The adequacy of Working with Children checks in New South Wales is under question following an alleged string of indecent assaults by a school cleaner.

Last week, it was reported a contract cleaner had been charged with indecently assaulting three children at a primary school in Sydney's south.

The Department of Education, in response to the incident, said contractors in schools were required to have Working with Children checks that were renewed every five years.

While it is good the Department of Education enforce this policy, under the Child Protection (Working with Children) Regulations 2013 a cleaner may be technically exempt from being required to have a WWC check.

The regulations in NSW only requires workers who engage in child related work that involves direct contact (being physical or face to face contact) with a child (being a person under 18 years of age) to get a WWC check.

This obviously leads to some workers in schools not requiring WWC checks given they are technically not in "direct contact" with students. Individuals who are exempt from such checks in NSW include:

• a worker who provides administrative, clerical or maintenance services, or other ancillary services, if the work does not ordinarily involve contact with children for extended periods.
• a worker who works for a period of not more than a total of five working days in a calendar year, if the work involves minimal direct contact with children or is supervised when children are present.
• a worker who carries out the work in the course of an informal domestic arrangement that is not carried out on a professional or commercial basis.
• a parent, or close relative, of a child who attends a school, an education and care service or other educational institution when volunteering at or for activities of the school, service or institution.
• a parent, or close relative, of a child when volunteering in connection with a team, program or other activity of which the child is a member or in which the child usually participates.
• a worker who is under the age of 18 years.
• a visiting speaker, adjudicator, performer, assessor or other similar visitor at a school or other place where child-related work is carried out if the work of the person at that place is for a one-off occasion and is carried out in the presence of one or more other adults.

The question NSW schools should be asking is: "Do we follow the letter of the law or extend WWC checks to all workers, even those whose work does not ordinarily involve contact with children for extended periods?".