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Emergency Wardens e-news: Feb 2012

1

Editor’s Note

Editor’s Note

Neil Taylor celebrates

15 years with first 5

minutes

New Training Tools for

Trainers

What are the 3 options

on Search and

Evacuations in case of

Bomb Threats?

From Our Scenario

Library

F5M Customer Service

Award 2012

Honduras Prison Fire kills

more than 350

Meet some of our new

recruits

The First 5 Minutes

Organisational Culture

F5M New Corporate

Wear

The R.E.A.C.T™

Methodology being

put to test

Orange gas Leak

Answers to Scenario

17

In this 4th

Edition At First 5 Minutes, we continue to support emergency wardens to

accomplish their duty diligently in their respective Emergency Control

Organisations (ECO).

We do that in a number of ways:

We train you

We publish a newsletter for your to keep up to date

We remain available to your ECO for consultancy at any time

We have a dedicated team of trainers and consultants around the country

who are very passionate about the topic of emergency management and

who have experience in emergencies- Hence our motto: Experience

Makes All the Difference.

We believe very strongly in setting up a community of wardens to raise the

awareness around the important task wardens do in saving lives. We

believe that as an industry, we need to do our bit to not only up-skill

wardens but also to sensitise people (All members of the public, managers,

CEOs, Government Officials etc…) about the importance of having

wardens attend training.

Our work may be just a drop in the ocean but we strongly believe in

making a difference to the industry. We want wardens to be proud of what

they do.

We have two initiatives that work in tandem towards this objective:

The emergency Wardens Facebook page

The Emergency Wardens e-News

With the Facebook page, we are excited to be experiencing positive

movements recently with unprecedented activity on all parameters such

as our readership which has increased by 50 %, Life time likes has increased

by 40 % to a total of 125 likes and our viral reach increased by 30 % to a

total of 4436

The enews readership is also on a constant increasing curve with 40 % rise

every month!

All this is good news for us. It tells us that you are passionate like us at what

you do and together we will make a difference to the industry

Kudos to you all!!

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

2 Emergency Wardens Australia: May 2012

Neil Taylor

Completes 15

Years with First

5 Minutes

As a token of appreciation, First

5 Minutes commemorated this

achievement with a $ 200

voucher and a certificate of

achievement. The team in

Western Australia also had

some Fish and Chips to

celebrate the moment.

Neil says his spare time is

precious to him as this his time

with family. He loves country

music and do enjoy playing his

guitar from time to time. He

says “I find music gives me inner

peace from the day to day

stresses of life”

Neil Taylor, a National Training

Consultant joined First 5 Minutes in

1997. He was a member of our

Queensland team before

transferring to Western Australia in

2010. In this time Neil has attended

University to increase his

knowledge and qualifications to

assist First 5 Minutes to fulfill its

clients requirements in training and

auditing. From 1971 - 1988 Neil was

a full time Firefighter with the New

Zealand Fire Service and was

involved in numerous emergency

situations including fires , chemical

incidents, natural disasters, rescues

and medical incidents.

Neil was awarded the Queens Fire

Service Medal in 1981. Neil left the

New Zealand Fire Service in 1988

following an accident. He moved

into the security field and gained

extensive knowledge in security in

New Zealand and Australia before

joining First 5 Minutes.

Neil Taylor – National Training

Consultant, WA

“I have found

that since

joining First 5

Minutes

technology and

changes to the

format of

training have

tested my

abilities to keep

up. However I

am not known

as a quitter and

have risen to all

the challenges

that the

company has

given me” - Neil

Taylor

New Training

Tools for

Trainers As shown in the photograph, 3

new tools have recently been

added to the trainers’ toolkit.

These are:

A Bomb Threat Facilitator

Guide

A Bomb Threat

PowerPoint Presentation

A Scenario Book

These new tools will enable

trainers to be more flexible with

more presentations as well as a

whopping set of 21 scenarios

and their responses at their

disposal.

This is in line with our strategy to

keep updating ECO training

program all the time to enhance

our warden training sessions. We

want to be the industry leader in

warden training by providing

contemporary, engaging and

informative training to you.

Later in 2012, we are improving

our training even further by

including tools such as

R.E.A.C.T™ and Fire Extinguisher

cards. These cards will be used

as reminders to tell wardens what

to do in case they face an

emergency.


Option 2: Assess and

evacuate immediately

Evacuating immediately after

a bomb or substance threat is

received may be the best

option; however, there are

negatives with this approach

too. The obvious result of

immediate evacuation is the

disruptive effect on the

business. If the bomb or

substance threat caller knows

the policy is to evacuate

each time a call is made,

they can continually call and

force the business to a

standstill. Employees may use

this to get out of work or

students to get out of tests.

Similarly, a bomber wanting

to inflict injuries may call in

the threat after placing the

device close to exit routes or

assembly points.

Option 3: Assess, search and

evacuate partially or fully.

Initiating a search after a

threat is received and

evacuating the building after

a suspicious package or

device is found is the third

and probably the best

approach. It is certainly not

disruptive as an immediate

evacuation and will satisfy

the requirement to do

something when a threat is

received. If a device is found,

the evacuation can be

achieved quickly while at the

same time avoiding the

potential areas of danger

due to the device. In some

cases, the Chief Warden in

collaboration with

emergency services may

decide to evacuate only the

floors and areas affected

including the neighbouring

ones.

Source: Australian Bomb Data

Centre – Defusing Threats

From our

Scenario Library:

Scenario 17- Scuffle breaks out

at Sydney mining conference

August 18, 2011 - 12:23PM

Police have had to break up a scuffle

inside a mining conference in Sydney

after a group of protesters concerned

about coal seam gas mining tried to

interrupt speakers. About 16 activists

entered the room at the NSW Minerals

Exploration and Investment

conference being held at the Sofitel

Sydney Wentworth in the CBD today.

They lined up in front of the stage,

holding up anti-coal seam gas mining

banners.

"I am here on behalf of my four-month-

old daughter," one protester said.

Another said he was there to protect

his farm from coal seam gas

exploration companies. A number of

conference attendees erupted,

shouting "piss off" at the protesters.

Imagine you are an ECO

member at the Sofitel hotel on

the day of the conference. How

would you R.E.A.C.T™?

Answers on Page 13

What are the

3 options on

Search and

Evacuations

in case of

Bomb

Threats? Option 1: Assess and discount

the threat

Disregarding the threat

completely without any further

action can cause problems. If

employees learn bomb or

substance threats have been

received and disregarded, it

could result in morale problems

and have negative impact on

business. There is also the

possibility that if the bomb or

substance threat caller feels

that they are being ignored,

they may go beyond the threat

and directly plant a device.

However, provided the threat

has been given a proper

assessment and subsequently

determined to be a hoax, no

further action may be an

option.


F5M

Customer

Service

Award

2012

Joanne Sargent – Administration

Manager

Unfortunately there is only one First

prize however the following

nominees are recognized for their

outstanding contribution to

customer service at F5M and will

each be receiving a double Gold

Class pass to Event cinemas.

Nick Grice

Carol Mildenhall

Bob Howard

Matthew Lane

Daniel Hamilton

Kelly Marshall

A number of initiatives were

introduced to raise the

awareness of the importance

of customer service for our

business. Among all the

initiatives, First 5 Minutes

organized a F5M Customer

Service award to encourage

staff to improve the way they

deal with customers internally

as well as externally. Staff

members were asked to

nominate colleagues of their

choice who are worthy of the

award against a set criteria that

was established. Joanne

Sargent was declared the

winner by an independent

panel of staff members. Joanne

won the prize which constituted

of a Dell Latitude ST slate tablet

PC and a signed certificate.

She received 3 nominations

from a trainer colleague, a

corporate office colleague and

a supervisor. Joanne was

recognised for excellence in

customer service through:

Consistently striving to

meet and exceed

customer expectations

Replying to customer

enquiries in a timely and

cheerful manner

Making every effort to

resolve conflicts

positively, leaving the

customer satisfied with

the outcome

Consistently working

additional hours to

service customer needs

Clients from Charles

Sturt Council and Bank

SA were extremely

impressed with the

quality of service

provided in response to

enquiries

Joanne was solely

responsible for securing

contracts and always

delivers all required

administration forms on

time to corporate office.

Congratulations to you Joanne

from all your colleagues!

In November of 2011, First 5

Minutes conducted a

comprehensive customer

service survey which

highlighted the strength of our

business and brand however

also the need for all staff to

assist in further escalating our

commitment to excellence in

customer service!

“We never have

to chase her for

anything, she

consistently

exhibits a

“nothing to hard

attitude”

and always

goes the extra

mile” – Said one

colleague when

asked about

Joanne’s internal

Customer Service

performance


Honduras

prison fire kills

more than

350 Thursday, February 16, 2012

»06:49am

More than 350 inmates were

killed and dozens injured when

a fire tore through a prison in

central Honduras, the Central

American country's prisons

director says.

'We are pulling out bodies,' said

prisons director Danilo Orellana.

'The situation is serious. Most

have suffocated,' adding that

the fire did not appear to have

been caused by a riot.

The fire was believed to have

broken out about 10.50pm on

Tuesday (0250 on Wednesday

AEDT), Orellana said, adding

that investigators were looking

into whether it was caused by

an inmate or by a short circuit.

The prison, located some 90

kilometres north of the capital

city of Tegucigalpa, held

around 850 prisoners.

Orellana added that official

were already at work trying to

determine what caused the

blaze.

'We're bringing in all of our

forensic equipment,' he said.

Witnesses said some of the

inmates escaped the blaze by

jumping from the prison

rooftop, and there were reports

that some of them had fled the

facility and were on the loose.

Meanwhile desperate relatives

waited for word about the fate

of their loved ones. At the

break of dawn on Wednesday

there were already hundreds

lined up at the prison gates.

'My brother Roberto Mejia was

in unit six,' said an emotional

Glenda Mejia.

'They've told me that the

inmates from that unit are all

dead,' she said.

Next to her, Carlos Ramirez was

waiting outside the facility for

word about his brother Elwin,

imprisoned on a murder

conviction, who also was

housed in unit six.

'I haven't been told anything,'

Fireman entering prison ablaze

Carlos Ramirez said, his voice

breaking.

It was the worst disaster to strike

a penal facility in Honduras in

years.

Latin American prisons are

notoriously overcrowded,

particularly in poor Central

American states like Honduras,

which are gripped by gang

violence and drug trafficking.

The most recent similar disaster

in Honduras, in May 2004, killed

around 100 inmates during a

fire at a prison in San Pedro

Sula, which was blamed on

structural problems at the

facility.


Meet some of

our new

recruits.

Before that I worked in various

positions in the sporting industry.

I am married with no children –

just the surrogate dog.

What do you like about your

job at F5M?

I am learning a lot about

evacuations, learning new

software and the staff has been

very welcoming.

What are your main challenges

for the year ahead?

I aim to get back into the swing

of work after three years at

university.

How do you like to spend your

free time?

Art and craft, cycling,

swimming, bushwalking,

reading

Cassie Buckley Customer Service Coordinator

Who is Cassie Buckley?

Cassie Buckley is a quiet girl

from the lovely Central Coast of

NSW. No matter where she may

find her self – the Central Coast

will always be home.


job at F5M?

What I like about my job is that

it’s not just a job to me. I’m in a

company where I can learn

things that could potentially

save thousands of lives and to

be a part of something like

that... it’s an amazing feeling!


for the year ahead?

Number one challenge would

be buying a home, and well

getting the money together to

be able to buy that home!


free time?

I spend my free time, either out

and about taking photos or a lazy

day on the couch with my

partner.

Louise Powell Workplace Emergency Response

Trainer, Victoria

Who is Louise Powell?

I am originally from Cape Town,

South Africa, and have been in

the aviation industry for 14 years

prior to joining F5M. During this

time I was involved in airline and

airport emergency response

planning, training and

coordinating. I also have been

involved in adult education for 12

years.

What do you like about your job

at F5M?

I enjoy meeting new people

every day.


free time?

Being a proud South African, I

love my Rugby Union and have

had the opportunity to visit New

Zealand in 2011 to watch the

Rugby World Cup finals. I also

love travelling, watching movies

and reading.

Bronwyn Marshall Design Officer

Who is Bronwyn Marshall?

I am a recent graduate of the

Queensland College of art with a

bachelor of design degree.

Emergency Wardens e-news: Feb 2012

7

Rebecca King Administration Assistant,

Queensland

Who is Rebecca King?

Born & Raised in Wellington NZ,

moved to Brisbane at the start

of the year after visiting

Townsville/Magnetic Island with

my partner. I am a proud All

Blacks supporter. Previously I

worked in Retail, Hospitality,

and Administration/Reception

as well as Accounts payable.


job at F5M?

Friendly Team, There’s always

something to do & something

new to learn.


for the year ahead?

Settle in Brisbane & my new job


free time?

Wearing my sandals, seeing all

the new places I’ve never

been, shopping, visiting friends

and watching the All Blacks win

The First 5

Minutes

Organisational

Culture

The rise of the importance of

organization culture in the last

few years has been quite striking.

No, wait. That’s not true. The rise

in the realization of the

importance of culture in the last

few years has been striking.

Culture – the spoken and

unspoken rules and mores by

which an organization functions –

has always been critical to

company success. It’s only in

recent years that more and more

organisation leaders have begun

to fully understand their own

ability to manage and, indeed,

manipulate the culture to the

best benefit of employees,

customers and the organization

as a whole.

As we grow into a bigger and

better organization, the issues of

culture or culture change in First 5

Minutes become prominent in

the minds of our staff, our

customers and our shareholders.

As we grow, how much of our

culture are we losing? How can

we benefit from the change in

culture?

First 5 Minutes keeps

growing. We are

improving our resources

in systems but above all

we are investing in the

BEST people to serve the

community of wardens

better

Is it good that we are going

through this culture change?

All these questions are valid and

quite pertinent. However, I

believe the most important

question we need to ask

ourselves in these moments is:

As our culture change, what are

the Core Values that binds us

and keep us together?

Core values are worthless if they

are just left hanging on the wall

of an office. If are included in all

our actions and our interactions

with colleagues, customers,

wardens and shareholders, they

become our life blood.

What are our Core Values?

First 5 Minutes has 7 core values

namely:

Strong Work Ethic

Integrity

Reliability

Respect

Quality

Ardent Belief in Life

Safety

Innovation

At first 5 Minutes, we believe that

by permeating our values

through every employee such

that every person knows how to

live those values in their daily

and, critically and knows why

they should, we can remain

strong in times of change – that’s

the basis of our strong

organisation culture.


F5M new

Corporate

Wear

Our personal presentation, and

in particular our Corporate

image strongly reflects our

brand. We take pride in

working for an organisation that

is recognised as being a

professional and valued

contributor to life safety and

the emergency compliance

sector.

As First 5 Minutes is becoming

more exposed to the National

marketplace with many of our

regional clients belonging to

National networks we believe

that we should project a single

image to our clients

representing consistency across

all facets of our business. Hence

our corporate uniform plays an

integral role in our “brand

landscape”.

This is a long standing, well

thought of project which is now

coming to fruition. We

conducted several surveys with

staff in 2011 to give our staff a

voice in the choice of style from

a selection of various options.

The most popular choices were

incorporated. We had to

consider all the climates and

markets that our staff work in

and create a range which can

be mixed and matched while

remaining within the corporate

uniform policy.

Enjoy some pictures which are

worth a thousand words

S

Robert Thompson – Queensland Team

Nathan Benson – Design and IT Team


Vicky Hawes – Design Team

Michael Rabbidge – Queensland Team

Simon Robson- Queensland Team

Nanda Stoltz – Projects Team


Lynda, Val, Sally and Nicole – Accounts and Admin Team

Adriani Carabeo – Design Team

Nick Grice – South Australia Team

Loretta Currey and Carol Mildenhall – Queensland Team


The

R.E.A.C.T™

Methodology

being put to

the test

Richard Gardner – Design Team

Karen Moxly – Corporate Team

Few F5M colleagues went

down stairs to EXAMINE,

and found the Pizza Shop

filled with smoke

They checked the Fire

Alarm system, …no alarms

present, checked the Air-

conditioning-no apparent

smoke coming out, The

smoke had a plastic smell

leading us to think it may

be an electrical fault

(ASSESS)

They then investigated in

the kitchen and found a

towel smouldering under

some plastic buckets

containing cutlery

(ASSESS).

The plastic bucket was

melted giving off the

plastic smell, the towel

was a mass of red embers

which fell onto the floor

and was quickly

extinguished (CONTROL)

They checked everything

and deemed the area

safe, no need to

evacuate the whole

building (CONTROL)

Due to Mrs Ong’s quick

thinking, and our ability to

respond, investigate and

address the issue, we were

able to safely avoid a full

building evacuation and

the disruption that would

cause. (TALK)

Stephen Day, the regional

manager for F5M Sydney,

went to thank Mrs Ong for

raising the alarm. She

responded that the training

she had attended with F5M

had taught her what to do.

What follows is an account of an

incident that is quite common in

many shopping centres where a

commercial kitchen is in

operation. This time it occurred in

Artarmon, NSW in the building

where the First 5 Minutes Sydney

team is located. The F5M team is

on first floor and downstairs on

the ground floor is a series of

small retail outlets including a

pizza place.

Here is how the event

unfolded!

At approx. 2.30 pm on Tuesday

15th May, Mrs Ong from Laing

& Simmons Real Estate

downstairs came to the F5M

reception saying there was

smoke in the pizza shop & the

shop was locked up. Monika at

First 5 Minutes is the Chief

Warden and Mrs Ong knew

where to go to RAISE the alarm

– Also (TALK)


Orange

gas leak

during

gold

mine

power

upgrade May 11, 2012

An excavator digging a trench

to lay powerlines to the Cadia

gold mines near Orange has

ruptured a gas pipe.

Traffic had to be diverted in part

of McLachlan Street and the

ABC office was evacuated when

the gas leak was detected this

afternoon.

Contractors for Newcrest Mining

say they are laying 132 kilovolt

power lines under the road to

upgrade supplies to the mine.

Engineers say the leak has

caused only a temporary

interruption to gas supplies and

their work.

Orange Fire Brigade Station

Officer, Matt Jeffery, says a gas

company has now capped the

broken pipe.

He says no-one was put at risk.

"You could smell the natural gas,"

he said.

"We took gas sampling with a

detector and it was actually

quite low, the readings.

"They were nowhere near the

low explosive limit.

"We've had a quick response

from police and fire and they've

mitigated what could have

been a serious incident, but was

actually quite a minor incident."

Mr Jeffery says the fact that part

of McLachlan Street was already

closed for traffic to allow for the

excavation work made it easier

for emergency services to

manage the incident.

How to R. E. A. C. T™

to Scenario 17 (See

page 3)

R- Response to a raised

alarm / Raise an alarm

Tell yourself to stay calm. Do

not attempt to be a hero –

accept the situation and be

prepared to wait.

“It is good we

have some

active eyes &

ears in the

building

community that

take these

matters seriously.

It is worth

mentioning, that

had we not

been able to

gain access to

the shop, or had

the found

incident not

been able to be

safely dealt with,

then the alarm

would have

been raised

throughout the

building to

evacuate and

the fire Brigade

would have

been called” –

Stephen Day,

Regional

Manager, First 5

Minutes, NSW


Do not speak unless spoken to

and only if necessary. Do exactly

what the offenders tell you. Do

not be argumentative with either

the offenders or other staff.

Do not make suggestions to the

offender. If your suggestion is

wrong the person may think you

planned it that way.

Discreetly contact Security as

soon as possible.

Discreetly telephone the Police

emergency number if able to do

so without danger and to keep

the phone line open.

Alternatively, ask some other

responsible member of the staff,

by way of pre-determined

gesture/s or key word/s, to phone

the Police if it is safe to do so.

If available, activate the duress

system discretely.

Do not place yourself at risk.

Stay out of danger if not directly

involved in the incident, if it is

safe to do so, leave the building

then discreetly raise the alarm.

Call the Police and notify

Management.

If directly confronted be

deliberate in one’s actions if

ordered to carry out an

instruction by the offender. The

act should be carried out with

due consideration to one’s

safety.

Obey the intruders’ instructions,

do what you are told and

nothing more, and do not

volunteer any information.

E- Examine

Commence recording the

offenders’ appearance, objects

touched etc. to assist in the

investigation.

Carefully observe any vehicle

used by the offender/s, taking

particular note of its registration

number, type, colour, and

number of occupants and their

appearances.

Observe the offender/s as

much as possible. In particular,

take note of the speech,

mannerisms, clothing, scars,

tattoos or any other

distinguishing features, and

record these observations in

writing as quickly as possible

after the incident, as the Police

will want your individual

impressions of what happened

before your memory is

influenced by discussion with

others.

Immediately after the

offender/s have/has left, mark

off any areas where they stood

or touched. Do not allow

anybody in these areas until the

Police have checked for

fingerprints and other clues.

Ask all witnesses to remain until

the Police arrive, and explain to

the witnesses that their view of

what happened, however

fleeting, could provide vital

information when placed

together with other evidence.

A – Assess

Assess risk to your safety and the

safety of staff/occupants in the

building.

C – Control

Lockdown is required to protect

occupants from an external threat

by excluding or isolating the threat

(e.g. offender with a gun). Security

will assess the risk and scope of the

lock-down.

Ensure doors are not chocked

open

Secure all areas.

T- Talk

Advise all wardens and occupants

that they should remain in ‘lock

down’ situation within the building

until further notice

Ask Wardens to help you with

calming occupants down and

reassuring them

Keep in constant communication

with emergency services

Keep wardens and occupants

informed of the developments at

regular interval of time through e-

mail, phone or PA system is

available.

Exclude all members of the media

from the area and allow only the

authorised person to make

statements.


We welcome your feedback and contribution to this newsletter.

Write to: Jay Ramanah, Professional Development Manager

E: [email protected]

T: 07 33552855

mailto:[email protected]

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