Emergency Planning Handbook

The economic cost of emergencies in Australia over the past decade averages $18.2 billion per year, and the real cost in terms of human suffering and environmental damage is larger. A key to minimising the cost and effects of emergencies, after all reasonable risk reduction measures have been taken, is effective emergency planning.

The handbook provides nationally agreed principles for good practice in emergency planning and reflects changes in the field of disaster risk reduction, emergency management and more broadly in society since the publication of the previous Emergency Planning Manual (2004). Some of the changes influencing the handbook include new approaches to: disaster risk reduction, resilience, recovery, public, private and not-for profit partnerships, community engagement, shared responsibility, catastrophic, cascading, and concurrent events, emergent capability and capacity and lessons management.

Tune in to this free event to hear from leading Australian experts as they unpack the principles and practice of emergency planning.

Guest speakers: 

David Parsons, Handbook Writer, Crisis Management Australia 

David is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security Studies at Charles Sturt University, and a visiting fellow with the Joint Centre for Disaster Research at Massey University.

David is a founding member of Response and Recovery Aotearoa New Zealand (RRANZ). RRANZ provides emergency management leadership education throughout New Zealand on behalf of the NZ Dept of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

David has presented at more than forty international conferences in the areas of Critical Infrastructure Resilience, Business Continuity Management, Crisis Management, Organisational Resilience and Crisis Decision Making.

For the past forty-four years David has been an active member of the Blue Mountains State Emergency Service. David is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Emergency Services, a Fellow of the Business Continuity Institute, a Fellow of the Emergency Management Academy New York, a member of the International Association of Emergency Managers.

David holds a Masters in Emergency Management, and degrees in Social Science and Education. David has completed an Emergency Management Fellowship with the Emergency Management Academy in New York and the Leadership in Crises Program at the Harvard University

David’s company Crisis Management Australia provides a range of specialist emergency management services to jurisdictions across Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific and Europe.

David previously managed Sydney Water’s Emergency Management and Counter Terrorism Program. Following September 11 David established the Water Services Sector Group within the Australian Government’s Trusted Information Sharing Network and was a member of the Critical Infrastructure Advisory Council for 14 years. Prior to commencing at Sydney Water David served as the Regional Emergency Management Officer for Central West NSW where he was awarded a Ministerial Commendation for his efforts.

Helen Foster, Chief Risk and Resilience Officer, Bureau of Meteorology

Helen Foster is the Chief Risk and Resilience Officer at the Bureau of Meteorology. Her role incorporates risk management, compliance, and protective security in addition to resilience activities including crisis management, business continuity and incident management.

Helen has a Masters in Emergency Management, a Graduate Diploma in Technology (Risk Management) and a Bachelor of Arts in Information Science. She has over 15 years’ experience as a risk manager within public and private sectors.

Helen was actively involved in the Attorney Generals Trusted Information Sharing Network and is a Working Group convenor on the International Standards Organisation (ISO) Technical Committee TC262 - Risk Management and the Standards Australia Risk Management Committee – OB7.

Kirsten Tanner, Emergency Management Coordinator for Macedon Ranges Shire Council

Kirsten has a Bachelor of Emergency Management from Charles Sturt University and has worked in various roles across Government for about twenty years.

Her passion for EM focusses on building resilience as a way to improve recovery outcomes, advocating for community led recovery and gaining a deep understanding of consequence through before, during and after emergency events.

Moderator:

Amanda Leck, Executive Director AIDR

About the Handbook Collection:

The Australian Disaster Resilience Handbook Collection:

• provides an authoritative, trusted and freely available source of knowledge about disaster resilience principles in Australia
• aligns national disaster resilience strategy and policy with practice, by guiding and supporting jurisdictions, agencies and other organisations and individuals in their implementation and adoption
• highlights and promotes the adoption of good practice in building disaster resilience in Australia
• builds interoperability between jurisdictions, agencies, the private sector, local businesses and community groups by promoting use of a common language and coordinated, nationally agreed principles.