Approved Providers of Residential Care
EMERGENCY RISK MANAGEMENT PLANS 2014-15
As the high risk season for major Australian weather events and bushfires approaches it is vital
that all aged care services are well prepared and able to respond to a range of emergency events
that may impact delivery of care.
Each high risk season results in a number of Commonwealth residential aged care providers
evacuating all or parts of their facilities for varying periods. Other residential aged care
providers impacted by an event experience staff shortages, power failure and failure of electronic
systems (including electronic records) and restricted access to water supplies, food, medications
and linen.
Maintaining quality care under these circumstances requires effective emergency risk
management planning by providers and support from all levels of government.
Under Accreditation Standard Four, expected outcome 4.6: Fire, security and other emergencies,
approved providers are required to have emergency plans and protocols in place to protect the
health, safety and wellbeing of care recipients.
I encourage you to review your risk management plans to ensure they are current and practical.
To assist you with reviewing your plans I have attached a list of considerations. This list is not
all inclusive; items on this list may be more or less relevant to your situation, and there may be
other considerations relevant to your particular circumstances. State and territory health and
emergency management agencies also publish emergency management planning information
relevant to each jurisdiction.
Testing key elements of your plans is highly recommended, for example running a practice
emergency exercise ensures people understand their roles and responsibilities.
Approved providers must also have systems in place to identify and ensure compliance with all
relevant legislation, regulatory requirements, professional standards and guidelines.
Accreditation Standard expected outcome 4.2: Regulatory Compliance includes consideration of
any relevant state or local government regulations.
Plans should be tailored to service locations and circumstances in consultation with local
emergency response agencies. State and territory governments have primary responsibility for
emergency management in their jurisdictions. Local governments also have an important role to
play in planning, preparedness, response and recovery. It is important to engage and maintain
communication with these governments in your area including participation in emergency
management forums for community groups, including aged care providers.
PO Box 7576 Canberra Business Centre ACT 2610
Email  Facsimile  Telephone 1300 653 227
National Relay Service: TTY: 133 677, Speak and listen: 1300 555 727, Internet relay: www.relayservice.com.au
www.dss.gov.au
Approved providers have an important role to play to ensure that aged care recipients continue to
receive quality care during emergency events. I urge you to ensure you are well prepared for any
events which may impact your service in the future.
Yours sincerely
Authorised for electronic transmission
James Christian
Group Manager
Aged Care Quality and Compliance
08 October 2014
Preparation for an emergency event at an aged care residence
Key considerations for residential aged care providers preparing for emergency events include:
Before the event
□ Consider the range of hazards that are most likely to affect your facility.
□ Take all reasonable measures to ensure that your facility is able to withstand the most
likely hazards.
□ Ensure you are aware of any state/territory or regional/local emergency management
arrangements and requirements, including any changes from previous seasons and
possible trigger points for evacuation.
□ Develop an appropriate emergency management plan which considers the ongoing needs
of vulnerable care recipients in the event that your facility becomes isolated (water, food,
power, communication, medical supplies etc).
□ Determine appropriate staffing levels to meet higher care recipient needs during periods
of high risk, including heat waves and evacuations.
□ Develop an evacuation plan that includes realistic arrangements for transportation and
alternative accommodation relevant to different scenarios (eg. only your facility is
affected or all facilities in the region are affected) and includes provision for care
recipient identification and care-plan documents.
□ Liaise with your local hospital/s to ensure the integration of your emergency management
plans with its plan (particularly important in rural or remote locations).
□ *Develop agreements with other service providers for alternative accommodation in the
instance that you or the other facility need to partially or wholly evacuate residents.
□ Contact local emergency services to seek advice and ensure that they are aware of your
facility, its size and location, and the particular needs of the residents. Provide contact
details of your facility and key personnel to the emergency services, and ensure all key
personnel have access to contact details for local emergency services.
□ During any period of high risk, ensure that key personnel monitor emergency broadcasts
and the media for localised warnings and advice.
□ Discuss emergency management plans with staff, care recipients and their families.
□ Develop a plan for recovering following an event including post trauma counselling for
care recipients and staff.
□ Undertake exercises to test key parts of your plan to ensure staff understand their specific
responsibilities. This also allows you to determine whether there are any gaps or other
areas you need to consider.
During the event
□ Liaise with local emergency services to determine the seriousness of any emergency
situation and the level of risk posed to your facility and care recipients.
□ Know when to activate emergency management plans, and make timely/informed
decisions, which may culminate in a partial or complete evacuation of your facility.
□ Continue to deliver appropriate care, which may require sourcing additional staff or
volunteers, according to your emergency management plan.
□ Keep staff, family and care recipients well informed during any emergency situation.
□ Provide advice to the Department of Social Services (DSS) about the impact of the event
on your facility, when it is safe to do so.
PO Box 7576 Canberra Business Centre ACT 2610
Email  Facsimile  Telephone 1300 653 227
National Relay Service: TTY: 133 677, Speak and listen: 1300 555 727, Internet relay: www.relayservice.com.au
www.dss.gov.au
Following the event
□ Assess the impact on your facility, staff and care recipients and take steps to return to
business as usual.
□ Liaise with and request assistance as required from local agencies providing recovery and
other relevant services.
□ Review and amend your emergency management plans, as needed.
*As part of the emergency planning process, you are expected to explore and document
alternative accommodation options and where possible, make arrangements at a local/regional
level. These arrangements may include, but not limited to, discussions about ongoing care of
care recipients, staff requirements and associated costs. In an emergency DSS will assist
approved providers to identify accommodation options for relocating or evacuating care
recipients. For example, DSS will help you identify aged care services or other facilities in your
area that have the capacity to accommodate care recipients.
You need to give particular consideration to transport options for evacuations, recognising that
ambulance services may be fully occupied responding to emergency calls, and alternate transport
providers may also have arrangements with other facilities. Multiple alternate means of
transport, suitable for frail elderly residents, such as buses, vans or cars need to be considered
alongside access to your site, availability at short notice and 24 hour contact details.
Contact with the Department of Social Services
In the circumstance of your facility being affected by an emergency event, it is expected that you
will make contact with DSS, when it is safe to do so, to:
 provide notification of any internal or external emergency event;
 provide notification if an evacuation or relocation of care recipients is required in
response to an emergency event; or
 seek assistance with identifying alternative accommodation.
In Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia DSS has dedicated Emergency Response
numbers:
Victoria - 1800 078 709
New South Wales - 1800 852 649
South Australia – 1800 288 475
All other contacts should be directed to the Aged Care Complaints Scheme on 1800 550 552.
In an emergency event, including an event that has impacted your facility or a situation where
other facilities are relocating or evacuating residents, officers from DSS may contact you to:
 determine the impact of the event on your facility, and whether or not any need for
additional assistance is being met, and/or
 ascertain the potential of your facility to provide emergency accommodation to relocating
care recipients from at-risk facilities.
The Department appreciates your support in responding to this contact, which will be kept to an
essential minimum.