Emergency Recovery Programs

This Skill Set PUASS00095 Participate in a Recovery Team provides the skills and knowledge required for personnel to participate in a recovery team.

The Diploma of Public Safety (Recovery Management) is designed for managers who lead the implementation of recovery at all levels and chair meetings of recovery committees and functional groups. Recovery Managers lead the development and maintenance of effective prevention, planning, preparedness and recovery strategies and programs by the provision of recovery management advice and support to strategic stakeholders and partners to support communities to recover from disasters and build community resilience. The role of Recovery Managers involves liaising with other organisations, providing relief and recovery services to disaster-affected communities, providing psychological first aid, applying recovery concepts and principles, facilitating long-term recovery planning for a disaster event, working within an emergency management context, coordinating recovery work across recovery environments, applying person-centred approaches to recovery planning and activities, and facilitating community involvement in recovery.

This unit of competency involves the skills and knowledge required to provide emotional and physical support, as well as practical assistance, to address the immediate needs of an individual who is in distress. It includes preparing to engage in psychological first aid, identifying distress reactions after a significant event, determining who needs support and providing that support, maintaining self-care and concluding the support. The unit is a psychosocial support activity intended for the purposes of providing initial human contact to support individuals in distress. This unit is not about diagnosing an individual’s distress, or about professional counselling or therapy.

This unit of competency involves the skills and knowledge required to work as a team member during relief and ongoing recovery operations. The role may involve assisting in the provision of welfare and support services to disaster-affected people via outreach, or at evacuation centres, relief or recovery centres. Recovery workers performing this role may be deployed intra and inter-state. It includes preparing for a relief and/or recovery role, assessing immediate needs, providing information and assistance, contributing to reports for assistance, providing client support services information, as well as contributing to reports and documentation. This unit applies to a recovery team member who will be working under the supervision of a team leader

This unit of competency involves the skills and knowledge required to work with disaster-affected individuals and communities as part of recovery. This unit applies to personnel who are required to have an awareness of the principles of recovery as outlined in the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR) Community Recovery Handbook (2018). This unit may also be useful for community members who may participate in recovery efforts as a result of a disaster that affects their community. It includes preparing to work in a recovery environment, confirming the context of recovery, applying the principles of disaster recovery, confirming recovery environments and supporting effective communication processes with disaster-affected individuals and communities.

This program is part of a range of vocational education programs designed to support those who are working with communities to provide recovery centre activities and support. The mix of recovery and/or outreach services provided may change throughout the life of a centre to reflect a changing emphasis from short term relief to long term recovery. This may involve management of centre infrastructure, promotion of the centre, management of personnel in a stressful environment, coordination of service providers and the management of administration, information and financial requirements. This program is designed for people who have responsibility for managing a recovery centre. A person performing this role may be a volunteer or paid staff member. They may be deployed outside of their usual work role, and/or area, to assist in other impacted locations.

This program is a Diploma level unit and part of a range of vocational education programs designed to support those who are working with communities and participate in recovery efforts as a result of a disaster impacting their community. This unit involves the skills and knowledge required to deliver administrative, technical and/or professional services in a recovery service. This is provided by individuals working within a recovery framework of existing emergency management legislation, regulations, plans and arrangements. The range of services provided will vary markedly depending on the scale and type of emergency and will address aspects of recovery in the social, built, economic and natural environments. A person performing this role may be a volunteer or paid staff member. They may be deployed outside of their usual work role, and/or area, to assist in other impacted locations.