A new national initiative called Oho is helping red flag predators before they strike.
Oho is a social venture that enables organisations to continuously monitor accreditations - such as working with children checks - of their workers and volunteers.
Oho chief executive officer Claire Rogers spoke to the Mercury in light of a spate of cases involving teachers and child abuse.
The latest was the arrest last week of a 30-year-old Illawarra man for allegedly possessing or controlling child abuse material outside Australia.
In February this year casual Illawarra primary school teacher and juniors cricket coach Chris Cranny was jailed for grooming three teenage boys.
Last month an Illawarra teacher appeared in court, accused of groping a student.
In December last year, detectives charged a Southern Highlands teacher over the alleged sexual touching and indecent assault of multiple students.
In April this year former Illawarra junior rugby league referee Dale Whiteman admitted to preying on 22 underage girls for more than a decade.
Oho has over 8000 employees on the platform including nurses, doctors, teachers and medical professionals.
Its CEO, former World Vision CEO Claire Rogers, said doing background checking and accreditations was vitally important to identify predators before they struck our communities' most vulnerable, including children and the elderly.
Ms Rogers pointed to Gymnastics Australia's recent report to highlight the importance of vigilance surrounding accreditations and flagging cases as they arise.
The recent report revealed a culture of physical, emotional and sexual abuse which many participants described as "toxic".
"A working with children check is only useful if you are checking in on an ongoing basis," she said.
"What [Oho] have built is the capacity for organisations to check on an ongoing basis.
"The reason it is critical is that organisations should not have anyone working with the vulnerable without being sure they are accredited to work with children.
"What we've discovered is lots of organisations, because it has been really difficult to do this, are not checking on an ongoing basis.
"They often check when they are hiring someone, but these are what's called revocable accreditations, so they can be taken away for behaviour - that means someone is not safe to work with children.
"So unless an organisation is checking that on an ongoing basis, they are running a risk with those they care for."
Asked if the Department of Education was doing enough to vet teachers, Ms Rogers said this was the responsibility of the schools that were working with the children.
"There is a register in NSW and there is a register in each state to check against but the Office of the Children's Guardian (OCG) has recently issued a requirement for all organisations caring for children to be verifying and regularly conducting audits," she said.
"They are looking for organisations to be doing this so it is really important that they do it, and in NSW Oho is available and can provide that audit for them to make that easy," Ms Rogers said
"It is not acceptable to be running that risk, and there are quite significant penalties for organisations.
"In Victoria it is $200,000 for allowing someone to work in your organisation that shouldn't be there."
Read more: Jack de Belin rape jury hung for second time
A NSW Department of Education spokesman said the safety and wellbeing of children was the department's top priority at all times.
"Every staff member who works in a NSW school is required to have compulsory child protection training and must have a current Working With Children Check.
"All staff are required to comply with the Department's Code of Conduct.
"If there is ever an allegation of a breach of this Code of Conduct or any of the Department's other child protection policies and processes, the matter will be investigated by the Department's Professional and Ethical Standards Directorate and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken."
Do you have a story or news tip to share? Email us on alatifi@illawarramercury.com.au
We depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.
Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
