Incident Reporting Systems (IRSS) in child protection services: a national survey

This study investigates the functionality of incident reporting systems in Norwegian municipal CPS based on quantitative analysis of a national survey (N = 1,280). Unlike services such as healthcare and aviation, where incident reporting is well established and extensively researched, little is known about how incident reporting systems function in child protection services. This study provides insights into who has submitted written incident reports in CPS and what they have reported. The findings indicate that 53.4 percent of respondents reported having filed an incident report in the past three years. Most reported incidents concerned employee safety and threats from service users, but unexpectedly, few related to a lack of personnel and services or to quality issues. Client-related issues may be underreported. This research enhances the understanding of incident reporting in CPS and provides insights for further development of functional systems aimed at improving service quality and safety.