Table of Content

1. Acknowledgements 5

2. Document Control 6

3. Authority 7

4. Scope 7

5. Definition 7

6. Relevant Organisations 8

7. Role of Council 8

8. Role of Agencies 9

9. Activation 9

10. Reporting 10

11. Command Structure 11

Municipal Secondary Impact Assessment (MSIA) Work Flow 11

12. Summary MSIA Roles 13

12.1 Municipal Recovery Manager MRM 13

12.2 Municipal MSIA Coordinator 13

12.3 Municipal GIS Officer 14

12.4 Municipal Environmental Health Officer 14

12.5 Municipal Buildings Surveyor 14

12.6 Municipal SIA Assessor 14

12.7 Municipal SIA Field Team Leader 14

12.8 Personal Support Worker 14

13. Request Procedure 14

14. Responsibilities 15

15. Interface with other Guidelines 15

16. Acronyms 16

Section 1. 17

ROLES & RESPONSIBILTIES 17

17. MSIA Role Statements 18

17.1 Municipal Recovery Manager 18

17.2 MSIA Coordinator 19

17.3 Municipal SIA Field Team Leader 20

17.4 MSIA MECC Administrative Assistant 21

17.5 MSIA GIS officer 22

17.6 MSIA Deployment Coordinator (if required) 23

17.7 MSIA Environmental Health Officer 24

17.8 MSIA Municipal Building Surveyor 25

17.9 MSIA Assessor 26

17.10 MSIA Personal Support/Psychological First Aid 27

18. Municipal Secondary Impact Assessment Guidelines 29

18.1 Municipal SIA Guidelines Overview 29

19. Activation of the MSIA Team 30

19.1 MSIA Coordinator Activation 30

19.1 MECC ADMINISTRATIVE Assistant 30

20. Support Staff Activation 31

20.1 Support Agency Definition 31

20.2 Activation Process 31

21. MSIA PLANNING & PREPARATION –During the Emergency Phase 32

21.1 MSIA Coordinator Planning Phase 32

21.2 Host LGA Activation of the NWMR Collaboration Resource Sharing Protocol responsibilities 33

22. Municipal SIA Deployment and Management of Teams 35

22.1 MSIA Coordinator Deployment Phase 35

22.1 MSIA Assessors Deployment Phase 38

22.1 MSIA Field Team Leader Deployment Phase 39

23. Municipal SIA Reporting and Information Management 40

23.1 MECC ADMINISTRATIVE Assistant 40

23.1 MSIA Coordinator 41

24. Municipal SIA De-Activation 42

25. Municipal SIA Post Debrief 43

25.1 Municipal Recovery Manager (MRM) 43

Rural Land and Planning Zones 44

The Rural Living Zone (RLZ) 44

The Rural Conservation Zone (RCZ) 44

The Farming Zone (FZ) 44

The Rural Activity Zone (RAZ) 44

The Green Wedge Zone (GRZ) 44

The Green Wedge A Zone (GRAZ) 44

26. LGA with Zoning if applicable (Sample below) 45

26.1 Scripting 46

27. Staff Deployment Register (appendix 1) 48

SMEACS Briefing Format (appendix 2) 49

MSIA Deployment Kit Checklist (appendix3) 50

28. Debrief Template (appendix 4) 51

29. Municipal Secondary Impact Assessment (MSIA) Field Checklist (appendix 5) 52

29.1 This checklist is the responsibility of the MSIA Coordinator or MSIA Deployment Coordinator 52

30. Action Log (appendix6) 53

31. Assessor Information Pack 54

31.1 Municipal Secondary Impact Assessment Prompts & Scripting 54

31.2 Scripting for MSIA Assessors 57

31.3 Practical Tips for Assessors in conducting Municipal Secondary Impact Assessment 58

32. Affected Person Information Pack 59

32.1 Municipal Secondary Impact calling cards Error! Bookmark not defined.

32.2 Support available in emergency information sheet 60

32.3 Financial and Personal Support Fact Sheet 62

32.4 Support available in Emergency Relief Centres Fact Sheet 63

32.8 Emergency Relief Centre Fact Sheet 64

32.9 Emergency Assistance Fact Sheet 64

33. MSIA Template 66


North West Metropolitan Region Councils

1.  Acknowledgements

The fourteen signatory Councils to this document wish to acknowledge:

§  Australian Government for providing funding through the Office of the Emergency Services Commissioner, under the Natural Disaster Resilience Program.

§  Representatives from:
NWMR Collaboration Project
Eastern Region and Surrounds Collaboration
Southern Metropolitan Region Collaboration
Pyrenees Shire Council
Department of Human Services
State Emergency Services
Victoria Police
Metropolitan Fire Brigade
Country Fire Authority
Department of Environment Land Water and Planning
Australian Red Cross
Victorian Council of Churches

Thank you for your contribution to this project.

Intellectual Property Statement

© The North West Metropolitan Region (NWMR) Relief and Recovery Collaboration (involving 14 councils in the NWMR, Northern Grampians, Mornington Peninsula City Council, Eastern Councils Partnership and Australian Red Cross,) in consultation with emergency management agencies, professionals and subject matter experts, have developed this document as a guide only. The document and related appendices could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors and the information may not be appropriate to all councils or emergency situations.

The NWMR Collaboration acknowledges there are no ongoing rights to the document or the information by individual contributors. Any part of this workbook may be cited, copied, translated into other languages or adopted to meet other local government regional needs, as long as acknowledgement is given to the work undertaken by the North West Metropolitan Region (NWMR) Collaboration.

2.  Document Control

This document is owned by the North West Region Municipal Recovery Managers who are responsible for:

§  Reviewing the document annually or following activation of MSIA.

§  Updating the document’s content to reflect changes in state legislation, procedures and business practices;

§  Engaging with neighbouring municipalities, emergency management organisations, support agencies and other interested parties to identify and implement improvement opportunities;

§  Distributing this to the relevant staff, agencies and interested parties; and

§  Assessing and rectifying any procedural issues identified.

Issue No / Issue Date / Nature of Amendment
1.14 / June 3 2015 / Finalised draft – distributed to Councils
1.15 / August 20 2015 / First section amended following discussion with State Impact Assessment Working Group – Sections added on Definition, Relevant Organisations, Role of Council, Role of Agencies, Activation, and Reporting.
2.0 / November 2015 / Minor updates to template
3.0 / May 2016 / Minor updates to template

Council has responsibility for exercising their Municipal Emergency Management Plans annually. While it may be difficult to exercise all components of this Guideline at one time, it is expected that the MSIA Operations Guideline will be exercised annually. This Operational Guide can be tested during response or recovery exercises.

3.  Authority

The Municipal Secondary Impact Assessment (MSIA) Coordinator is responsible for ensuring that Council’s MSIA obligations are met and that the necessary systems and processes are in place. The Coordinator will report to the MRM.

4.  Scope

These MSIA Guidelines are designed to address all requirements related to the collection of loss and damage data following an emergency that has impacted on the municipality. This functional requirement should be activated during an emergency once an emergency threatens and/or impacts upon any property.

5.  Definition

Secondary Impact Assessment (SIA) is the process for determining the impact of an emergency on the built, natural, social, economic and the psychosocial environments of the affected community. This assessment can commence whilst the Response Phase in still in place, however, fieldwork is conducted when it is safe enough for personnel to enter the affected area.

A detailed assessment of the damage to the affected area is essential so that the municipal recovery team can:

·  determine what needs to occur to ensure safety to life and property

·  identify what relief and recovery requirements are needed

·  provide advice to relevant Government Departments, agencies and the community

·  effectively commence their recovery operation.

Strategies for recovery are developed from the Secondary Impact Assessment report and then implemented by the range of available agencies within the local government boundary and/or region.

6.  Relevant Organisations

The following organisations, as designated in the Emergency Management Manual of Victoria (January 2006, Part 7 Emergency Management Agency Roles, Recovery Activities), are responsible for conducting SIA work within the municipality:

·  Local Government Authority (LGA) – Where the impact is within an Urban or Industrial area and on Council property

·  DEDJTR – Where the impact is upon rural and farming enterprises

·  DELWP – Where the impact is upon state owned public land

Each organisation is responsible for training and deploying their SIA teams for the purposes of gathering and collating the secondary impact data within their designated areas.

7.  Role of Council

As well as undertaking their emergency impact data collection duties, the Council has the responsibility for coordinating the SIA data being collected on private and municipal property under the supervision of the MRM. This requires close collaboration with DEDJTR where commercial farms are concerned. Council will also need to liaise with State Government Departments where private land share boundaries with State public land.

For the municipality, this involves the collection of data relating to the impact of an emergency on private property and municipal infrastructure. These are defined as:

·  Private property is specific to homes and industry and/or businesses in urban and rural living zones (excluding rural zones allocated to DPI). For more information on zoning refer to

·  Municipal infrastructure is defined as all local roads, bridges, buildings, sporting facilities, environmental and community assets within the municipal boundaries.

8.  Role of Agencies

Government Departments play a supporting role in the Municipal SIA process providing information and assistance when required.

The following have agreed to:

1.  DEDJTR – collect impact data on farm households and provide this to Council. They will also deliver recovery assistance information when requested.

2.  DELWP – liaise with private property owners about shared fence lines. They will also assist with wild life issues.

3.  DHHS – share collected information on impacted householders

It should be noted that other agencies have SIA responsibilities, such as VicRoads, VicTrack, and power companies. These agencies may undertake operations at the same time as MSIA operations are underway and there might be little coordination between the two activities.

9.  Activation

There are several trigger points for a Municipal SIA operation and these include:

·  Damage to a private residence or business (single incident or multiple)

·  Damage to council infrastructure or assets

Once a threat or incident is known, the MRM will liaise with the SIA Coordinator as to the most appropriate response.

It should be noted that initial data collection for MSIA might be undertaken before the MRM receives the Initial Impact Assessment from the Incident Controller. However, field work will not be undertaken until the Incident Controller has declared the affected site to be safe for personnel to enter.

10.  Reporting

There will be a steady demand for MSIA reports from numerous organisations so the reports need to be accurate and detailed as possible. The MSIA Coordinator will advise the MRM that the MSIA information collection and collation is complete and seek advice on reporting requirements.

Working with the MRM and the Information Officer, the MSIA Coordinator will prepare and present the impact assessment report for the Recovery Committee.

The DHHS Regional representative for the LGA will be able to request reports from the MRM and act as a conduit for these reports to be made available at Regional and State level.

11.  Command Structure

Municipal Secondary Impact Assessment (MSIA) Work Flow


12.  Summary MSIA Roles

Subject to the scale of the emergency, the staffing role requirements for a MSIA operation will be:

At a minimum:

1.  Municipal Recovery Manager (or delegate)

2.  Municipal SIA Co-ordinator (located in the MECC)

3.  Municipal SIA Field Team Leader

4.  Municipal MECC Administrative Assistant

5.  Municipal GIS Officer (located in the MECC)

6.  Municipal Deployment Coordinator (if required to assist the MSIA Coordinator)

7.  Municipal SIA Environmental Health Officer

8.  Municipal Buildings Surveyor

9.  Municipal SIA Assessors

10.  Municipal IT Officer (located at MECC)

11.  Additional personnel required for major activations might include:

Personal Support Workers: VCC, Australian Red Cross and council trained staff

A summary and checklist for each MSIA role and the functions they fulfil is outlined in Roles & Responsibilities section. 1

12.1  Municipal Recovery Manager MRM

Oversee the operations of MSIA (MSIA activities can still be activated without a full MECC
opened). The MRM communicates with the MSIA Coordinator on the operational status, escalations, resource requirements, and issue resolution and information coordination.

12.2  Municipal MSIA Coordinator

This Council role primarily manages MSIA staff and the data gathering/management of the operation. The MSIA Coordinator is responsible for staff briefing, allocation of tasks, debriefs and their welfare. Regular reports are provided to the MRM.

This Council MSIA Coordinator role is responsible for the deployment of all staff into the field ensuring appropriate deployment procedures are followed.

Responsibilities of the MSIA Coordinator include;

§  Appointing a deputy (if required)

§  Building a team that will gather and manage MSIA data

§  Monitor and review internal and external arrangements.

§  Activate the teams when required.

12.3  Municipal GIS Officer

This Council Officer develops maps for the MSIA planning team when required.

12.4  Municipal Environmental Health Officer

This Council officer is responsible for the identification and assessment of health hazards on properties impacted by an emergency.

12.5  Municipal Buildings Surveyor

A Council officer responsible for the assessment of hazards in structures which have been impacted by an emergency.

12.6  Municipal SIA Assessor

Council officers who will conduct assessments by entering the data into the Crisisworks Template on private and businesses which have been impacted by an emergency. This function will be conducted in conjunction with the Personal Support agency

12.7  Municipal SIA Field Team Leader

This Council Officer’s primary purpose is to coordinate the collection of data in the field. They will be responsible for the data collection teams and welfare of the deployed team member’s whist in the field.