Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
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Include the training schedules for all staff, and records of the training
undertaken.
Stakeholders need to be identifi ed and their responsibilities stated where
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appropriate.
As the response progresses a large amount of information will accumulate and
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the plan needs to detail its management.
There needs to be mechanisms for review and assessment of the plan, both
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during an incident and following an incident. The plan itself should state how
and when changes are to be implemented.
A minimum set of (at least generic) equipment should always be accessible and
available—otherwise delays to the initiation of actions may occur.
Administrative support for emergency actions is essential for e
cient function-
ing of the plan and it is useful to identify the following: who is going to provide the
administrative support for the process; what degree of confi dentiality is required of
the personnel involved in response; what potential confl icts of interest could arise.
As part of the overall plan it should contain strategies of how, when, and why stand
down of actions should occur. Triggers for stand down could include:
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Eradication of the invasive species has been achieved as per pre-agreed defi n-
ition of level on non-detection.
A move into a containment phase.
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Or, if neither eradication nor containment are achievable with resources avail-
able, then move to management of the invasive organism as it spreads.
Such plans should be developed taking into account a country's or authority's
capacity to take actions, including the ability to make and enforce exclusion zones;
carry out treatments, and elimination or species—these could be because of legal
limitations, resource limitations, or physical (environmental) barriers to undertak-
ing actions. h ere is no single way of doing this, and authority to undertake actions
can vary between states, provinces, or regions within national borders.
An example that provides guidance on overall structure of documentation and
possible processes can be found in AS ISO 10013-2003 (Australian Standard on
Guidelines for quality management system documentation). h e plans that have been
based on this structure are Aquavet
(http://www.daff .gov.au),
Plant plan (
http://www.
planthealthaustralia.gov.au),
and Ausvetplan (
http://www.animalhealthaustralia.
gov.au).
h e following is a brief summary of stages of a response:
Investigation phase—determine if there is a possible problem.
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Alert phase—provide concerned parties with information that a potential
situation exists.
Activation—initial meeting/communication of all decision makers as per contin-
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gency plan; summaries of information of current situation; prognosis for immedi-
ate and long term provided; clarifi cation of objectives of response plan; execution
of actions as per plan; coordination of plan; communication of incident.
Stand down—response concluded as per plan, review of plan, incident, and
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actions.
