Jo-Anne: My name is Jo-Anne, I’m an NDIS Provider.
The NDIS Practice Standard for emergency and disaster management outlines how we must ensure our supports and services are ready to respond effectively in emergencies or disasters.
Inclusive emergency and disaster preparedness is a driving principle of the standard.
It emphasises the importance of creating individualised emergency plans that consider people’s specific needs and circumstances.
This includes communication, preferences, mobility requirements and other types of assistance people may need during an emergency.
Ricky Kremer: I’m Ricky, an NDIS Participant, and I know first hand how critical communication is when an emergency or disaster strikes.
Providers must have clear communication pathways between participants and staff.
Staff need to know what’s in people’s emergency plans and where to find the important information quickly.
Jo-Anne Hewitt: The standard requires that providers conduct regular training and drills so that staff are familiar with emergency procedures.
This includes familiarising themselves with each person’s emergency plan and practising its implementation, as well as supporting individuals to understand their own plans.
The standard also outlines how we have to plan for how organisations to keep going when an emergency or disaster strikes.
How we train and support our workers like giving them the tools they need to support participants and each other, and planning to have enough hands on deck during a crisis, are both really important elements of emergency preparedness.
Ricky Kremer: The standard expects that providers include NDIS Participants in organisational planning as well as individual planning.
This means giving us ways to contribute to emergency, risk management and business continuity planning.
Jo-Anne Hewitt: Participants should be encouraged to provide feedback on policies and plans as well as on our emergency responses.
This helps providers to learn and improve their practice so we can all work together better next time.
Ricky Kremer: It’s great to know I can contribute by speaking up and that I can be proactive in planning and preparing with my NDIS Provider for emergencies.
Jo-Anne Hewitt: The directors of Boards and management committees must also be involved in an organisation’s emergency and disaster management.
Planning from the top down and from the bottom up is key to increasing an organisation’s disaster resilience.
Using checklists to make sure you have the right paperwork as well as the right practices in place can be beneficial.
You’ll find checklists, templates and other helpful resources on this website.
Check them out now.