Providers of Residential and Flexible Aged Care
EMERGENCY RISK MANAGEMENT PLANS 2015-16
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 subsidised residential aged care
providers needing to evacuate all or parts of their facilities for varying periods. Other impacts
may include staff shortages, power failures 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.
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.
Approved providers must also have systems in place to identify and ensure compliance with
all relevant legislation, regulatory requirements, professional standards and guidelines. This
includes consideration of any relevant state or local government regulations.
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 activities for you
to consider. This list is not all-inclusive and activities on this list may be more or less relevant
to your situation. There may be other considerations relevant to your particular circumstances
that you may need to undertake. State and Territory health and emergency management
agencies also publish emergency management planning information
Testing key elements of your emergency plans and procedures is highly recommended, for
example running a practice emergency exercise ensures people understand their roles and
responsibilities. Your emergency plans and response should be tailored to service locations
and circumstances in consultation with local emergency services.
State and Territory governments have primary responsibility for emergency management and
local governments have an important role in planning, preparedness, response and recovery. It
is important that you engage and maintain communication with relevant agencies in your area
and participate in any emergency management forums for community groups.
GPO Box 9848 Canberra ACT 2601
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In the circumstances of your service being affected by an emergency event, please contact 000
or your local emergency services. Contact the Department, when it is safe to do so to, to
advise of an evacuation or relocation and if you require assistance to identify accommodation
options for relocating or evacuating care recipients.
The Department can be contacted on the following numbers:
Victoria – 1800 078 709
New South Wales/ACT – 1800 852 649
South Australia – 1800 288 475
Tasmania – 1800 108 196
Queensland – 1800 300 125
Western Australia – 1800 733 923
Northern Territory – 1800 355 348
The Aged Care Complaints Scheme phone number should not be used for emergency
purposes.
Just to reiterate approved providers have an important role to ensure that care recipients
continue to receive quality care during emergency events. It is vital that you are well prepared
for any emergency events that might impact your service.
Yours sincerely
Authorised for electronic transmission
Fiona Buffinton
First Assistant Secretary
Aged Care
Access, Quality and Compliance Division
November 2015
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Preparing for an emergency event at an aged care residence
Key activities 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 risk 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 recipients 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 risk
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 they are aware of your
facility, its size and location, and the particular needs of 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 risk management plans with staff, care recipients and their families.
 Develop a plan for recovery 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 risk 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 risk management plan.
 Keep staff, family and care recipients well informed during, and after if necessary, any
emergency situation.
 When it is safe to do so, provide advice to the Department about any impacts of the event
on your facility and care recipients.
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Following the event
 Assess the impact of the event 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 risk 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 be limited to, discussions about ongoing care
of care recipients, staff requirements and associated costs.
You need to give particular consideration to transport options for evacuations, recognising
that ambulance services may be fully occupied responding to emergency calls, and alternative
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.
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 Department of Health 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
 Ascertain the potential of your facility to provide emergency accommodation to
relocating care recipients from at-risk facilities.