Author Topic: Can SES not accept a tasking?  (Read 2520 times)

Offline Footy

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Can SES not accept a tasking?
« on: May 17, 2008, 11:36:57 PM »
Bajdas, can SES crews not accept a tasking?
Looking at page no SES were responded, so does that mean they turned it down?
If so how does that work?

Offline bajdas

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Can SES not accept a tasking?
« Reply #1 on: May 19, 2008, 11:56:40 AM »
Bajdas, can SES crews not accept a tasking?
Looking at page no SES were responded, so does that mean they turned it down?
If so how does that work?

Other people can verify or update my information. But my understanding is:

The OIC (be it Duty Officer, Team Leader or anybody else that the Unit Manager has delegated) can make the decision of deploy or not.

They will need to explain the response decision to SES Region if required. That is why the paperwork & paper flow is important.

In SES Central Region, we get many crap taskings that an accurate determination cannot be made by an Adelaide CBD based call-taker. So we take the details and let the local knowledge make the determination.

Sometimes an elderly or injured person try to cut the tree to get their car out to a medical appointment and injures themselves. At other times it is people trying to save money by not employing a tree lopper. The worst is a person trying to circumvent the council significant tree rules & get the tree cut because it is an emergency !!!  :x

Thus some units try to limit the disturbance of volunteers by only a few receiving the first tasking page. It is a balance between response times & unnecessary disturbance.

On a predicted weather event, some volunteers of the 11 Central Region SES Units will be on active standby at the LHQ or mobile telephone. Thus they will receive the tasking by non-paging methods.

I would think a recce crew of 2 or more volunteers would be dispatched to some taskings (eg tree on fence or driveway) to make a more accurate assessment. The crew will either complete a quick chainsaw or cancel the tasking.

For example, the current SES policy on bogged vehicles is to retrieve the people if they are at risk but leave the vehicle/equipment to contractors to retrieve. But the final decision is the local Unit. That is a local decision.
Andrew Macmichael
lives at Pt Noarlunga South.

My personal opinion only.