Western Australian Arrangements

Fire & Emergency Service Authority & Legislation
Western Australian State emergency management arrangements are co-ordinated through the Fire & Emergency Services Authority (FESA). FESA also hosts the State Emergency Management website as part of their responsibilities to the State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC).
WWW - Fire & Emergency Services WA
WWW - State Emergency Management Committee

State Emergency Management Arrangements have been incorporated into the Emergency Management Act 2005. Broadly speaking, this Act formalises Western Australian emergency management arrangements.

Section 17 of the Emergency Management Act 2005 gives authority to the State Emergency Management Committee to arrange for the preparation of State emergency management policies that are to include provision for a strategic framework for emergency management in the State, the roles and responsibilities of emergency management agencies and other emergency management matters. A State emergency management policy has effect when it is approved by the committee.

Regulations that complement the Act are in the process of being compiled. In the meantime, emergency management plans are guided by policies established by the State Emergency Management Committee. At the time of compilation of this document, Policy Statement No. 7 is the most relevant to establishing a plan for dealing with business continuity for providers of aged care services.

Until such time as the SEMC Policy Statements have been reviewed, the arrangements outlined in the SEMC Policy No 7 stand, except where they conflict with the Emergency Management Act 2005
Emergency Management Act 2005

Policy Statement No 7
Prior to the enactment of the Emergency Management Act 2005, emergency management policy for Western Australia was issued by the State Emergency Management Committee in the form of policy statements. The principal document guiding management of emergencies in WA is Policy Statement No. 7 which deals only with disasters and major hazards, not outages from other business interruptions.
This Policy remains in force until replaced by review or regulation.
WWW - State Emergency Policies

Emergency Management Plans
Emergency Management plans at state, district and local level record agreed arrangements that are designed to assist the community prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from events that may cause, or have the potential to cause death or injury to persons or damage to property. These plans define the roles and responsibilities of all relevant government and non - government agencies that have responsibilities for a particular emergency.

There are a number of State level plans which provide state-wide policy and arrangements to manage particular hazards (such as the State Tropical Cyclone Emergency Management Plan), as well as a number of support plans (such as the State Health Emergency Management Support Plan).

These plans also detail state level organisation and response arrangements in support of District and Local Emergency Management plans. The arrangements provide for both government and non-government organisations to operate in a cooperative and coordinated manner in accordance with agreed roles and responsibilities.

Coordination of emergency response and recovery operations is conducted at the lowest effective level. This means that if your organisation can deal with an emergency it should do so as far as it is capable. When necessary the assistance of the fire services would be called on (ie the next level up) and then LEMC and so on.
WWW – Emergency Management Plans listed by Hazard (WESTPLANS)

Activation of Plans
Emergency Management Plans are activated by the Hazard Management Agency8 either at the Local, District or State level in consultation with the Emergency Coordinator. The web link above identifies the Hazard Management Agency for each Emergency Management Plan by Hazard type.

Support Plans may also be activated along with the Emergency Management Plan. These plans are only activated at the request of the Hazard Management Agency or by the Function Coordinator. Regardless of who first identifies the need, the Hazard Management Agency and designated Coordinator need to confer and agree that the support plan should be activated.

Hazard	HMA	Contact
Earthquake	Fire and Emergency Services Authority	FESA Operational Services Tel: (08) 9277 0555
Fire (wildfire/bush fire)	Fire and Emergency Services Authority/Department of Conservation and Land Management/Local Government OR Fire Management Services Department of Conservation & Land Management	FESA Operational Services Tel: (08) 9323 9304 Department of Conservation & Land Management Tel: (08) 9334 0375 Bushfire
Fire (urban)	Fire and Emergency Services Authority	FESA Operational Services Tel: (08) 9323 9493
Flood	Fire and Emergency Services Authority	FESA Operational Services Tel: (08) 9277 0555
Hazardous materials emergencies (including radioactive materials)	Fire and Emergency Services Authority	FESA Operational Services Tel: (08) 9323 9311 HAZMAT
Human epidemic	Department of Health Executive Officer	Emergency Management Tel: (08) 9222 2282
Storm/tempest	Fire and Emergency Services Authority	FESA Operational Services Tel: (08) 9277 0555 Storm
Tropical cyclone	Fire and Emergency Services Authority	FESA Operational Services Tel: (08) 9277 0555 Cyclone
Tsunami	Fire and Emergency Services Authority	FESA Operational Services Tel: (08) 9277 0555 Tsunami

Supporting Plans
A number of function specific, state, district and local level support plans have been produced to provide specific support to Hazard Management agencies during emergency management operations.
Support Plans are ‘stand alone’ documents and cover such functions as health, public information, telecommunications and welfare.
Functional area coordinators are required to prepare and maintain supporting plans which identify and coordinate resources available from their own agency as well as those agreed to be provided by participating agencies.

The Emergency Management Structure for Western Australia

Local Emergency Management Committees
A LEMC is a committee established under the State Government emergency management policy specifically to overview, plan and test the local community emergency management arrangements.

The committee includes representatives of agencies, organizations and community groups with expertise relevant to the identified community hazards and risks and emergency management arrangements.

The contact for all Local Emergency Management Committees is via the local council office. See www.councils.wa.gov.au for a list of local government councils in Western Australia.

The local council in which the facility is located and its LEMC is the key contact for age care services and providers. Note that if you have multiple sites, a number of different local governments could be involved.

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8 Hazard Management Agency is an organisation which, because of its legislative responsibility or specialised knowledge, expertise and resources, is responsible for ensuring that emergency management activities pertaining to the prevention of, preparedness for, response to and recovery from a specific hazard is undertaken. They are responsible for the preparation, promulgation, testing and maintenance of hazard emergency management plans