Critical Incident Management Procedure

1.      Introduction

The University of Newcastle recognises that critical incidents can arise that may seriously impact on the safety of staff and students and/or the University’s business continuity.  The University further recognises that effective planning, management and rehearsal are the keys to success in the event of a critical incident affecting the University. This procedure supports the University’s Critical Incident Management Policy and should be read in conjunction with that policy.

The Critical Incident Management Procedure is designed to assist both those with primary responsibility for the management of critical incidents and other staff and students to respond appropriately in the event of a critical incident.

This procedure deals with both the immediate consequences and the longer term implications of a critical incident. It establishes the systems and processes for the University’s: response to the incident, management of the incident, recovery from the incident, and post incident review.

2.      Definitions

In the context of this policy:

Critical Incident means an event which may cause or is likely to cause extreme physical and /or emotional distress to staff, students and other workers or visitors to the University, and which may be regarded as outside the normal range of experience of the people affected.

A critical incident

■         may not necessarily require an initial emergency response;

■         may significantly disrupt the operations of the University and impact on business continuity; and/or

■         may have the potential to bring the University into disrepute; and/or

■         may impact on a number of areas of the University for example, student life, staff work, physical assets or Information Technology (IT).

Examples of events which may be deemed critical incidents include

■         any fatality, near fatality or incident likely to affect seriously a number of staff and/or students;

■         serious traffic accidents eg an accident during a student field trip;

■         murder or suicide involving students/staff and their family members;

■         development of a Pandemic;

■         fire, explosion, bomb threat;

■         chemical, radiation or bio-hazard spillage;

■         hold-up or attempted robbery;

■         threats of violence to staff/students;

■         storms/natural disasters that cause major damage;

■         major failure in internal processes eg discovery of a significant fraudulent activity;

■         interruption to utilities (eg electricity, water) for an extended period; and

■         disruption to IT technology that impacts on the ability of the University to deliver its services for an extended period to students or for staff (Academic and General) thus impacting on work completion.

Emergency Critical Incident means those incidents which involve the possibility of immediate or imminent threat, physical and/or emotional distress to staff, students and other visitors to the University; and which may be regarded as outside the normal range of experience of the people affected.

Non emergency Critical Incident means those critical incidents which do not involve the need for an initial emergency response but which nevertheless involve the possibility of threat, physical and/or emotional distress to staff, students and other visitors to the University; and which may be regarded as outside the normal range of experience of the people affected.

If you have any doubt as to whether an event is a Critical Incident advise your superior immediately.

Critical Incident Coordination Team (CICT) means the team that will be formed in the event of a critical incident to coordinate the management of the incident. The composition of the CICT is detailed in Appendix 1.

Critical Incident Director (CID) means the staff member who has overall responsibility for coordinating the University’s response to the critical incident. The CID will be a member of the CICT.

Critical Incident Management Centre (CIMC) means the pre-designated location where the Critical Incident Coordination Team will meet as soon as practicable once an incident has been deemed to be a critical incident as defined in this policy. The CIMC will be equipped with those resources needed to manage the incident. A secondary location will also be identified for use in the event of the primary location being within the affected area.

Critical Incident Phases means the various management phases of critical incidents. At the University of Newcastle the following critical incident phases are identified:

Phase 1 – Immediate Response to a Critical Incident

Phase 2 – Crisis Management during a Critical Incident

Phase 3 – Recovery from a Critical Incident

Phase 4 – Evaluation and Critical Incident Review.

Critical Incident Recovery Teams (CIRTs) means the teams appointed to manage recovery from the incident after the incident has moved from the critical phase to the recovery phase as declared by the Critical Incident Director.  The membership and responsibilities of CIRTs are detailed in Appendix 1.

CIRTs may include:

·         Staff Incident Recovery Team:

·         Student Incident Recovery Team:

·         Facilities Incident Recovery Team:

·         Technology Incident Recovery Team;

·         Site Specific Incident Recovery Teams:

Critical Incident Response means the initial response to the incident. The response may be managed: (i) by an external party eg the police or fire brigade, because of the nature of the incident; or, (ii) by the University ie internally.