The importance of integration (and trust) with emergency services providers

At Corporate Protection, our integration with government emergency services providers is critical and can be life-saving. Whether an Ambulance Service or RFDS team meeting our team at a site entrance to hand over an injured party or our fire and rescue team working side by side with a Fire Department team, it is essential that we can work together seamlessly.

In our security division, understanding our role, and the expectations of Police Services when managing a security response to Issue Motivated Groups is equally important.

These medical, security and fire & rescue scenarios rely on an understanding of chain of command, interoperability of equipment, integration of procedures and handover protocols.

They also require professional respect and trust between the private and government teams.

Successful integration is an expectation of our clients for our teams. It does not happen by chance and requires professional respect, regular meetings and joint exercises and drills.

Our teams all have years of experience working within emergency services, but when the interface is remote and critical, that is the time our planning comes to the fore.

Our Fire & Rescue teams are often asked to assist in confronting critical incidents.

Recently during bushfires in the Tara area, the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) sent out a call for help for assistance in protecting houses in an area threatened by bushfires. Our client as valued members of the local community gave permission for us to operate with and under the direction of the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services to protect houses and members of the community.

Our teams worked closely with a local auxiliary fire unit and members of the rural fire service team under the direction of a QFES Inspector to protect property directly threatened by fire and then worked into the night to prevent the fire from spreading across a road.

 Regular training and familiarisation to prepare our teams for the site risks they may face are a normal part of all Corporate Protection’s Emergency Services Officers, Medical staff, and Security Guards routines.

Recently across three of our clients’ sites, our firefighting crews played a part in the recertification of the Life Flight Helicopter Rescue team who came to the sites to requalify on the landing sites and keep our teams up to date on their Helicopter and our role when they come to site.

Client comment:

You guys did a fantastic job. You definitely stepped up when need  ed to help protect the community and the feedback from the landowners of the properties you helped protect from the fire was brilliant. Thanks for all your efforts, it’s always a pleasure getting to work with such a professional organisation like Corporate Protection.

More recently, our FR team working in the Sydney CBD was required to work with the local brigade and ensure a smoot handover of command to our team. The following report is testimony to the success that has become customary within our various divisions:

I am delighted to share some positive feedback we recently received regarding the outstanding efforts of our team during Monday’s major outage. I also want to highlight the commendable role played by (CPAFR ESO), whose intervention significantly contributed to the success of the operation.

Upon our arrival at the site, multiple agencies were present, such as Police, Ambulance, Sydney Transport etc, and incident control was under the supervision of (Fire Department). The Incident Controller was hesitant to hand over control to (our client), deeming it necessary to maintain their involvement due to the perceived fire emergency nature of the situation.

(CPAFR ESO), with his extensive experience as a (Fire Department) Station Officer, played a pivotal role in mediating the situation. Through his effective communication and reassurance, we were able to facilitate the smooth transition of incident control back to our client for maintenance operations.

The client team expressed profound appreciation for (CPAFR ESO ‘s) intervention, acknowledging that they would not have been able to complete the maintenance without his invaluable assistance.

I have been informed that this feedback will also be expressed to (client) senior management!

Client Testimonial:

I am writing to you to acknowledge the exceptional work CPA performed during a major outage that occurred in the CBD recently. In particular, I would like to highlight the great work performed by a CPA employee (ESO) during the incident.

We understand that through EOS’s intervention (client) was able to facilitate a transition of site ownership from the incident controller. The CPAFR ESO was able to negotiate and assisted us through the complexities of site handover from Fire NSW. It was evident without CPAFR’s intervention, we would have experienced delays in site handover and therefore restoration works.

We would like to thank the CPA teams that assisted during the night and particular thanks to your ESO for his dedication, commitment and exceptional performance.

It is great to see a great sense of teamwork and collaboration developing between our employees and the CPA team.

Please pass on our thanks and appreciation to the CPA team