NQS and ACECQA Compliance
This page explains which childcare cleaning regulations apply to your service, what they actually ask for, and how our signed logs give you evidence for them. It is written for directors, approved providers and educational leaders preparing for assessment and rating, and it is honest about the limits: cleaning supports compliance, it does not guarantee it. For who we are and how we hire, read who we are and how we recruit.
- Quality Area 2
- Quality Area 3
- Regulation 77
- Regulation 88
- Staying Healthy
- WWCC checkedRegister available to you
- Police checkedEvery cleaner
- $20M insuredCertificate on file
- Signed logsKept 12 months by us
What do childcare cleaning regulations ask of your service?
They ask for outcomes rather than methods. The National Quality Standard expects premises to be clean and hygiene practices to be followed, the national regulations require adequate hygiene, safe food handling and steps to stop infectious disease, and Staying Healthy sets out how to clean. None of them names a cleaning schedule.
| Requirement | What it expects | How our cleaning supports it |
|---|---|---|
| NQS Element 3.1.2Quality Area 3 | Premises, furniture and equipment that are safe, clean and well maintained | Each room cleaned and signed off nightly, with faults reported in writing |
| NQS Element 2.1.2Quality Area 2 | Hygiene practices that are promoted and actually implemented | Method recorded per surface, so practice can be shown, not just described |
| Regulation 77National regulations | Adequate health and hygiene practices and safe food handling | Kitchen and bottle prep cleaned with food-safe products and logged |
| Regulation 88National regulations | Reasonable steps to prevent an infectious disease spreading | Outbreak cleans with product, dilution and contact time recorded |
| Regulation 168National regulations | Written policies, including one on dealing with infectious diseases | A cleaning method you can quote in your own policy |
| Staying HealthyNHMRC, 6th edition | Routine cleaning with detergent and water, disinfection when needed | Products used exactly that way, with a register and safety data sheets |
Sources: ACECQA, Element 3.1.2, national regulations, reg 168 and the NHMRC Staying Healthy guidelines. For a plain-language walk through the standards, read our guide to NQS cleaning standards, and for the NHMRC advice in detail, our summary of the Staying Healthy cleaning guidelines.
The national authority that oversees the framework, publishes the Guide to the NQF and sets the standard your service is assessed against.
In Victoria, the state regulatory authority approves services and sends authorised officers to assess and rate them. They are the people who will read your records.
Food brings a second regulator into the picture. Any service whose kitchen produces higher-risk meals is also a registered food premises under Victoria's Food Act, so the kitchen is inspected by council environmental health officers as well. How we keep that room ready for both is explained on our childcare kitchen cleaning page.
How do our logs support assessment and rating?
They turn "we clean every night" into a record an authorised officer can read. Every sheet names the room, lists each surface with how it was cleaned and with what, records the time, and carries the signature of the person who did the work, so cleaning evidence is on the table rather than in someone's memory.
During an assessment visit, officers observe practice, talk to educators and look at documents. Cleaning records are one of the easier documents to get right, and one of the more awkward to be missing. A folder of signed logs, sorted by week, answers the question before it is fully asked.
The logs are also useful for your own quality improvement plan. Patterns show up quickly: a bathroom that keeps needing extra attention, a room where the same fitting keeps breaking, or a week when an outbreak changed the routine. Those are the kind of reflections an educational leader can use.
We keep a copy of every log for at least twelve months, so a lost sheet can be replaced before an assessment visit rather than after it.
- Room and timeWhere and when the clean happened
- SurfaceEach item on its own line
- MethodClean only, or clean then disinfect
- ProductMatches your chemical register
- FaultsAnything broken, reported that night
- SignatureThe cleaner, not a manager
- RotationWhich weekly task was done
- StockSoap and paper refilled
How should cleaning records be kept for an assessment visit?
In one folder that an officer can pick up and understand without help: the current scope at the front, then the product register and safety data sheets, then the nightly logs by week, with outbreak logs kept separately at the back. Nothing clever, just complete and in order.
- FrontScope and contract
What is cleaned, how often and by whom, agreed in writing.
- NextProduct register
Every product on site with its safety data sheet.
- NextWWCC register
A current copy for everyone who holds keys.
- Main sectionNightly logs
Filed by week, newest at the front.
- SeparateOutbreak logs
With dilution, contact time and dates of each case.
- LastFaults and fixes
What was reported and when it was repaired.
We set the folder up with you in the first week and keep adding to it every night, so there is no scramble before a visit. When a product changes, the new safety data sheet goes in before the product is used on site. When a fault is reported, the log shows the date, and your maintenance record can show the fix, which together tell the full story an officer is looking for.
How long you keep records is set by your own policy and record-keeping obligations. We hold our copies for at least twelve months regardless, which covers the common case of a missing week turning up as a gap just before a visit.
What can't a cleaner promise about compliance?
A cleaner cannot promise a rating, cannot be responsible for your educators' daytime hygiene practice, and cannot write your service's policies for you. Anyone who claims otherwise is overselling. What we can promise is complete, accurate cleaning records and a method that follows the guidance.
- No rating guarantees
Ratings come from the whole service across seven quality areas. Cleaning touches two of them and decides none of them on its own.
- Daytime practice is yours
Handwashing, nappy changing and wiping tables before meals happen when we are not there. Our logs cover what we do, not the whole day.
- Policies belong to you
We can describe our method so it fits your infection control policy, but the approved provider owns the policy and its review.
Authorised officers can also visit to monitor compliance outside the formal assessment cycle, sometimes with little notice. That is the strongest argument for records that are complete every night rather than tidied up before a scheduled visit. If you are writing or reviewing a cleaning policy, our childcare cleaning policy and procedure template is a good starting point. It is written to be adapted to your service, not copied, and it leaves room for the parts only you can decide.
Can you see a sample log before you book?
Yes. Ask for a sample log with your quote and we will send one laid out for your type of service, alongside our WWCC register, insurance certificate and product list. The quote itself is fixed, written and sent within 24 hours.
If an assessment and rating visit is coming up, say so. We can start with a deep clean so the building is at its best, and make sure your log folder is complete from the first night.
- 1Ask for a sampleA log laid out for your service type.
- 2Check the paperworkRegister, certificate and product list.
- 3Start loggingA complete folder from the first night.
What do directors ask about compliance?
Two questions come up whenever an assessment visit is on the horizon.
01Will this guarantee our rating?
02What do logs include?
Cleaning records that are never the weak point.
Ask for a sample log with your quote.