NSW Education:
The New Manual
& Competent Review

Executive Summary: The Case for Professional Review

The NSW Department of Education publishes emergency management procedures for its schools. Whatever your sector's own guidance says, the legal backdrop is the same: WHS law requires an emergency plan that is prepared, maintained and put into practice, and NSW fire safety law now ties building maintenance to AS 1851-2012.

For principals, executive staff and childcare directors, the practical message is that self-assessment is rarely enough. A review by someone competent in emergency planning gives you independent evidence that your procedures fit the site.

1. How the Standards Fit Together: AS 3745 and AS 1851

AS 3745-2010 sets out how to plan for emergencies in facilities. Where emergency planning is one of a building's essential fire safety measures, AS 1851-2012 Section 14 sets out how often the plan and its elements are inspected.

Many facilities believe that updating evacuation diagrams every 5 years is enough. We call this the '5-Year Trap'. Where Section 14 applies, evacuation diagrams are inspected every six months. If a wall has moved, an exit has changed, or a warden has left, the change should be picked up within that cycle.

Skills Retention

AS 3745 recommends six-monthly skills retention training for the Emergency Control Organisation (ECO), your wardens. It is a voluntary standard, but it is the recognised benchmark. Where Section 14 applies, the six-monthly inspection checks training records against your emergency plan, so the plan and the records need to match.

2. Regulation 97: The Childcare Rule

For services under the National Quality Framework (NQF), regulation 97 of the Education and Care Services National Regulations requires emergency and evacuation procedures, including a floor plan displayed near each exit. Centre-based services must rehearse those procedures every three months.

3. AS 1851-2012: The 2026 NSW Change

From 13 February 2026, section 81A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021 requires maintenance of each essential fire safety measure to be done in accordance with AS 1851-2012, unless an approved performance solution covers it. Records must be kept on site for 7 years.

Section 14, "Emergency planning in facilities", applies where emergency planning is one of your building's essential fire safety measures. Check your fire safety schedule. Where it applies:

• Six-monthly: the ECO list, evacuation equipment, training records, an ECO alarm response test, evacuation diagrams, assembly areas and an evacuation exercise are inspected.
• Yearly: the emergency plan is checked for relevance and exercise records are reviewed.
• Records: keep them on site, ready for your annual fire safety statement (AFSS) and for inspection.

We also recommend that the EPC meets and keeps minutes every 6 months, so decisions feed into each inspection. Compliance Ready builds this into an Integrated Safety Loop so the records are complete and easy to produce.

Psychological Safety After an Emergency

WHS law in NSW already requires PCBUs to manage psychosocial risks. An emergency can be traumatic for staff and students, so we recommend your procedures cover what happens after the event: debriefs, support and a return to normal routines. Compliance Ready includes trauma-informed after-action steps in every plan we build.

How Compliance Ready Helps

We specialise in emergency planning for education and care services. Here is what we do:

• Assessment audit: we find the gaps in your documents and training records.
• Competent review: we review your emergency procedures against the site, AS 3745 and your sector rules.
• Evidence management: we run drills and keep the records, so you can show what was done and when.

How long has it been since your last EPC meeting? Don't wait for an incident or an insurer to test your records. Talk to Compliance Ready about a review.