Guardian Control Centre – Helping communities
support themselves through disasters
The threat of cyclones is ever present each cyclone season in
Central and Northern Queensland, and is a threat taken very
seriously by all agencies whose charter includes that responsibly.
Phill Glindemann and Chris Madsen were both working in
Information Technology at the Whitsunday Shire Council when, in March 2006 Cyclone Larry crossed
the coast. Their interest in disaster management had already been whetted a little earlier when the
local Disaster Co-ordination Centre invited them to participate in a disaster simulation event.
Through Cyclone Larry, Phill and Chris saw that the response could benefit from the emerging digital
technology of the day, so set about investigating ways and means. QIT+ was thus formed and is now
Government Information Technology Contracting (GITC) accredited (Q-3906) as a software provider.
Because of their origins in local government, Chris and Phill understand very well the needs of Councils
and Local Disaster Co-ordination Centres. They are well aware that, once the event is over and media
and other attention moves to other issues, local government is the agency with final responsibility in
the long term.
With a lot of late nights and hard work QIT+ (http://www.qitplus.com/) developed the Guardian
system, and their cutting edge technology is now used in over 50 Local Councils in Queensland and
the Northern Territory. It is no surprise that the rest of Australia and the world export market is now
being explored for opportunities.
In Queensland the local government response is integrated with Police District and State Disaster
Response centres.
The multi-award winning Guardian Control Centre features software technology to manage a multiagency response to a disaster of any scale by working with property data and maps to provide one
consistent outcome for everyone through the sharing of resources during an event, making use of
local skills and instantly updateable input.
The process moves through three basic stages:
1. Preparation – the identification of resources and infrastructure
2. Response - communication with various agencies and the public
3. Recovery – identification of real-time resources, including funding; assistance with
community recovery
Essentially it allocates tasks or jobs to various agencies based on the relevant (and already embedded)
Disaster Management Plan. These tasks are pushed instantly to the devices in the field. Subsequent
field reports then track the progress of task performance, re-allocating freed resources as necessary.
Consequently the system provides a seamless flow of information through all agencies and levels of
government.
The software is designed to run with minimal dependencies during a disaster, and Guardian continues
to be operational throughout, despite loss of Internet access. Crews in the field can log jobs and status
reports remotely by using integrated mobile technology. In the event that mobile service is unavailable
the system's mobile apps will store the data locally and then push to the server as soon as a connection
is restored.
Guardian has worked side by side with councils and emergency services through some of the worst
disasters in living memory to affect Australia including Cyclones Ului and Yasi and the Bundaberg
floods.
Staff with years of experience in Disaster Co-ordination have praised the performance of Guardian in
assisting them to efficiently manage requests for assistance, allocation of resources, activation of
support centres, capturing bulletins and mapping all jobs and road closures for operators to view.
Mark Connors, Whitsunday SES Local Controller said: "Guardian has really taken the pressure off and
reduced stress levels due to efficient operations. The big difference for our field operations was that
we didn't send our resources out to tasks that had already been completed."
The QIT+ main office is in Cannonvale, but expansion has indicated that a Brisbane presence is also
required, and this has now been established.
Good example of how a regional IT business can go national with the right
product and infrastructure.