Annual Forward Plan of Reviews 2023-24

All hazards

Risks spanning across multiple hazard types and across the emergency management system.

Biosecurity

Exotic animal and plant disease outbreaks and pest incursions can have significant economic, community and environmental impacts.

Bushfire and other fires

Bushfire and other fires have potential consequences including loss of life and property, and damage to infrastructure and environment.

Climate change

Risks include more days of extreme heat, harsher fire weather, less rainfall and rising sea levels.

Communications disruption

Communications services are crucial in keeping communities safe, connected and informed before, during and after emergencies.

Cyber security and ICT systems failure

Risks relating to the confidentiality, availability, integrity of information and data and disruption of services.

Energy supply disruption

Reliable energy supplies are critical to many social and economic activities.

Flood

Major flood events have occurred in Victoria every 10 to 20 years, with much of the increasing risk created by human settlement.

Hazardous material incident

Potential risks relate to many places where Victoria’s hazardous materials are manufactured, stored, transported, used and disposed.

Heatwave

Heatwaves are considered to be the ‘silent killer’ of extreme weather events and are the leading cause of weather-related deaths in Australia.

Public health emergency

Risks may relate to the delivery of public health services, with impacts on community health and wellbeing and potential for loss of life.

Supply chain disruption

Geopolitical, environmental, economic, societal and infrastructure-related shocks can expose supply chains to wide ranging consequences.

Terrorism and extremism

Attacks carried out by individuals or non-state groups with ideological, political or religious goals can result in loss of life, severe injury and/or material damage.

Water supply disruption

Risks include collection, storage, treatment, delivery, availability and allocation of water for consumption and environmental, recreation and cultural uses.

Workforce and resourcing

Risks may relate to human resource supply and skills to support emergency management operations.

Our Annual Forward Plan provides a high-level description of the reviews IGEM will conduct in 2023-24.

The extent and frequency of change within the sector presents a challenge to predicting and/or prioritising review topics in advance. When coupled with the dynamic nature of emergencies, IGEM considers current and emerging risks on an annual basis to inform the forward plan.

IGEM considered numerous factors when developing this forward plan, including ongoing sector reforms, recent reviews and other assurance activities.

Based on these and other considerations, we will conduct one planned review in 2023-24.

Review of Victoria’s preparedness for major chemical, biological and radiological incidents

Chemical, biological and radiological agents have the potential to seriously threaten the health and safety of the Victorian community. Major incidents can have severe human health impacts, and can harm the environment, agriculture, livestock or property.

Likewise, the health and safety of responder personnel is placed at significant risk during response, clean-up and recovery.

By conducting this review, we aim to identify opportunities to strengthen emergency management arrangements and preparedness activities for incident response.

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Review of Victoria’s preparedness for major chemical, biological and radiological incidents

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