Dealing with emergencies is not a matter for governments alone. The shared roles and responsibilities for key non-government stakeholders, families and communities provide many benefits.
Collaboration is a fundamental Tasmanian emergency management principle. A shared responsibilities approach to emergency management and disaster resilience relies on all parties working collaboratively. Effective emergency management requires collaboration and coordination within and across all levels of government, and with non-government stakeholders, including communities and the private sector.
All levels of government and non-government stakeholders focus on ensuring the well-being and safety of Tasmanians before, during and after emergencies. All individuals and organisations have key roles in understanding and mitigating the risks that affect them, and being prepared for an emergency. This includes being prepared for disruptions to essential services.
Roles and Responsibilities
Emergencies are not a matter for governments alone. It must be remembered that:
- Shared and defined responsibilities exist across sectors and levels within the community
- An effective state framework for emergency management requires a high level of collaboration and coordination
- Tasmania’s emergency management sector includes specialist individuals and organisations with accountabilities and/or formally defined roles
- Transition of responsibility arrangements between key authorities are a crucial component of emergency management in Tasmania.
Click on each level below to reveal the list of roles and responsibilities:
This includes:
• Individuals and families
• Business, industry and primary producers
• Owners and operators
• Schools and school communities, childcare and elderly service providers
• Community organisations
This includes
• Local
• State
• National
This includes:
• Critical infrastructure and service providers
• Broadcasters and other information disseminators
• Not-for-profit sector and emergency management volunteers
• Insurance industry
• Design, building and construction industries, land-use planners and natural resource management bodies
• Scientists and research organisations.
This includes:
• Hazard Advisory Agencies
• Management Authorities
• Support agencies for specific functional or consequence management areas.
What is PPRR?
The TEMA describes roles, responsibilities and agreed arrangements for the four phases of emergency management, abbreviated to PPRR. There is a chapter relating to each one of these phases in the TEMA.
What happens in these phases?
Click on each level below to reveal the phases:
Maintaining a proactive and rigorous approach to hazard research, risk assessment and risk management. This can include:
- Planning process (risk assessment)
- Providing information on hazards or events to the Tasmanian Government via SEMC and/or REMC so priorities can be set for risk treatment activities
- Supporting Municipal Councils, critical infrastructure owners and other organisations in hazard research and risk assessment activities.
Maintains strategic oversight of, and can provide planned and coordinated measures for:
• Emergency planning
• Validation
• Capacity building
• Response capability
• Education within the Tasmania community and across all levels of government and the emergency management sector to ensure continuous improvement.
Agencies/organisations carry out their Response Management Authority and Support Agency roles within existing command and control arrangements that aim to be interoperable and apply existing arrangements and protocols where appropriate. They are envisage to:
- Deploy, command and control resources to save lives, protect property and the environment
- Preserve the social and economic structure of the community.
This following list includes some examples:
- Dissemination of warnings
- Gaining and maintaining situational awareness
- Activating and deploying resources and capabilities
- Coordinating response actions and flow of operational information
- Coordinating short-term relief to affected areas and supporting short term recovery activities.
Recovery is a coordinated process of providing support to communities dealing with the impacts of an emergency, with the aim of returning social, economic, infrastructure and natural environments to an effective level of functioning. This includes:
- Assessing recovery needs
- Establishing appropriate governance and coordination arrangements
- Coordinating recovery activities
- Reporting and financial arrangements
- Evaluating and reporting on observations identified during recovery
- Agencies are allocated for each of the recovery domains, they are responsible for managing and coordinating the planning, delivery, monitoring and reporting on recovery functions within the domain
- DPAC is the SEMC Advisory Agency for recovery and maintains the State Recovery Plan.
What are the three types of emergency management sector roles?
Hazard or function-specific and/or consequence management plans outline emergency management activities. This includes specific arrangements relating to intentional violence for Tasmania. Where there are no specific plans, the approaches included in the TEMA are to be used. This may be complemented by national plans or arrangements. The three types of EM sector roles include:
- Hazard Advisory Agencies: provide advice to State Government about emergency management arrangements or the adequacy of arrangements for identified hazards across the PPRR spectrum (this is not an operational role)
- Management Authorities: provide direction so that capability is maintained for identified hazards across the PPRR spectrum
- Supporting Agencies: maintain specific functional capabilities that are likely to be called on by Management Authorities.
Who leads the response to emergencies?
Click on each level below to reveal the list of Response Management Authorities.
- Road & Bridge Failure
- Energy Supply Disruption
- Pandemic
- Unintentional Public Health Emergencies
- Food / Water Contamination
- Biosecurity Emergencies
- Environmental Contamination
- Earthquake
- Dam Failure
- Structural Failure
- Intentional Violence / Terrorism
- Space Debris
- Aviation Incidents*
- Transport / Maritime Accident
- Tsunami
* Denotes a shared responsibility with other authorities.
- Bushfire *
- Urban Fires
- Accidental Hazardous Material Incidents
* Denotes a shared responsibility with other authorities.
- Floods
- Storm
How important is the role of the support agencies?
Support Agencies are organisations responsible for the delivery and/or coordination of specific functions, as agreed with Management Authorities. Support Agencies command their own resources in collaboration with the Management Authority, as required. Click on each level below to reveal the roles of Support Agencies:
Providing functional support for activities across the PPRR phases. This can include providing workers, goods and services, especially for operations.
Providing advice relating to activities across the PPRR phases.
Requesting assistance from and coordinating efforts with other Support Agencies and other organisations to maximise use of all available resources.
Identifying ways to improve the emergency management capacity of the agency.
Coordinating agency-specific planning and preparation for performing functions in the short term and over protracted periods in partnership with other Support Agencies. This can include:
- Development of supporting operational plans/orders/SOPs/checklists/protocols, training, procurement, equipment
- Supplies maintenance.