The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that responder agencies and Emergency Management Victoria review preparedness arrangements to ensure procedural documentation (including plans), recruitment, briefings and training are completed before significant seasonal events are likely to occur.
Seasonal preparedness should culminate in attestations of assurance to confirm that:
a) documentation reflects relevant risks and potential impacts
b) briefings and training schedules have been tailored and delivered according to seasonal influences
c) recruitment strategies enable the engagement of adequate numbers of appropriately skilled personnel for the entire season.
The emergency management sector is on track to deliver earlier pre-season preparedness briefings, including its State seasonal outlook, to inform briefings and training sessions across regional and municipal levels.
IGEM understands that this action refers to activity ahead of the 2020–21 summer season given a due date of September 2020 in the Implementation Plan.
While Action 1.2 called for earlier briefings, evidence provided indicates that the pre-season briefing program occurred across a comparable timespan to previous years, hence IGEM has assessed the action as partially implemented. IGEM acknowledges that due to the COVID-19 situation, the 2020–21 Annual Preparedness Briefings were conducted completely online and in a new format. IGEM commends EMV’s flexibility and commitment to delivery of the briefings in this context.
The progress summary for Action 15.4 on page 120 of IGEM's 2021 progress report provides an overview of pre-season briefing activities.