In a typical scenario, a person would establish and manage the implementation of crisis management and intervention strategies which can be used to reduce the risk to the organisation's personnel, other responders, commercial, reputation and contractual assets during incidents. A crisis is defined as an incident of a magnitude that affects the integrity and effectiveness of the organisation or is liable to cause a significant problem to the business. Key aspects of the competence include: minimising escalation of the crisis establishing contingency plans for dealing with the crisis sourcing and managing of resources required manage communication within and outside the organisation optimise the organisational response to minimise impact of the crisis The individual may: ensure that organisational response is appropriate use communication skills to deal with stakeholders' concerns Generally the person would be in control of personnel during an incident. At all times they would be liaising and cooperating with other members of the management, other teams and possibly external organisations. |
ELEMENT | PERFORMANCE CRITERIA |
1. Define the crisis. | 1.1. Assess crisis and probable implications 1.2. Identify and monitor secondary threats to situation 1.3. Assess and evaluate data to determine process/system status 1.4. Receive, collate and assess external information 1.5. Identify probable cause of crisis from available information and resources 1.6. Identify, allocate and confirm roles of personnel in the crisis management process. |
2. Establish contingency plans. | 2.1. Identify appropriate contingency plans for the organisation 2.2. Identify additional resources required 2.3. Coordinate the development of alternative contingency plans to cater for variations in the crisis. |
3. Establish communications. | 3.1. Activate communication systems 3.2. Establish communication with appropriate stakeholders, including customers and suppliers 3.3. Activate reporting processes and ensure continuous monitoring and evaluation of incident 3.4. Establish/activate command and control facilities. |
4. Assess the crisis. | 4.1. Conduct a risk assessment of all factors impacting upon the response 4.2. Conduct an initial assessment of resources required 4.3. Identify constraints which may impede the response 4.4. Identify and assess initial response options. |
5. Implement crisis management plan. | 5.1. Identify appropriate crisis management plan(s), including contingency plans if required 5.2. Manage response in accordance with plan and available personnel/equipment 5.3. Prioritise responses taking into account needs of stake holders 5.4. Modify plan and deploy additional resources as required 5.5. Monitor, evaluate and adjust restoration strategies as required. |
6. Document and review crisis and response. | 6.1. Ensure recording occurs in a timely manner 6.2. Record and analyse feedback from stakeholders/ witnesses 6.3. Identify and record root cause/cause tree of crisis 6.4. Generate and distribute required reports and findings to appropriate personnel. |
7. Manage post crisis operations | 7.1. Account for and demobilise resources 7.2. Initiate post incident recovery 7.3. Evaluate and document effectiveness of operations 7.4. Debrief all relevant people 7.5. Recommend improvements to the crisis management process |
This describes the essential skills and knowledge and their level, required for this unit. |
Required skills |
Competence includes the ability to isolate the causes of problems within the incident response system and to be able to distinguish between causes of problems indicated by: inappropriate or lack of contingency planning lack of commitment by the organisation to training and incident response exercises deviations from standard operating procedures or incident response plans "loss" of personnel in either practices or incidents strategic failures in communications. |
Required knowledge |
Competence includes an understanding of the organisation's crisis management procedures to the level needed to manage the response and recognise and resolve problems. In particular it includes knowledge of: crisis management plans crisis management principles contingency planning hazards (physical, regulatory and business) arising from typical crises stock market and shareholder reactions regulatory agency obligations and expectations media response policies, practices and procedures welfare obligations and responses. |
The Evidence Guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the Performance Criteria, Required Skills and Knowledge, the Range Statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package. | ||
Overview of assessment | Assessment for this unit of competency will be by way of simulation or observation under incident conditions. The unit will be assessed in as holistic a manner as is practical and may be integrated with the assessment of other relevant units of competency. Assessment will occur over a range of situations which can include a variety of incident circumstances. Simulations must, as closely as possible, approximate actual incident conditions and should be based on the actual facility. Assessments should include 'walk throughs' of the relevant competency components and may include the use of case studies/scenarios and role plays. This unit of competency requires a significant body of knowledge which will be assessed through questioning and the use of 'what-if' scenarios both in the facility (during demonstration of normal operations and walk-throughs of abnormal operations) and off the site. | |
Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit | Competence must be demonstrated in the ability to recognise and analyse potential situations requiring action and then in implementing appropriate responsive action. The emphasis should be on the ability to deal effectively with the incident or to contribute effectively to the recovery from the incident. Consistent performance should be demonstrated. In particular look to see that: the crisis is assessed adequately the appropriate crisis management plan is implemented contingency planning is practiced obtaining and recording of relevant information is adequate post crisis recovery is initiated the crisis is critically analysed to improve future performance These assessment activities should include a range of problems, including new, unusual and improbable situations which may have been generated from past workplace incident history, incidents in similar workplaces around the world, hazard analysis activities and/or similar sources. | |
Context of and specific resources for assessment | Assessment will require (1) access to an accurately simulated environment in the absence of an on-site incident environment, or (2) a suitable method of gathering evidence of responding ability over a range of situations. A bank of scenarios/case studies/what-ifs will be required as will a bank of questions that will be used to probe the reasoning behind the observable actions. | |
Method of assessment | In all facilities it may be appropriate to assess this unit concurrently with relevant PMAOMIR units. | |
Guidance information for assessment | Assessment processes and techniques must be culturally appropriate and appropriate to the oracy, language and literacy capacity of the assessee and the work being performed. | |
The Range Statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the Performance Criteria, is detailed below. Add any essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment depending on the work situation, needs if the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts. | |
Codes of practice/ standards | Where reference is made to industry codes of practice, and/or Australian/international standards, the latest version must be used. |
Context | This unit of competency covers the management of a crisis within the organisation that may include: fire, explosion loss of containment, eg gas leaks, spills damage to facilities, eg accidents, crashes, aircraft natural disasters, eg cyclones, wind, rain, earthquake, flood other, eg riot, civil unrest, terrorism threats to supply, eg raw materials interruption, energy or services supply. Communications systems may include: any form of communication, eg direct, telephone, two-way radio, pager, computer, electronic mail, operating logs, intercoms. Assessment of the crisis may include: any aspect which affects the management of the situation, eg: type of incident risk to life, property and environment hazards capability of assigned personnel adequacy of allocated equipment information gathered from existing plans/databases, forecasts meteorological profiles. Constraints that may impede the response to the crisis need to be considered and may include: legislation, organisation procedures resources, eg time, financial, personnel, organisational prevailing weather, seasonal factors restrictions on duration of work or the conditions under which personnel may be employed sacred sites, other areas of environmental and cultural significance, wilderness areas, hazardous areas, other restricted areas. |
Health, safety and environment (HSE) | All operations to which this unit applies are subject to stringent health, safety and environment requirements, which may be imposed through State 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. |
Relationship to Major Hazard Facility Legislation | Organisations within the Chemical, Hydrocarbons and Oil Refining industries may find themselves falling under the provisions of various Major Hazard Facilities legislation. In developing this unit consideration has been given to the requirements of Sections 8 and 9 of the National Standard for the Control of Major Hazard Facilities [NOHSC:1014(2002)] and the National Code of Practice for the Control of Major Hazard Facilities [NOHSC:2016(1996)]. This unit will assist individuals to meet some of their obligations under the relevant State or Territory legislation. Responsibility for appropriate contextualisation and application of the unit to ensure compliance however, remains with the individual organisation. |
Unit sector | Support/generic |
This unit contains employability skills. |
Not applicable.