3.6 Management of incidents and emergencies (element 6)

Components:

• Communication

• Incident and emergency response protocols

Considered and controlled responses to incidents or emergencies that can compromise the safety of water quality are essential for protecting public health, as well as maintaining consumer confidence and the organisation’s reputation. Although preventive strategies are intended to prevent incidents and emergency situations from occurring, some events cannot be anticipated or controlled, or the probability of their occurring is so low that providing preventive measures would be too costly. For such incidents, there must be an adaptive capability to respond constructively and efficiently.

Wherever possible, emergency scenarios should be identified, and incident and emergency protocols, including communication procedures, should be planned and documented. Establishing procedures ‘on the run’ is a recipe for inefficiency, lack of coordination, poor response times and potential loss of public confidence.

The development of appropriate protocols involves a review of the hazards and events that can lead to emergency situations, such as:

• non-conformance with guideline values and other requirements, or not meeting microbial health-based targets;

• accidents that increase levels of contaminants (e.g. spills in catchments, incorrect dosing of chemicals);

• equipment breakdown and mechanical failure;

• prolonged power outages;

• extreme weather events (e.g. flash flooding, cyclones);

• natural disasters (e.g. fire, earthquakes, lightning damage to electrical equipment);

• human actions (e.g. serious error, sabotage, strikes).