Application
This unit of competency covers the skills and knowledge required to develop and establish incident response preparedness and response systems.
An incident is an event which causes, or could have caused, injury or illness; damage to plant, material or the environment; disruption to production or public alarm.
An incident is an unintended event, or an unintended consequence of an intended event, such as:
fire and explosion
loss of containment
excursions above/below acceptable limits for emissions or plant conditions
excursions above occupational hygiene or biological exposure limits
non-compliance with regulatory requirements
security breaches
failure to follow procedures
complaints
vehicle incidents
on/off-site incidents.
This unit of competency applies to incident management team members who are required to gather strategic operational and risk information, seek input from stakeholders and specialist services, as required, and translate that into a framework of management and operational systems which enable organisation personnel to effectively prepare for and respond to an incident.
This unit of competency applies to an individual working alone or as part of an incident management team and working in liaison with other members of the incident management team and the incident manager, as appropriate.
No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.
Elements and Performance Criteria
Elements describe the essential outcomes. | Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element. | ||
1 | Clarify the requirements for incident preparedness and response systems | 1.1 | Access, interpret and clarify the legislative and statutory requirements and standards related to incident preparedness and response systems |
1.2 | Access, interpret and clarify the site requirements relating to systematic analysis of hazards, technical and operational information | ||
1.3 | Consult and collaborate with relevant stakeholders, specialists and emergency services, as necessary and in accordance with legislative requirements | ||
2 | Design incident response plans and systems | 2.1 | Develop an organisational structure for the management of incident preparedness and response from an analysis of relevant technical and operational information |
2.2 | Establish incident response procedures for management of decision-making processes and decision monitoring systems | ||
2.3 | Develop incident response procedures for the containment of various types of incidents from an analysis of relevant technical and operational information | ||
2.4 | Identify and develop required management and operational systems to support incident preparedness and response in compliance with legislative and site requirements | ||
2.5 | Build processes for evaluation into the plan and system and comply with legislative requirements and/or special site needs | ||
2.6 | Ensure all aspects of the plan are consistent with commitments to health, safety and environment (HSE) | ||
2.7 | Review the plan and systems in conjunction with relevant stakeholders and specialists | ||
3 | Manage the implementation of the incident preparedness plan and response systems | 3.1 | Document and disseminate plans and systems to the appropriate personnel |
3.2 | Identify required services, personnel, equipment and resources for various types of incidents | ||
3.3 | Ensure arrangements are made to ensure required services, personnel, equipment and resources are ready for immediate mobilisation/deployment | ||
4 | Ensure periodic and timely evaluation of the incident preparedness plans and response systems | 4.1 | Encourage, receive and review suggestions and recommendations for changes to incident preparedness plans and response systems and, where appropriate, assist with implementation |
4.2 | Initiate and conduct evaluations as prescribed by the plan and in accordance with commitment to HSE and legislative requirements | ||
Evidence of Performance
Evidence required to demonstrate competence in this unit must be relevant to and satisfy the requirements of the elements and performance criteria, and include the ability to:
collect and analyse information to identify organisation and legislative requirements for incident response and related systems
communicate and consult with internal and external stakeholders and relevant specialist services
facilitate and manage the development, introduction and operation of incident response and related systems
facilitate evaluation of the systems (and make recommendations for improvements/implement improvements)
write strategies, tactics and procedures
develop containment strategies.
Evidence of Knowledge
Evidence must be provided that demonstrates knowledge of:
regulatory framework and specific compliance requirements that apply to the organisation
organisational procedures, including those covering:
safety, hazards and hazard control
incident, fire and accident
environmental protection
risk assessment/risk management
relevant facility fire management and safety systems
communication systems
emergency response plans
release of information to external bodies
types of incidents that can arise in the work environment and related risks, responses and equipment
the role of stakeholders and specialists
incident response and disaster planning processes and techniques
incident resources and how to access them
hazard identification and control methods and procedures
risk management principles and techniques
structure, roles, capabilities and operational limitations of external resources and agencies
rescue techniques
intervention and control techniques for heating, fires and explosions
insurance policies and considerations
economic impact and considerations.
Assessment Conditions
The unit should be assessed holistically and the judgement of competence based on a holistic assessment of the evidence.
Performance evidence must include the development of containment strategies for at least two (2) different types of incident, the collection of which is best done from a report and/or folio of evidence drawn from:
a single project which provides sufficient evidence of the requirements of all the elements and performance criteria
multiple smaller projects which together provide sufficient evidence of the requirements of all the elements and performance criteria.
A third-party report, or similar, may be needed to testify to the work done by the individual, particularly when the project has been done as part of a project team.
Assessment should use a real project in an operational workplace. Where this is not possible or practical, assessment must occur using a sufficiently rigorous simulated environment reflecting realistic operational workplace conditions. This must cover all aspects of workplace performance, including environment, task skills, task management skills, contingency management skills and job role environment skills.
Knowledge evidence may be collected concurrently with performance evidence (provided a record is kept) or through an independent process, such as workbooks, written assessments or interviews (provided a record is kept).
Assessment processes and techniques must be appropriate to the language, literacy and numeracy requirements of the work being performed and the needs of the candidate.
Conditions for assessment must include access to all tools, equipment, materials and documentation required, including relevant workplace procedures, product and manufacturing specifications associated with this unit.
Foundation skills are integral to competent performance of the unit and should not be assessed separately.
Assessors must satisfy the assessor competency requirements that are in place at the time of the assessment as set by the VET regulator.
In addition, the assessor or anyone acting in subject matter expert role in assessment must demonstrate both technical competency and currency. If the assessor cannot demonstrate technical competency and currency they must assess with a subject matter expert who does meet these requirements.
Technical competence can be demonstrated through one or more of:
relevant VET or other qualification/Statement of Attainment
appropriate workplace experience undertaking the type of work being assessed under routine and non-routine conditions
appropriate workplace experience supervising/evaluating the type of work being assessed under routine and non-routine conditions
Currency can be demonstrated through one or more of:
being currently employed undertaking the type of work being assessed
being employed by the organisation undertaking the type of work being assessed and having maintained currency in accordance with that organisation’s policies and procedures
having consulted/had contact with an organisation undertaking the type of work being assessed within the last twelve months, the consultation/contact being related to assessment
conducting on-the-job training/assessments of the type of work being assessed
being an active member of a relevant professional body and participating in activities relevant to the assessment of this type of work
Foundation Skills
This section describes those language, literacy, numeracy and employment skills that are essential to performance.
Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.
Range Statement
This field allows for different work environments and conditions that may affect performance. Essential operating conditions that may be present (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) are included. | |
Regulatory framework | The latest version of all legislation, regulations, industry codes of practice and Australian/international standards, or the version specified by the local regulatory authority, must be used, and include one or more of the following: legislative requirements, including work health and safety (WHS) industry codes of practice and guidelines environmental regulations and guidelines Australian and other standards licence and certification requirements All operations to which this unit applies are subject to stringent health, safety and environment (HSE) requirements, which may be imposed through state/territory or federal legislation, and these must not be compromised at any time. Where there is an apparent conflict between performance criteria and HSE requirements, the HSE requirements take precedence. Duty of care responsibilities under general work health and safety (WHS) Acts and regulations and state/territory and national standards applying to hazardous substances, dangerous goods and major hazards must be met. |
Management and operational systems | Management and operational systems to support incident preparedness and response include one or more of the following: evacuation emergency operations structure communications information management documentation and reporting requirements resource management training audit and review system financial management post incident actions |
Procedures | All operations must be performed in accordance with relevant procedures. Procedures are written, verbal, visual, computer-based or in some other form, and include one or more of the following: emergency procedures work instructions standard operating procedures (SOPs) safe work method statements (SWMS) formulas/recipes batch sheets temporary instructions any similar instructions provided for the smooth running of the plant |
Incident response | Incident response includes one or more of the following: deployment of site incident response personnel containing/controlling the incident at source and or its spread search and rescue operations engagement of external emergency services (such as fire, ambulance, rescue and military) liaison with other agencies (such as environmental, clean-up and specialised troubleshooters) evacuation hazard control Incident response actions must: be in accordance with and relevant organisation procedures use appropriate response equipment, where required prioritise the safety and/or successful recovery of personnel and others affected by the incident response not inhibit effectiveness of the incident response or further contribute to the incident |
Specialist services | Specialist services appropriate to the management and operational systems must be consulted. Specialist services include one or more of the following: fire brigade ambulance medical services local emergency management organisations media security services solicitors engineers scientists |
Sectors
Competency Field
Incident readiness and response