Prevention and Preparedness

Hazard Leaders

The State Emergency Management Committee has identified eight key hazards in South Australia and assigned Hazard Leader agencies to each of the hazard to lead a multi-agency approach to risk mitigation. The identified hazards and assigned Hazard Leader organisations are:

  • Animal and Plant Disease (Primary Industries and Resources South Australia)
  • Bushfire (Country Fire Service)
  • Escape of Hazardous Materials (Safework SA)
  • Extreme Weather (State Emergency Service)
  • Flood (Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation)
  • Human Disease - Pandemic Influenza (Department of Health)
  • Urban Fire (Metropolitan Fire Service)
  • Terrorism (SA Police)

A hazard leader organisation is the agency which, because of its legislative responsibility or specialized knowledge, expertise and resources undertakes a leadership role for planning emergency management activities pertaining to the prevention of, preparedness for, response to and recovery from a specific hazard.

The hazard leader leads a multi-agency approach to planning for the identified hazard. The Hazard Leader also must ensure that appropriate processes are in place for Functional Services and Control Agencies to gather information about potential incidents.

The Hazard Leader reports to the State Emergency Management Committee through the State Mitigation Advisory Group.

Functional Services 

The State Emergency Management Plan (Annex B) identifies the following Functional Services as the group of agencies that perform functional roles that support response and recovery activities during (and after) an emergency. The Functional Services as listed below are supported by a number of participating government and non-government agencies as identified in Annex B.

  • Agriculture and Animal Services (PIRSA)
  • Ambulance and First Aid (SA Ambulance)
  • Engineering (SA Water)
  • Fire (MFS and CFS)
  • Health and Medical (Department of Health)
  • Police (SA Police)
  • State Emergency Service (SES)
  • Community Services (Families SA)
  • Media (SA Police)
  • Communications (SA Police- Communications Department)
  • Defence (Australian Defence Force)
  • Logistics- Supply and Catering (SAFECOM)
  • Transport ( DTEI)

The State Response Advisory Group provides an assurance role for ensuring that each Functional Service has developed a Functional Service Plan that is updated at least annually and subject to review by the State Emergency Management Committee. At all times, the Functional Service and participating agencies must be ready to respond at the request of the Control Agency or the Coordinating Agency.