Whyalla practises crisis response
Whyalla
campus got to flex its disaster response muscles in July when a crisis
response exercise was held that involved a drama as close to the real
thing as possible.
As part of UniSA’s Crisis Management framework, annual practice exercises are held so that staff can test and practise their roles in a situation where the University faces a potential crisis.
The July exercise – Exercise Iron Ore – constructed a scenario of a major accident at the Whyalla campus during a graduation celebration, involving injuries, loss of life and a complete power failure. The exercise tested the on-campus response but also involved senior managers from Chancellery to Human Resources in a crisis response team established at 101 Currie Street in Adelaide, helping those on the ground in Whyalla to meet the challenge.
And it was in Whyalla that the tangible action was taking place with students taking part and playing roles as victims of the tragedy, and about 100 people from organisations including the University, SA Police, SA Ambulance, SA Fire Brigade, Whyalla Hospital, and various media groups working together to play out the crisis.
Event organiser Phill Armanas from Planning & Assurance Services, said the exercise was viewed by participants as a success.
“Everyone who took part has reported that the exercise provided a real opportunity to hone and improve responses to a crisis,” Armanas said.
“While no training can really come close psychologically to the real thing, these practices are invaluable in making sure that channels of communication are working, that cooperation is established, and that the people who will make important and crucial decisions in the event of a real crisis, are thinking ahead and are prepared to deal with unplanned and sometimes tragic or dangerous events.”
Armanas said the University was grateful to all of the organisations that took part in the exercise, especially those who volunteered as role players (including students from Whyalla campus).
In addition to student “victims”, a group of postgraduate radio and television journalism students from Magill played the role of the media and produced “coverage” of the incident for the Adelaide crisis team to respond to.
All staff and students are reminded that University SECURITY (phone 88888) should be contacted immediately if they have any knowledge of an incident that threatens life or property.
More information about UniSA’s security services is available at www.unisa.edu.au/cs/security/