15.1 Critical Incidents
Purpose
To define critical incidents and outline the immediate notification, escalation, post incident, and support requirements following a critical incident.
Overview
Critical incidents may have significant operational, welfare, media, governance, and regulatory implications.
A Critical Incident is a defined category of incident that automatically triggers:
Critical incidents require early notification, accurate incident logging, appropriate command and coordination, operational debriefing, and member welfare support.
For the purposes of this SOP, Surf Life Saving SA defines critical incidents as any of the following, individually or in combination:
- Incidents resulting in resuscitation, death or body recovery,
- Incidents resulting in serious or major injury,
- Incidents where an SLS member is seriously injured and requires hospitalisation, or
- Incidents where a member of the public is injured by SLS personnel or equipment, requiring external medical treatment or hospitalisation.
Where an incident meets the Critical Incident definition, the following processes must be enacted:
Incidents or events that do not meet the Critical Incident definition may still require operational debriefing, member welfare support, or escalation where directed by the Duty Officer, State Duty Officer, State Operations Centre, or Lifesaving Department.
Procedure
The State Operations Centre (SOC) must be notified as soon as reasonably practicable when a critical incident occurs or is suspected.
The SOC is responsible for coordinating initial notifications and escalation in accordance with operational procedures.
Critical incident notifications may include:
- Duty Officer,
- State Duty Officer,
- Lifesaving Department,
- Executive,
- Media Team,
- Relevant SLS personnel,
- Emergency services, and
- Other stakeholders where required.
Command, Control and Coordination
Critical incidents must be managed in accordance with relevant command, control and coordination arrangements.
The Duty Officer normally provides local tactical command where activated.
The State Duty Officer may provide statewide strategic and operational oversight, including oversight of critical incidents, executive notifications, interim media planning, and relevant legislative or regulatory reporting considerations.
The SOC supports incident coordination, communications, operational logging, resource tasking, and situational awareness.
Incident Logging and Records
Critical incident details must be recorded by the SOC, supported by the SLS service using the Operations App.
Records may include:
- Incident timeline,
- Decisions and actions,
- Personnel involved,
- Resources deployed,
- Communications,
- Witness details,
- Member statements where required,
- Member injuries,
- Welfare actions,
- Operational debrief notes, and
- Follow-up actions.
Where required, the SOC or Duty Officer may request completion of Member Statement Forms.
Member injuries must be reported to the SOC.
Operational Debriefing
Critical incidents must be followed by an operational debrief in accordance with SOP 15.2 – Operational Debriefing.
The operational debrief should focus on incident facts, operational actions, lessons identified, follow up requirements, and any matters requiring escalation.
The operational debrief should focus on incident facts, operational actions, lessons identified, follow up requirements, and any matters requiring escalation.
Member Welfare and Critical Incident Support
Member welfare and critical incident support must be enacted following all critical incidents.
Members involved directly or indirectly in a critical incident should be advised of support options and what contact they can expect following the incident.
Member welfare and support arrangements are detailed within SOP 15.3 – Member Welfare and Critical Incident Support.
Members do not need to wait for a welfare check or follow up contact before accessing support.
Media enquiries and public communications relating to critical incidents must be managed by authorised personnel.
Operational personnel must not prioritise media enquiries over incident management, rescue operations, patient care, or member welfare.
Media and public communication processes are detailed within the relevant media and communications SOP.
References