<EM>Mountain Mist </EM>emergency scenario a success

Emergency services crews and USQ staff participated in a simulated disaster scenario as part of the Mountain Mist exercise in October.

Liz Whatson and Helen Ingram assist the ‘injured’ people,            Aaron Jeffery, Melinda Reed and Sonja Lee   at the back during the Mountain Mist emergency scenario

The scenario involved over 150 people from many groups including the Queensland Police, Queensland Ambulance Service, Queensland Fire and Rescue Service, the State Emergency Service, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland as well as USQSafe and tests USQ emergency procedures.

The Mountain Mist scenario involved an explosion in an arts workshop which resulted in a fire and many casualties including simulated serious injuries and a fatality.

Michael Flannery, Manager USQSafe said that the event was a success and an important part of the University’s major event preparation.

'Yesterday went very well and we learnt a lot of lessons which was the intention,' Mr Flannery said.

'The exercise was based on worst case scenario and designed to stretch the capabilities of the emergency response teams.

'It was not designed to fail but to find weaknesses to allow us to learn lessons and make sure we are better prepared next time.'

USQ acting students put into practice what they had learnt in the classroom by playing the injured people and wore wounds created in the Faculty of Sciences Faculty.

Emergency service personnel neutralised the scene after the mock explosion and rescued the survivors - all while having to deal with other factors of an emergency like media personnel and onlookers.

USQ Security, health and safety employees, volunteer wardens, and first aid attendants were undertaking crowd control measures and assisted the emergency services personnel in their tasks.

The one hour exercise was a huge undertaking for the agencies involved and employed best practice techniques in its operation.

'A lot of planning went into this exercise, it is held every two years with the initial planning stage starting six months out from the event.' Mr Flannery said.

'It is a very controlled plan and the techniques used are also used in similar military emergency scenarios.'

This was the second simulated disaster scenario that USQ has hosted after similar exercise was completed in 2008.

'The Mountain Mist exercise is very important as we have emergency management systems and we train our staff and educate them for an emergency.

'The exercise allows us to test us and our multi-agency capability and confirms the training the University staff have completed.'

The next Mountain Mist exercise will be held in 2012.

Contact Details:
Sam Tickell, USQ Media , +61 7 4631 2559