PMAOMIR346 Assess and secure an incident site

Release: 1

PMAOMIR346 Assess and secure an incident site

Modification History

Release 1. Supersedes and is equivalent to PMAOMIR346B Assess and secure an incident site

Application

This unit of competency covers the skills and knowledge required to ensure an incident site is rendered safe and kept secure.

An incident is an event which causes, or could have caused, injury or illness; damage to plant, material or the environment; disruption to production or public alarm.

An incident is an unintended event, or an unintended consequence of an intended event, such as:

fire and explosion

loss of containment

excursions above/below acceptable limits for emissions or plant conditions

excursions above occupational hygiene or biological exposure limits

non-compliance with regulatory requirements

security breaches

failure to follow procedures

complaints

vehicle incidents

on/off-site incidents.

This unit of competency applies to personnel performing an incident team leader or similar role who are required to make initial assessment of an incident site, secure and preserve the scene, isolate the area to prevent secondary incidents, record details about the incident area, take statements from witnesses and manage the scene until authorities arrive.

This unit of competency applies to an individual working alone or as part of a team or group and working in liaison with other incident team members and the incident coordinator/commander, as appropriate.

The incident team leader typically responds to the incident coordinator/commander, who may be stationed in the incident control centre. In a typical scenario, following the occurrence of an incident, the person would take action to ensure the immediate incident site is safe and take steps to maintain facility safety, record details of the scene and preserve it from contamination. The person may also be required to manage the scene pending the arrival of appropriate authority or company representatives, as required by company procedures, legislation or regulations.

No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.

Pre-requisite Unit

Nil

Competency Field

Incident readiness and response

Unit Sector

Elements and Performance Criteria

Elements describe the essential outcomes.	Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element.
1	Secure and preserve the scene	1.1	Undertake an initial assessment of the site to identify factors which will impact on safety and scene preservation
1.2	Ensure that secondary incidents are prevented by isolating the site from associated or ancillary processes
1.3	Coordinate arrangements to secure the incident/accident site to preserve the site and maintain the safety of personnel in line with procedures
1.4	Restrict access to the site until the arrival of authorised company or external authority representatives
2	Record details of the incident site	2.1	Record details of the scene according to the organisation’s policies and procedures
2.2	Note the status of any equipment in the incident area
2.3	Communicate information to relevant personnel in line with procedures
3	Gather information	3.1	Record witness details and note any information given in accordance with procedures
3.2	Take statements from witnesses and record details of persons believed to be near the site prior to or during the incident
3.3	Develop an initial timeline of events leading up to the incident
4	Ensure safety when responding to an incident	4.1	Identify hazards
4.2	Assess the risks arising from those hazards
4.3	Implement measures to control those risks in line with procedures and duty of care
5	Respond to problems	5.1	Identify possible problems in equipment or process
5.2	Determine which problems need action
5.3	Determine possible fault causes
5.4	Rectify problems using solutions within area of responsibility
5.5	Follow through items initiated until final resolution has occurred
5.6	Report problems outside area of responsibility to designated person

Foundation Skills

This section describes those language, literacy, numeracy and employment skills that are essential to performance.

Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.

Range of Conditions

This field allows for different work environments and conditions that may affect performance. Essential operating conditions that may be present (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) are included.
Regulatory framework	The latest version of all legislation, regulations, industry codes of practice and Australian/international standards, or the version specified by the local regulatory authority, must be used, and include one or more of the following: legislative requirements, including work health and safety (WHS) industry codes of practice and guidelines environmental regulations and guidelines Australian and other standards licence and certification requirements All operations to which this unit applies are subject to stringent health, safety and environment (HSE) requirements, which may be imposed through state/territory or federal legislation, and these must not be compromised at any time. Where there is an apparent conflict between performance criteria and HSE requirements, the HSE requirements take precedence.
Procedures	All operations must be performed in accordance with relevant procedures. Procedures are written, verbal, visual, computer-based or in some other form, and include one or more of the following: emergency procedures work instructions standard operating procedures (SOPs) safe work method statements (SWMS) formulas/recipes batch sheets temporary instructions any similar instructions provided for the smooth running of the plant
Equipment and tools	Equipment and tools include one or more of the following: note taking materials standard forms sketching materials photographic equipment taping or electronic videoing equipment non-sparking or radio transmission equipment (where safety permits)
Problems	Problems in equipment or process include one or more of the following: rescue equipment and/or personnel contaminating the site loss of/difficulties in maintaining communications
Record details	Recording details and information requires accuracy and includes one or more of the following: capturing the exact words used vs summarising/paraphrasing noting conditions (like weather) taking photos diagrams/sketches noting the time of events and discussions own actions taken
Hazards	Hazards include one or more of the following: explosive atmospheres inherent site dangers from debris or damaged equipment weakened structures heat, smoke, darkness, dust or other atmospheric hazards electricity gas gases and liquids under pressure structural hazards structural collapse equipment failures industrial (machinery, equipment and product) equipment or product mass noise, rotational equipment or vibration plant services (steam, condensate and cooling water) limited head spaces or overhangs working at heights, in restricted or confined spaces, or in environments subjected to heat, noise, dusts or vapours flammability and explosivity hazardous products and materials unauthorised personnel sharp edges, protrusions or obstructions slippery surfaces, spills or leaks extreme weather other hazards that might arise Identifying risks requires consideration of specific hazards, and: what level of harm can occur how harm can occur (various chains of events that could result in harm from the hazard) the likelihood that harm will occur

Unit Mapping Information

Release 1. Supersedes and is equivalent to PMAOMIR346B Assess and secure an incident site

Links

Companion Volume implementation guides are found in VETNet - https://vetnet.gov.au/Pages/TrainingDocs.aspx?q=9fc2cf53-e570-4e9f-ad6a-b228ffdb6875