Floods: keeping safety top of mind

Are you near a creek, river or flood prone area?

Few parts of the country are immune from flooding – whether it be localised flash flooding from intense thunderstorms or more widespread occurrences from heavy rain over the catchments of established river systems.

Impact
During significant floods lives can be lost, stock losses may be in the tens of thousands, and damage to homes, businesses and roads can run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

Lost production can also add considerably to the costs, as can the intangible costs, such as effects on health. Overall, flooding is Australia's costliest form of natural disaster, with losses estimated at over $400 million a year.

Contact your local council if you do not know what areas are more flood prone than others. It is important to not under-estimate the extent to which even a small water body can break its banks.

Thinking ahead
It is critical to have an emergency response plan that has been workshopped and tailored to your needs and location.

If your operations are within a flood prone area, it is also important that you remain vigilant regarding the Bureau of Meteorology alerts. An emergency plan could include the following:

• An overview of flood threat
• Potential impact from flood water
• The facilities approach to flood response and protection
• Flooding scenarios
• Area maps
• Impact of floodwaters
• Flood response
• Action Matrix (What is needed)
• Description of required actions (What to do)
• Staff Assignment Matrix (Who will do)
• Equipment Matrix (What to use)
• Materials and Supplies Matrix (What to use)
• Contractors List/Phone Numbers (Who to hire)
• Security Response
• Fire protection Response

Aon’s Risk Control & Engineering team provide expert advice to organisations across Australia every year in developing and maintaining effective site Risk Management plans specific to the risks faced at each location. 

Safety concerns
If a flood levee is protecting a facility, it should be ensured that the levee is regularly inspected and maintained.

Inspections should be carried out by an experienced person and should cover the inspection of drains, flood ways and waterways. This is to ensure that there are no problems in these areas such as rabbit burrows, trees, scour of banks, build up of debris or weed growth that would affect capacity and consequently the function of the levee.

For more information contact:

Brian Parker
Head of Risk Control & Engineering
Aon Global Risk Consulting
+61 3 9211 3399
brian.parker@aon.com