Emergency & Critical Incident Plan

Emergency and Critical Incident Plan

Read further for the full details of this policy. If you have any questions, please Contact Us.

Purpose: The primary objectives of this plan are to provide:

• Helpful guidelines to enable staff of Jabiru Community College to enact their Duty of Care to students and each other, during critical incidents and emergencies.
• Clearly defined and documented instructions to support the immediate response and later follow up to a critical incident or emergency.

This plan must be implemented when an event occurs or has the potential to occur at the college that could affect the safety of the college members and requires an immediate response from staff.

Scope: Parents/carers, students and employees, including full-time, part-time, permanent, fixed-term and casual employees, as well as contractors, volunteers and people undertaking work experience or vocational placements at Jabiru Community College.

Status: Approved

Supersedes: 15/02/2024

Authorised by: Co-Principals

Date of Authorisation: 15/02/2026

References:

• Risk Management Policy
• Work Health and Safety Policy
• Work Health and Safety Regulation (QLD), 2011, Section 43
• ISQ Fact Sheet — Emergency Plan

Review Date: Every 2 years

Next Review Date: February 2028

Policy Owner: Co-Principals

At Jabiru Community College (JCC), the safety, wellbeing, and dignity of our young people, staff, families, and visitors are our highest priorities. Our Emergency and Critical Incident Plan provides clear guidelines to protect our community and ensure everyone's physical and emotional safety is maintained during unexpected events.

Culturally Safe & Relational Support

• We recognise the absolute importance of cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people.
• During an emergency or critical incident, the college ensures that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people have immediate access to a cultural worker or a designated safe staff member.
• We strictly follow cultural protocols to ensure our responses are respectful and appropriate; these protocols are developed by our Blak Team in careful consultation with Elders.
• Our approach to behaviour and crisis is fundamentally relational; we prioritise maintaining strong connections and assessing how our relationships and use of power (aiming for "power with" rather than "power over") can best support a young person in distress.
• Staff use de-escalation strategies that include reflective conversations and co-regulation to support our young people through conflict.

Preparedness and Training

• This safety plan is shared with all new staff and volunteers during their induction so our whole team is aligned.
• We conduct emergency training once per term to ensure readiness.
• We routinely practise safety procedures alongside our young people — including Evacuation, Lockdown, and Shelter in Place drills — throughout the school year.

How We Respond to Incidents

• A Co-Principal or a designated Leadership Team member takes the lead role to manage the response, prioritising collaborative decision-making and emotional reassurance.
• Any staff member present during an incident will respond immediately to calm the situation and secure backup.
• Staff use the standard DRSABCD (Danger, Response, Send for help, Airway, Breathing, CPR, Defibrillation) first aid action plan to evaluate and manage physical safety.
• For life-threatening situations, staff are instructed to contact 000 immediately for emergency services.
• Our team uses a secure, internal group messaging app to communicate urgent, real-time updates across the campus, ensuring a swift and coordinated response.

Keeping Families Informed

• The Co-Principal or a designated delegate is responsible for managing external communications, which includes keeping next of kin and families informed when an incident occurs.
• In the rare event that a young person insists on leaving the campus during a lockdown — despite our staff's attempts to reassure and keep them safely onsite — we will contact their parent or carer as soon as possible to notify them.
• If the college needs to close due to a major weather event, public health crisis, or emergency, we will communicate the closure to families via our Sentral communication module and JCC's social media pages.
• We will use these same communication channels to announce when it is safe for the school to reopen.

Specific Emergency Procedures

Evacuation

Triggered if there is an immediate safety risk inside the building, such as a fire or structural collapse. Everyone is safely directed to the Emergency Assembly Spot located on the western side of the campus.

Lockdown

Initiated when there is an external safety risk or threat outside the JCC building. Staff secure the building by closing all exit doors and ensuring young people are kept safely inside away from harm.

Healing and Post-Incident Care

• Following an incident, we offer debriefing sessions to help reduce the traumatic impact of the event and foster supportive connections among those affected.
• Staff and student debriefs are held separately to ensure privacy, mitigate risk, and allow for open, honest sharing.
• Formal incident reports are completed within 24 hours to ensure transparency, careful documentation, and ongoing learning for our community.