Incident Scene Safety, Traffic Management and Debrief Procedure

Purpose. Describes how safety is maintained at an incident scene, how traffic and the public are managed, how the safety officer works and how incidents are debriefed and lessons recorded.

1.Arrival and scene protection

The first arriving appliance must be positioned to protect the scene and the crew, fend off traffic on roads, and leave access for other appliances and ambulances. Crews must wear high visibility protective clothing on any road incident. The officer must establish a safe working area with cones, lighting and, where needed, a request for police traffic control.

2.Dynamic risk assessment

The incident controller and every crew leader must continually assess the hazards, the tasks and the controls, and must change tactics or withdraw when the risk to members exceeds the benefit. Hazards and controls must be communicated in the crew briefing and updated on the radio as the incident changes.

3.Safety officer

The safety officer must be appointed at any incident involving breathing apparatus entry, hazardous materials, structural collapse risk, working at height or swiftwater, and at any Level 2 or Level 3 incident. The safety officer monitors the scene, the crews and the controls, has the authority to stop any task, and must record observations and interventions for the debrief.

• Appointed at higher risk and Level 2 and 3 incidents
• Authority to stop any task
• Records observations for the debrief

4.Public and media

Members must keep the public outside the safe working area, treat casualties and occupiers with respect, and refer media to the incident controller or the public information officer. Members must not photograph casualties or share incident images on personal devices or social media.

5.Debrief

A hot debrief must be held at the scene or on return to station for every incident of significance, covering what happened, what went well, what went wrong and what must change. A formal debrief must be held within 72 hours for Level 2 and 3 incidents and for any incident with an injury, near miss or equipment failure, and the outcomes recorded in the Incident and Dispatch Log.

6.Lessons

Lessons from debriefs must be entered in the Health and Safety Incident Register as actions with an owner and a date, and shared through the monthly safety bulletin. Recurring lessons must be reviewed by the Manager Training, Safety and Welfare for changes to training or procedures.