Creating Child Safety Risk Assessments: Understanding Legal Requirements Across Australia

Creating Child Safety Risk Assessments: Understanding Legal Requirements Across Australia

Keeping children and young people safe is everyone’s responsibility and requires more than good intentions and paper-based compliance. Safeguarding children requires organisations to proactively identify where harm could occur and take reasonable steps to prevent it.

This is where a child safety risk assessment plays a critical role. A well-developed risk assessment helps organisations identify vulnerabilities, implement appropriate safeguards and demonstrate compliance with child safety laws. It is also one of the clearest ways an organisation can show that child safety is embedded into its governance and day-to-day operations.

Whilst all organisations that work with children and young people across Australia are expected to identify and manage child safety risks, the legal framework differs between each state and territory. Understanding these differences is essential for organisations to effectively strengthen their safeguarding practices, particularly when they operate across multiple jurisdictions.

What Is a Child Safety Risk Assessment?

A child safety risk assessment is a structured process used to identify situations where children may be exposed to harm and to implement measures that reduce or eliminate those risks.

Unlike a workplace health and safety (WHS) risk assessment, which focuses on protecting workers and visitors from physical hazards, a child safety risk assessment specifically considers risks to children arising from an organisation’s people, practices, environments and culture.

This includes assessing risks such as:

• opportunities for grooming or abuse;
• inadequate supervision;
• one-to-one interactions between adults and children;
• unsafe recruitment or screening practices;
• online communication and digital platforms;
• complaints and reporting processes;
• organisational culture that discourages reporting; and/or
• physical environments where children may be isolated or unsupervised.

Child safety risks are not limited to physical spaces. Operational practices, governance arrangements and workplace culture all contribute to environments where harm may occur if risks are not identified and managed. The National Office for Child Safety recognises that child safety risks can be environmental, operational and cultural, and recommends that organisations review these risks annually as part of a culture of continuous improvement.

Why Child Safety Risk Assessments Matter

Many organisations focus on responding to incidents after they occur. Whilst it is imperative that organisations respond to critical child safety incidents, effective safeguarding is also preventative and focuses on mitigating the risk of children and young people experiencing harm.

A child safety risk assessment helps organisations to:

• identify vulnerabilities before harm occurs;
• develop appropriate controls and safeguards;
• strengthen governance and accountability;
• demonstrate compliance with Child Safe Standards and other legislative obligations;
• prepare for regulatory audits or compliance assessments; and
• foster a culture where children’s safety is actively considered in organisational decision-making.

A child safety risk assessment should be a living document that evolves alongside an organisation’s services, workforce and operating environment. It should not be a compliance document that is completed once and then forgotten.

National Expectations for Child Safety Risk Management

Although Australia does not have a single national law requiring every organisation to complete a child safety risk assessment, the expectation is firmly established through the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, which were developed in response to recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

These principles encourage organisations to:

• create safe physical and online environments;
• identify and reduce risks to children;
• regularly review child safety practices; and
• embed child safety into organisational culture and governance.

For Commonwealth Government entities, these expectations are even more explicit. Under the Commonwealth Child Safe Framework (Framework), organisations must:

• undertake annual child safety risk assessments;
• identify child-related activities;
• assess risks;
• implement mitigation strategies; and
• publicly report on their compliance each year.

The Framework also makes clear that child safety should be integrated into broader organisational risk management rather than treated as a standalone exercise.

Legal Requirements by State and Territory

Although the overall objective of keeping children and young people safe is consistent, the legal obligations differ across Australia.

Victoria

Victoria has one of Australia’s most comprehensive child safety frameworks.

Under the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 (Vic), organisations subject to the Victorian Child Safe Standards must identify and reduce risks of child abuse. Standard 9 specifically requires organisations to ensure that both physical and online environments promote safety while minimising opportunities for abuse.

Regulators expect organisations to be able to demonstrate how risks have been identified, assessed, controlled and reviewed as part of ongoing compliance activities.

New South Wales

New South Wales implements the Child Safe Standards through the Child Safe Scheme administered by the Office of the Children’s Guardian. Standard 8 specifically requires organisations to ensure that physical and online environments minimise the opportunity for abuse to occur.

While legislation does not prescribe a mandatory risk assessment template, organisations are expected to proactively identify risks, implement safeguards and continuously review the effectiveness of their child safety systems.

Queensland

Queensland’s Child Safe Organisations Act introduced mandatory Child Safe Standards for many organisations working with children. Standard 8 requires organisations to ensure that physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing and minimise the opportunity for children to be harmed.

The legislation requires organisations to identify and manage child safety risks as part of implementing the Standards. These obligations complement Queensland’s Reportable Conduct Scheme, reinforcing the expectation that safeguarding is proactive rather than reactive.

South Australia

South Australia’s Child Safe Environments Program requires prescribed organisations to establish and maintain child safe environments.

This includes identifying risks to children, implementing appropriate policies and procedures and regularly reviewing safeguarding practices to ensure they remain effective.

Tasmania

Tasmania’s Child and Youth Safe Organisations Framework similarly requires organisations to identify, assess and minimise risks to children while embedding child safety into organisational governance and operations.

Under the Child and Youth Safe Standards, Standard 8 requires organisations to ensure that physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing and minimise the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed.

Australian Capital Territory

The ACT Child Safe Standards Scheme requires organisations to implement governance arrangements that identify and reduce risks to children. Risk management is expected to form part of broader organisational decision-making rather than existing as a standalone compliance exercise.

Western Australia

Western Australia continues to strengthen its safeguarding framework through the progressive implementation of Child Safe Standards and the Reportable Conduct Scheme.

Although legislative requirements continue to evolve, organisations are increasingly expected to demonstrate proactive risk identification and ongoing review of safeguarding practices.

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory has not yet implemented a comprehensive Child Safe Standards Scheme comparable to some other jurisdictions. However, organisations working with children remain responsible for managing foreseeable risks and implementing appropriate safeguarding measures consistent with national best practice.

What Should a Child Safety Risk Assessment Cover?

An effective child safety risk assessment should be tailored to the organisation’s activities rather than relying on generic templates. Each identified risk should be assessed according to its likelihood and potential consequences, before appropriate control measures are implemented and regularly reviewed.

Areas commonly considered include:

• recruitment and screening practices;
• volunteer management;
• supervision arrangements;
• excursions, camps and transport;
• change rooms and bathroom facilities;
• online communication and social media;
• photography and digital recording;
• complaint handling and reporting systems;
• contractors and third-party providers;
• governance and leadership oversight;
• environmental design and visibility;
• cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children;
• accessibility for children with disability;
• inclusion of children from diverse backgrounds; and
• opportunities for children to participate in decisions affecting their safety.

Common Mistakes Organisations Make

Many organisations have some form of child safety documentation but overlook key elements that regulators increasingly expect to see.

Common issues include:

• treating child safety as part of a general WHS risk assessment;
• copying generic templates without considering organisation-specific risks;
• failing to assess online environments;
• overlooking organisational culture and governance risks;
• not reviewing risk assessments after incidents, organisational changes or legislative reforms; and/or
• failing to consult children, young people or families where appropriate.

A risk assessment that is never updated quickly becomes outdated as services, technology and organisational practices change.

Child Safety Is an Ongoing Process

Creating a child safety risk assessment is not the end of the process, it is the beginning. Safeguarding risks evolve over time. New programs, changes in staffing, emerging technologies and legislative reforms all have the potential to introduce new risks that require organisations to reassess their controls.

Regular review, continuous improvement and strong governance are essential to maintaining a child safe organisation.

Developing an effective child safety risk assessment requires more than completing a checklist. It requires an understanding of the legal obligations that apply to your organisation, the risks associated with your services and the practical safeguards needed to protect children.

How Can Safe Space Legal Help?

The team at Safe Space Legal has extensive experience supporting organisations to strengthen their safeguarding frameworks and meet their legal obligations. We work with organisations across Australia to help build a culture of safety and accountability and can assist organisations to create and review child safety risk assessments.

Safe Space Legal provides the following services to ensure organisations meet their legal obligations:

• Drafting legally sound policies, procedures, and codes of conduct;
• Providing policy audits and developing safeguarding policies, procedures, and complaint handing processes;
• Providing root cause analysis to identify gaps in policy and/or practice which put organisations at risk of non-compliance with their sector-specific obligations;
• Conducting safeguarding investigations which are compliant with relevant state and territory legislation and regulations;
• Delivering tailored safeguarding training to ensure organisations are aware of their sector-specific requirements and obligations;
• Ensuring that complaints handling and reporting processes are compliant with legal obligations;
• Provide sound legal advice on risk mitigation.

Contact office@safespacelegal.com.au or call (03) 9124 7321 to organise a complementary discussion in relation to your organisation’s child safety and safeguarding needs.