AS 4083:2010 – Planning for emergencies-—Health carefacilities.
(I) Planning for the establishment and staffing of centres to carry out the additional administration, coordination and communication functions required during an emergency. The plan shall include an alternative site for the centre.
The centre and the alternate centre shall be equipped or capable of being equipped at short notice with multimodal internal and external communications facilities.
(j) Provision of a public information management system.
(k) Provision of a dedicated telephone number(s) reserved for use during the management of the emergency.
(1) A policy for release of information, including the title of the position authorized to release the information and the nature of that information.
(m) Appropriate operational debriefing to be carried out following the event.
(n) Appropriate assessment measures, incorporating performance outcomes, by which the actual or exercised performance of the plan can be appraised.
(o) Provision of alerting systems, to ensure that all required personnel are easily and rapidly alerted. For this purpose, the utilization of existing facilities and systems need to be adopted wherever possible. The staff need to be alerted without undue alarm to patients and visitors.
(p) Provision of support to cope with a potential increase in workload during and following the event. Monitoring staff fatigue and having staff changeover strategies.
(q) Provision to ensure the security of the facility.
NOTE: It is desirable that consideration is given to the ability to secure, Iockdown or restrict access to the facility where appropriate during an emergency.
(r) Arrangements to replace used or damaged equipment.
(s) Development of supplementary plans as appropriate.
3.2.2 Supplementary plans
Hazard analyses/risk assessment shall be undertaken for each facility. The outcomes of these analyses will depend on the facility’s function, location and environment. Following these analyses, the facility should identify those hazards that warrant specific planning within the facility’s emergency plans.
In some instances, particular hazards may warrant the development of specific plans. Examples of hazards that may require the development of supplementary plans are:
(a) Severe weather (e.g. cyclones, storms, extremes in temperature).
(b) Bushfires.
(c) Floods.
(d) Hazardous materials.
(e) Transport incidents.
(f) Industrial incidents.
(g) Pandemics.
(h) Storage, handling or transport of chemical, biological and radiological substances.
(i) Earthquakes.
(j) Storm surges.
(k) Tsunamis.
3.2.3 Coordination with other agency plans
The facility shall ensure that, for consistency, all emergency plans are developed and registered in conjunction with other relevant agencies, e.g. State/Territory health departments, police, fire and ambulance services, disaster management units and local governments.
3.3 COMMUNICATION
As technology advances, State/Territory health departments should, where possible, introduce a nationally consistent unique telephone number comprising two— or three—digits for notification of facility emergencies.
3.4 MEDIA MANAGEMENT PLAN
A media management plan shall be developed to support emergency plans.
The media management plan should deal with—
(a) contact with the media during the emergency:
(b) preparing and releasing media statements by authorized persons: and
(c) providing a media briefing area.
3.5 PHARMACEUTICALS, SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT
The facility shall—
(a) have appropriate pharmaceuticals, supplies and equipment for the various emergencies to ensure a rapid and effective response;
(b) ensure that pharmaceuticals, supplies and equipment are located at suitable places within the facility to ensure a rapid effective response;
(c) ensure that there is an appropriate means of storing and transporting the pharmaceuticals, supplies and equipment to the site of the emergency: and
(d) have protocols for the cleaning, re-stocking and maintenance of all pharmaceuticals, supplies and equipment.