Book of Abstracts 2013 - Australian and New Zealand Disaster ...

correlated with LWBS patients. The majority of LWBS patients were assigned level 3 or 4, representing 94.64% of the
LWBS population. Independent predictors of LWBS included pediatric patients, lower triage category, non-assisted
transport, evening presentations, day and month presentations.
Conclusion: Patients' leaving the ED without being seen is a serious health issue that may delay care and result in
adverse outcomes, especially for higher acuity patients. The most powerful predictors of LWBS are pediatric patients
arriving by non-assisted transport in the evening with lower acuity problems. Potential risk management strategies
should be implemented to decrease or eliminate LWBS population by better communication between staff and patients,
providing more comfort measures and some other steps.
Dr Tony McArthur
Professional Assistant to the Executive Director, Catholic Education Commission NSW
Emergency management in NSW Catholic Schools: a case study of emergency management
in a NSW non-government organisation
The Catholic Education Commission NSW (CEC) is the peak body for the 581 Catholic schools in NSW. Since 2009, CEC
has been required to serve as dissemination point for emergency messages, sent by the NSW State Emergency
Operations Centre (SEOC), concerning bushfire, flood and other emergencies.
Initially, CEC established email groups and collected both landline and mobile phone numbers for designated contact
personnel at diocesan school offices. However, accountability obligations required the tracking of all emergency
notifications and the verification of message receipt. This led to the development of the CEC Emergency Management
System (CECEMS). CECEMS is a web app that has replaced the use of the phone/email contacts as the primary mode of
emergency communications.
CEC's Charter prohibits it having a direct role in the administration of schools. Consequently, emergency notification
procedures/instructions need to be delivered to schools by their respective Diocesan Catholic Education Office. To
achieve this CEC developed the Diocesan Emergency Management System (DEMS). Once Diocesan offices receive
emergency notifications via CECEMS, they can then transmit the information to their respective schools and agencies
via DEMS. This tool was distributed to dioceses to be used at their discretion through a deed of gift. This web app is
being put into operation by seven of the eleven dioceses.
Emergency situations have always involved responsibility for schools and Diocesan offices. But since 2009 this
responsibility has escalated to the level that schools must be able to send emergency information, at very short notice,
to their parents and staff. This has placed direct responsibility on Principals to make decisions in circumstances totally
unfamiliar to most of them. To alleviate this, CEC, in cooperation with the Rural Fire Service and other agencies, is
currently developing tools to support Principals' decision making in emergency situations.
Ms Becky Paroz
Knowledge Custodian, Aust Project Management Mentors and Assoc (APMMA)
Project managers and disasters
How does Project Management apply to the real world, in particular when a crisis or disaster occurs? The use of Project
Management methodology can assist in focusing people and talent on areas that require immediate response in times
of need, such as a disaster. What do you focus on? How do you build the team in a short time? Will it work, or is it
another layer of “management” that can be done without, in an effort to get things done without delay? This
presentation offers lessons learnt from an award winning global summit that saw approximately 100 young project