Getting Started with Emergency Planning
Emergency Planning 101
Emergency Planning is the arrangements your business makes to ensure occupant safety in the event of an emergency at your site.
Emergency planning aims to prepare for and mitigate the impact of emergencies. The process requires identifying what to prepare for and how to respond. It therefore involves accumulating knowledge and skills to allow you to disseminate information to:
- Manage and plan for potential emergencies
- Allocate facility resources and personnel to deal with the emergencies
This understanding provides a basis for determining the most effective ways of using facility resources before, during and after the emergency.
While emergencies can never be totally prevented, their impact may be mitigated by effective emergency planning. Building occupiers are required to have a plan to ensure the safety of employees, customers, contractors and others who may be onsite when the emergency occurs
While the primary goal of the process is to protect occupants and visitors, planning for emergencies will also serve secondary objectives, including:
- Protect property
- Reduce intangible risks (such as reputational risk)
- Comply with Australian legislation and standards
- Fulfil your duty of care to the occupants within your place of business
Everybody is required to be involved in the emergency planning process at some level.
- Facility Managers
- Tenant Managers
- Wardens
- Occupants and Visitors
Everybody should be aware of their obligations in accordance with your emergency plan. We have explored the roles and responsibilities of each role in the website, and addressed more complex issues in our blog series.
While certain elements of the emergency planning process are undertaken at predetermined intervals (training, for example), to get the most out of your efforts, emergency planning should be integrated into your everyday routine.
More information on when to undertake activities can be found under the requirements for each role.
What are the Standards and Regulations that govern Emergency Planning in Australia?
Each state has different requirements when it comes to the emergency planning obligations of building owners, managers and occupiers. Broadly, however, the Regulations and Standards are the following:
- Australian Standard 3745 – 2010 Planning for emergencies in facilities;
- Australian Standard 4083 – 2010 Planning for emergencies in Health Care Facilities;
- Australian Standard 1851 – 2012 Maintenance of Fire Protection Equipment;
- Other Australian Standards that deal with specific requirements
- State Workplace Health and Safety legislation and codes of practice
- State Fire Safety Regulations (such as the Queensland Building Fire Safety Regulations 2008)
- State Fire and Rescue / Fire Brigade acts
- Building Codes of Australia
More information on when to undertake activities can be found under the requirements for each role.