AS 4083 1997 Planning For Emergencies Health Care Facilities

User Manual: 4083

Open the PDF directly: View PDF .
Page Count: 8

AS 4083—1997

Australian Standard

Planning for emergencies—

Health care facilities

This is a free 7 page sample. Access the full version online.

This Australian Standard was prepared by Committee HT/13, Hospital Emergency

Procedures. It was approved on behalf of the Council of Standards Australia on

25 April 1997 and published on 5 June 1997.

The following interests are represented on Committee HT/13:

Australasian College for Emergency Medicine

Australian College of Health Service Executives

Australian Healthcare Association

Australian Nursing Federation

Department of Human Services, Vic.

Institute of Hospital Engineering

National Safety Council of Australia

Queensland Health

St John Ambulance, Australia

Additional interests participating in preparation of Standard:

Safety Institute of Australia

South Australian Ambulance Service

South Australian Health Commission

Review of Australian Standards. To keep abreast of progress in industry, Australian Standards are

subject to periodic review and are kept up to date by the issue of amendments or new editions as

necessary. It is important therefore that Standards users ensure that they are in possession of the latest

edition, and any amendments thereto.

Full details of all Australian Standards and related publications will be found in the Standards Australia

Catalogue of Publications; this information is supplemented each month by the magazine ‘The

Australian Standard’, which subscribing members receive, and which gives details of new publications,

new editions and amendments, and of withdrawn Standards.

Suggestions for improvements to Australian Standards, addressed to the head office of Standards

Australia, are welcomed. Notification of any inaccuracy or ambiguity found in an Australian Standard

should be made without delay in order that the matter may be investigated and appropriate action taken.

This Standard was issued in draft form for comment as DR 96188.

This is a free 7 page sample. Access the full version online.

AS 4083—1997

Australian Standard

Planning for emergencies—

Health care facilities

Originated as AS 4083—1992.

Second edition 1997.

PUBLISHED BY STANDARDS AUSTRALIA

(STANDARDS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA)

1 THE CRESCENT, HOMEBUSH, NSW 2140 ISBN 0 7337 1206 1

This is a free 7 page sample. Access the full version online.

AS 4083 — 1997 2

PREFACE

This Standard was prepared by the Standards Australia Committee HT/13 on Hospital

Emergency Procedures as a revision of AS 4083—1992, Emergency responses for health

care facilities .

The Standard deals with emergencies which could arise within the health care facility and

are usually attended to, in the first instance, by the facility’s staff. It also caters for health

care facilities which may participate in responses to emergencies external to the facility.

The objective of this Standard, therefore, is to assist health care facilities in effective

planning for both internal and external emergencies.

It is intended that this Standard apply to all health care facilities. However, the size,

function and location of the health care facility will impact upon how the Standard should

be implemented.

Emergency management for health care facilities includes the elements of prevention,

preparedness, response and recovery. Emergency health planning occurs at facility, local,

State/Territory and national levels. An ‘all hazard, all agency’ comprehensive approach to

emergency management requires facilities to plan in cooperation with other agencies and

their community, and should recognize the scope of emergency management, including

mass casualty, public health, mental health and recovery planning. Further development

of this comprehensive approach to emergency health management is intended in a future

revision of this Standard.

Emergencies relate to a large range of potential and actual situations of varying scales

requiring immediate action. The term ‘emergency’ is utilized in this Standard in

preference to the term ‘disaster’. For the purposes of this Standard, disasters are regarded

as a subset of emergencies.

The principal differences between this edition and the 1992 edition are that some

procedures, particularly in the area of responses to fire/smoke, have been clarified.

Account has been taken of AS 3745—1995, Emergency control organization and

procedures for buildings , AS 3677 —1989, Colour identification for emergency services

at a major disaster, and AS 2220.1—1989, Emergency warning and intercommunication

systems in buildings ,Part1:Equipment design and manufacture. Attention is also drawn

to CS-FP 001— 1995, Competency Standard—Fire Emergency Response, the Australian

Emergency Manual—Disaster Medicine, and to relevant State/Territory legislation,

including Occupational Health and Safety legislation.

The term ‘informative’ has been used in this Standard to define the application of the

appendix to which it applies. An ‘informative’ appendix is only for information and

guidance.

Copyright STANDARDS AUSTRALIA

Users of Standards are reminded that copyright subsists in all Standards Australia publications and software. Except where the

Copyright Act allows and except where provided for below no publications or software produced by Standards Australia may be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or transmitted by any means without prior permission in writing from

Standards Australia. Permission may be conditional on an appropriate royalty payment. Requests for permission and information

on commercial software royalties should be directed to the head office of Standards Australia.

Standards Australia will permit up to 10 percent of the technical content pages of a Standard to be copied for use

exclusively in-house by purchasers of the Standard without payment of a royalty or advice to Standards Australia.

Standards Australia will also permit the inclusion of its copyright material in computer software programs for no royalty

payment provided such programs are used exclusively in-house by the creators of the programs.

Care should be taken to ensure that material used is from the current edition of the Standard and that it is updated whenever the

Standard is amended or revised. The number and date of the Standard should therefore be clearly identified.

The use of material in print form or in computer software programs to be used commercially, with or without payment, or in

commercial contracts is subject to the payment of a royalty. This policy may be varied by Standards Australia at any time.

This is a free 7 page sample. Access the full version online.

3AS 4083 — 1997

CONTENTS

Page

FOREWORD .................................................... 4

SECTION 1 SCOPE AND GENERAL

1.1 SCOPE .................................................. 5

1.2 REFERENCEDDOCUMENTS ................................. 5

1.3 DEFINITIONS ............................................ 5

SECTION 2 EMERGENCY CODES

2.1 GENERAL ............................................... 7

2.2 SPECIFICEMERGENCY .................................... 7

SECTION 3 EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

3.1 GENERAL ............................................... 8

3.2 COMMUNICATION ........................................ 8

3.3 DRUGS,SUPPLIESANDEQUIPMENT .......................... 8

3.4 EMERGENCYPLAN ....................................... 8

SECTION 4 EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

4.1 EMERGENCY COORDINATOR AND EMERGENCY OFFICERS . . . . . . 11

4.2 DEBRIEFING ............................................ 12

SECTION 5 RESPONDING TO SPECIFIC EMERGENCIES

5.1 FOR FIRE/SMOKE (RESPONSE COLOUR CODE ‘RED’) . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

5.2 FOR MEDICAL EMERGENCY (RESPONSE COLOUR CODE ‘BLUE’) . . 14

5.3 FOR BOMB THREAT (RESPONSE COLOUR CODE ‘PURPLE’) . . . . . . . 14

5.4 FOR INTERNAL EMERGENCIES (RESPONSE COLOUR

CODE‘YELLOW’) ........................................ 17

5.5 FOR PERSONAL THREAT (ARMED OR UNARMED PERSONS

THREATENING INJURY TO OTHERS OR TO THEMSELVES )

(RESPONSECOLOURCODE‘BLACK’) ........................ 19

5.6 FOR AN EXTERNAL EMERGENCY (SUCH AS AN AIRCRAFT CRASH,

MAJOR INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT, BRIDGE COLLAPSE)

(RESPONSECOLOURCODE‘BROWN’)........................ 20

5.7 FOR EVACUATION (RESPONSE COLOUR CODE ‘ORANGE’) . . . . . . . 21

5.8 FOR‘ALLCLEAR’ ....................................... 22

SECTION 6 TRAINING

6.1 GENERAL .............................................. 23

6.2 TRAININGPROGRAM ..................................... 23

APPENDICES

A BOMB THREAT CHECK LIST FOR TELEPHONE OPERATORS . . . . . . . 24

B FORMFORDESCRIPTIONOFOFFENDER ...................... 25

C SITEMEDICALTEAMS .................................... 26

This is a free 7 page sample. Access the full version online.

AS 4083 — 1997 4

FOREWORD

To ensure a continuum of optimum patient care, health care facilities require special

planning to cope with emergencies which can arise internally, or as part of, or in response

to, an external emergency.

The facility’s staff are frequently outnumbered by patients with varying levels of

disability. Clearly, the majority of patients would have little familiarity with building

layout or the location of emergency equipment, and would not be aware of emergency

procedures or would not have had training in such matters. Because many of the patients

are non-ambulant, they depend very much upon others for assistance. Further, in

emergency situations, visitors to the health care facility are also a consideration.

It follows that staff must communicate discreetly in the presence of patients and visitors

during an emergency and avoid the use of words that may create anxiety and panic. To

that end, various standardized colour codes may be used to assist staff in responding to

various emergencies.

Unlike office buildings, health care facilities typically have special environmental

problems such as the presence of oxygen, either reticulated or stored in cylinders,

flammable gases and liquids and the conservation of medical records and supplies. The

repercussions of isolating essential services such as power, suction and medical gases to

assist with an emergency may be extremely serious for patients who are dependent on

these services.

This is a free 7 page sample. Access the full version online.

5AS 4083 — 1997

STANDARDS AUSTRALIA

Australian Standard

Planning for emergencies—Health care facilities

SECTION 1 SCOPE AND GENERAL

1.1 SCOPE This Standard sets out the procedures for health care facilities in the

planning for, and responses to, internal and external emergencies. It also specifies

response colour codes for use in a specific emergency.

NOTE: Interpretation of this Standard should take account of the size and functions of the

health care facility.

1.2 REFERENCED DOCUMENTS The following documents are referred to in this

Standard:

AS

2700 Colour standard for general purposes

3677 Colour identification for emergency services at a major disaster

1.3 DEFINITIONS For the purpose of this Standard, the definitions below apply.

1.3.1 Armed person—a person who is in possession of an offensive weapon or

instrument.

NOTE: Where it is strongly suspected that a person is carrying a weapon or instrument, he or

she should be treated as an armed person.

1.3.2 Confrontation—a situation involving high risk of injury to personnel by a person

(or persons) who may or may not be armed.

1.3.3 Emergency—any event, which arises internally or from external sources, and

which may adversely affect persons or the community generally, and requires an

immediate response.

1.3.4 Emergency coordination centre (ECC)—the coordination centre during an

emergency.

1.3.5 Emergency coordinator —the person who is in overall charge of emergency

management, planning and operations. This may or may not be the person in charge of the

health care facility, depending upon local circumstances and timing.

NOTE: Some health care facilities may wish to use terms other than ‘emergency coordinator’.

1.3.6 Emergency officer —a person available on-site, with clearly defined

responsibilities in relation to the health care facility’s emergency plans.

NOTE: Some health care facilities may wish to use terms other than ‘emergency officer’.

1.3.7 Emergency plan—a documented scheme of assigned responsibilities, actions and

procedures, required in the event of an emergency.

1.3.8 Evacuation point—a number of designated places where patients, visitors and

staff may be taken/assembled in the event of an evacuation.

1.3.9 External emergency —an event which arises externally to the health care facility

and may necessitate allocation of resources to an external site or preparation for reception

of a significant number of victims (or both).

COPYRIGHT

This is a free 7 page sample. Access the full version online.

Click on the logos to search the database online.

SAI Global also carries a wide range of publications from a wide variety of Standards Publishers:

The remainder of this document

is available for purchase online at

www.saiglobal.com/shop

This is a free 7 page sample. Access the full version online.

AS 4083-1997 Planning for emergencies - Health care facilities