of staff persons, or for 30 minutes or more without the approval of staff persons if the child may be in immediate jeopardy.

(8) Abuse or misuse of a child’s funds.

(9) An outbreak of a serious communicable disease as defined in 28 Pa. Code § 27.2 (relating to specific identified reportable diseases, infections and conditions).

(10) An incident requiring the services of the fire or police departments.

(11) Any condition which results in closure of the facility.

(b) The facility shall develop written policies and procedures on the prevention, reporting, investigation and management of reportable incidents.

(c) The facility shall complete a written reportable incident report, on a form prescribed by the Department, and send it to the appropriate Departmental regional office and the contracting agency, within 24 hours.

(d) The facility shall orally report to the appropriate Departmental regional office and the contracting agency within 12 hours, a fire requiring the relocation of children, an unexpected death of a child and a child who is missing from the facility if police have been notified.

(e) The facility shall initiate an investigation of a reportable incident immediately following the report of the incident and shall complete the investigation within a reasonable time.

(f) The facility shall submit a final reportable incident report to the agencies specified in subsection (c) immediately following the conclusion of the investigation.

(g) A copy of reportable incident reports shall be kept.

(h) The facility shall notify the child’s parent and, if applicable, a guardian or custodian, immediately following a reportable incident relating to a specific child, unless restricted by applicable confidentiality statutes, regulations or an individual child’s court order.

Notation

Cross References

This section cited in 55 Pa. Code § 3800.17 (relating to recordable incidents); 55 Pa. Code § 3800.274 (relating to additional requirements); and 55 Pa. Code § 3800.311 (relating to exceptions for day treatment).