Reflections on the Bourke St Tragedy Craig Lapsley @craig_Lapsley Emergency Management Commissioner

Bourke St Tragedy 20 January 2017 Melbourne CBD 6 fatalities, 30 people injured 366 personnel involved in relief and recovery efforts 1200 + people have accessed victim support services Thousands of witnesses and impacted persons Far-reaching community impacts

Communication SEMT – Sharing information between agencies and departments International relations – consulate, business, international students, foreign nationals, tourism CBD businesses Connecting into businesses, particularly hotels (access in and out, Australian Open) Spontaneous Memorial (business impacts - florists, coffee shops, retail also acted as the interface to the community) Lord Mayor and City of Melbourne networks

‘No person will fall between the gaps’ Community Connection 318 on-ground personnel to provide psychological first aid Multi-agency approach to provide on-going victim support Helplines widely communicated Employee Assistance Program Clinical psychologist, Dr Rob Gordon Social media videos Fact sheets

Lessons Learned Use the structures you use everyday (communication, business, emergency) The context is important Manage an incident in line with community response and reaction How can we improve two-way conversation / feedback loop with community, business, industry? Lots to learn but learning is a challenge when incidents like Bourke St are very infrequent

Resilience What can you do as organisations to increase your resilience before, during and after an incident or emergency? Before Emergency planning What are your security arrangements? Duty of care to staff before, during and after? During Staff welfare? How do you accommodate for everyone? How do you communicate what is happening / direct your staff? After Employee welfare – Employee Assistance Program Pyscho social support services Business continuity plans and arrangements Consequences Customers

Thank you @craig_lapsley emv.vic.gov.au