EM1 - Emergency Planning Committee

Purpose

To ensure the engagement and involvement of all impacted stakeholders in the planning for emergencies at an aquatic facility.

Description

The owner or operator of an Aquatic Facility should establish and ensure the appropriate resourcing of an Emergency Planning Committee.

The Emergency Planning Committee should oversee the development, implementation, monitoring and continual improvement of an emergency plan, its response procedures and the training and exercise activities for the Aquatic Facility.

The Emergency Planning Committee should be representative of the stakeholders (i.e. owners, operators, lifeguards, pool plant operators, lessors) at the aquatic facility and should contain no less than two persons, one of whom should be qualified and/or experienced in emergency management in accordance with Guidelines for Safe Pool Operations – Workforce.

The Emergency Planning Committee should also contain where reasonably available representatives of users of the Aquatic Facility including persons with a disability to assist with the effectiveness of the emergency plan.

The Emergency Planning committee should also engage specialist (contractors and/or consultants) to provide advice from time to time however these should not be members of the committee.

The Emergency Planning committee should meet at least once every 12months (but preferably 4 times per year). Meetings should be minuted and action items of the meeting recorded and kept for at least 7 years from the date of the meeting.

Responsibilities

The Emergency planning committee responsibilities should be documented and should include:

• Workshopping and identifying events that could reasonably produce emergency situations
• Developing an Emergency Plan
• Ensuring that resources are provided to ensure that successful implementation of the plan
• Nominating a validity period for the emergency plan and associated attachments
• Ensuring that the emergency plan is identifiable and available to all staff, contractors and volunteers within the aquatic facility
• Establishing and maintaining an Emergency Control Organisation which may be activated in accordance with the Emergency Plan
• If necessary establishing emergency response teams
• Ensuring the induction of all staff, contractors and volunteer to the emergency plan
• Developing a work plan to support the implementation, training, exercising and reviewing of the Emergency plan
• Developing and implementing a training and exercises for Incident Management Teams, staff and volunteers based on the emergency response procedures
• Monitoring, reviewing and continually improving the emergency response procedures
• Maintaining a current register of Incident Management Team members and their availability, skills and contact details
• Ensuring that a permanent record of events for each emergency is compiled and retained
• Providing advice through profession sources on the indemnity and insurance of Emergency Planning Committee members and the Incident Management Team members

Work Plan

The Emergency Planning Committee at an Aquatic Facility should develop, implement, monitor and review an annual Work plan for its scope of responsibilities as part of its planning cycle.

The work plan should be reviewed at least once every 12 months.

An annual work plan should clearly state and address the following:

• The organisations objectives and strategies for improving emergency management at the aquatic facility and how they are aligned to the overall organisational objectives
• The performance indicators and the extent to which they will be measured and reported on.
• Meetings and a calendar of events for the Emergency Planning Committee
• The budget and resources for the committee
• The plan for developing the capabilities of those who are responsible for emergency planning, Emergency Control or emergency response at the aquatic facility
• The plan for professional development of emergency management practices, resources and initiatives
• The exercise management programs

Training and Qualifications

Initial Training

At least 1 member (but preferably all) of the at an Aquatic Facility should hold the following competencies (or equivalent):

The owner or operator of an aquatic facility should provide training to Emergency Planning Committee members to enable them to competently execute their obligations. Initial training should address, but not necessarily be limited to, the following:

• Developing, managing and maintaining an emergency plan
• The duties of the Emergency Planning Committee and Emergency Control Organisation as described in the emergency response procedures and emergency plan
• The duties of all staff when responding to an emergency, where it exists, as described in the emergency response procedures and emergency plan
• The conduct of site-specific emergency identification and analysis
• Establishing and managing an Emergency Control Organisation
• The management of appropriate documentation
• The management and development of assessment activities
• The development and implementation of training activities including emergency exercise management
• Emergency mitigation, emergency preparedness and emergency prevention
• The installed fire safety systems, for example, sprinkler systems, fire doors and installed emergency communications, notifications and warnings
• Liaison with Emergency Services
• Post-evacuation management

If not completed within the above, training must include information on the subject of persons at the facility with a disability and those from Culturally and Linguistic Diverse (CALD) backgrounds applicable to the aquatic facility.

Currency Training and Professional Development

Emergency Planning Committee members should participate in a skills currency session at intervals no longer than 12 months apart.

References

• AS 3745 – 2010 Planning for Emergencies in Facilities
• PUA12 – Public Safety Training Package