Inquiry Search
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC210-0737 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | The Department of Environment and Resource Management should ensure that an independent and appropriately qualified person immediately starts the task of reviewing the March flood event report to ensure that the review is completed before the start of the 2012/2013 wet season. |
REC210-0695 | 10 - Infrastructure | The Queensland Government should consider implementing mandatory requirements to ensure that all conduits for the purpose of providing electrical supply below the applicable defined flood level are sealed to prevent floodwaters from entering them or flowing into them. |
REC210-0701 | 6 - Insurance and legal liability | Letters notifying policy-holders that their claims have been denied should, at a minimum, state the information upon which the insurer has relied in making the decision. These letters should also advise policy-holders that copies of the information will be made available upon request (in accordance with clause 3.4.3 of the General Insurance Code of Practice) and indicate how policy-holders can make a request. |
REC210-0762 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | Seqwater should consider commissioning an investigation into the extent of cracking below the level of the upper gallery of Somerset Dam and the impact of any such cracking on the dam’s stability and, in turn, its operation. |
REC210-0728 | 12 - EM agency and authority | Emergency Management Queensland, in consultation with councils, should develop a directive that makes clear the authority of an officer of that agency to command a major SES operation. This could be expected to occur when a deployment of additional SES members is made to a region because the response needed is beyond the capacity of its local units. The directive should make clear the powers of the officer and his or her reporting responsibilities to disaster managers in these circumstances. Emergency Management Queensland must also ensure that any officer who assumes such a role has adequate training and skills in the conduct of disaster operations. |
REC210-0736 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | Seqwater should ensure that proper support and oversight mechanisms are put in place around both the substantive and procedural aspects of drafting flood event reports. Seqwater should consider engaging consultants with expertise in the production of reports following significant events to advise on these mechanisms. Measures to be considered should include: • ensuring appropriate systems are in place to ensure the recollections of flood engineers and other parties are recorded immediately after the event, perhaps by engaging an external party to interview the flood engineers and other parties • ensuring that a methodology for writing the report is set out clearly in advance, in writing, and that the final report includes a statement of that methodology • putting in place systems to ensure that members of senior management have sufficient understanding of both the methodology and process by which the report is prepared to allow themselves to be satisfied that these are appropriate. |
REC210-0693 | 10 - Infrastructure | Electricity distributors should consider installing connection points for generators to provide electricity supply to non-flooded areas that have had their supply cut during floods. |
REC210-0700 | 6 - Insurance and legal liability | Insurers should review their existing systems and processes and implement any improvements necessary to ensure that accurate and complete records of conversations with policy-holders are made. |
REC210-0758 | 10 - Infrastructure | CS Energy should put in place contingency measures to ensure email and telephone communications at Wivenhoe Power Station are not entirely dependent on a network located off-site. |
REC210-0726 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | The Queensland Fire and Rescue Service should require that each region records in writing the results of its risk assessment undertaken as part of its annual review of its special operations functional plan. |
REC210-0735 | 6 - Insurance and legal liability | The Crime and Misconduct Commission should investigate whether the conduct of Mr Tibaldi, Mr Ayre and Mr Malone relating to: • preparation of documents surrounding the January 2011 flood event, including the 17 January 2011 brief to the Minister, the 2 March 2011 flood event report, and statements provided to the Commission • oral testimony given to the Commission evidences offence/s against the Criminal Code, and/or official misconduct under the Crime and Misconduct Act 2001 committed by any, or all, of them. |
REC210-0692 | 10 - Infrastructure | The Queensland Government should consider measures to ensure that requirements are included in the designation of land for community infrastructure under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 to ensure that critical infrastructure for operating works under the Electricity Act is built to remain operational during and immediately after a flood of a particular magnitude. That magnitude should be determined by an appropriate risk assessment. |
REC210-0747 | 6 - Insurance and legal liability | Seqwater should ensure a legal review of the Wivenhoe manual and the North Pine manual is completed before the manual is submitted for approval. |
REC210-0725 | 12 - EM agency and authority | The fire service should ensure that station officers are familiar with the procedure for contacting management when requesting the calling in of additional staff; and, in particular, that they have available to them the names and current telephone numbers of the officers to be contacted in the first instance, with alternative contact details in the event that those officers prove unavailable. |
REC210-0731 | 12 - EM agency and authority | Emergency Management Queensland should ensure its staff, SES members and disaster managers are familiar with the directives it develops in relation to these matters. |
REC210-0686 | 6 - Insurance and legal liability | SunWater and the Central Highlands Regional Council should determine the issues of ownership and responsibility for maintenance of the LN1 drain system in Emerald. |
REC210-0743 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | Seqwater should, in creating the new Wivenhoe and North Pine flood mitigation manuals, comprehensively consider: • the amount of discretion that is able to be exercised by the flood engineers and the senior flood engineers, and the description of the circumstances in which such discretion may be exercised • the circumstances in which it might be appropriate to release water in advance of an impending flood on the basis of forecasts from the Bureau of Meteorology • if strategies of the form of strategy W2 and W3 in Revision 7 are included in the revised manual, or any strategy defined as a ‘transition strategy’, when and how those strategies should be implemented • if the concept of ‘urban inundation’ is relevant to the operation of the dam, how it should be defined, and if the definition involves diverse concepts, how those concepts can be related back to the strategies, so that flood engineers can reach a clear understanding of their objectives and primary considerations • if the concept of ‘natural peak flow’ is relevant, how it should be defined. |
REC210-0703 | 6 - Insurance and legal liability | The Insurance Council of Australia should amend clause 3.4.3 of the General Insurance Code of Practice so that it requires insurers to inform policy-holders of their right to request a review of an insurer’s decision to refuse to provide access to information on which it relied in assessing claims. |
REC210-0773 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | The Department of Environment and Resource Management should prioritise dam safety audits according to risk. The risk assessment should be informed by criteria including: • structure and materials used in construction • age of the dam • time since last inspection • occurrence of a flood event since last audit and the size of that flood event • population at risk if the dam were to fail • experience and capability of dam owner • dam owner compliance history • time since last audit. |
REC210-0730 | 12 - EM agency and authority | Emergency Management Queensland, in consultation with councils, should develop clear directives about: • the communication and reporting that should take place between the SES and disaster managers, including in relation to task allocation and completion, once disaster management groups have been activated • the communication and reporting that should take place between the SES and disaster managers, including in relation to task allocation and completion, once disaster management groups have been activated • the process for dealing with requests for assistance that exceed an SES unit’s capacity to respond them • the process for seeking extra support for an SES unit that has been overwhelmed by a disaster (whether by way of Emergency Management Queensland or the disaster management arrangements or both) • the role of SES liaison officers in communications with disaster managers about SES disaster operations • the role of incident controllers, and their teams, relative to those SES (or Emergency Management Queensland) personnel charged with the command of SES operations. |
REC210-0738 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | Seqwater should ensure that any future peer review process: • is co-ordinated by someone independent of those who wrote the report • entails the provision of all relevant information to the peer reviewers • permits sufficient time for the review • documents all contact between those whose actions are under review and the reviewers. |
REC210-0699 | 6 - Insurance and legal liability | When a policy-holder makes a claim, the insurer should ascertain the policy-holder’s preferred method of contact and ensure that it is used (with other modes of communication if necessary) to keep the policyholder informed about the progress of the claim. However, important decisions regarding the claim – for example, determinations about the outcome of the claim and settlement sums – should always be confirmed in writing. |
REC210-0702 | 6 - Insurance and legal liability | The Insurance Council of Australia should consider an amendment to Part 3 of the code which requires insurers to notify policy-holders of the information on which they relied in assessing claims. |
REC210-0772 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | Prior to each wet season, the Department of Environment and Resource Management should audit the compliance of each owner of a referable dam with the obligation to have an emergency action plan approved by the Queensland Government. |
REC210-0729 | 12 - EM agency and authority | Emergency Management Queensland should ensure its staff, SES members and disaster managers are familiar with the directive when it is developed. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC181-0216 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | The State appoint an independent monitor or the Victorian Auditor-General to assess progress with implementing the Commission’s recommendations and report to the Parliament and the people of Victoria by 31 July 2012. |
REC181-0178 | 10 - Infrastructure | The State (through Energy Safe Victoria) require distribution businesses to change their asset inspection standards and procedures to require that all SWER lines and all 22-kilovolt feeders in areas of high bushfire risk are inspected at least every three years. |
REC181-0184 | 10 - Infrastructure | The State amend the regulatory framework for electricity safety to strengthen Energy Safe Victoria’s mandate in relation to the prevention and mitigation of electricity-caused bushfires and to require it to fulfil that mandate. |
REC181-0177 | 10 - Infrastructure | The State amend the Regulations under Victoria’s Electricity Safety Act 1998 and otherwise take such steps as may be required to give effect to the following: ■ the progressive replacement of all SWER (single-wire earth return) power lines in Victoria with aerial bundled cable, underground cabling or other technology that delivers greatly reduced bushfire risk. The replacement program should be completed in the areas of highest bushfire risk within 10 years and should continue in areas of lower bushfire risk as the lines reach the end of their engineering lives; ■ the progressive replacement of all 22-kilovolt distribution feeders with aerial bundled cable, underground cabling or other technology that delivers greatly reduced bushfire risk as the feeders reach the end of their engineering lives. Priority should be given to distribution feeders in the areas of highest bushfire risk. |
REC181-0183 | 10 - Infrastructure | The State (through Energy Safe Victoria) require distribution businesses to do the following: ■ fit spreaders to any lines with a history of clashing or the potential to do so; ■ fit or retrofit all spans that are more than 300 metres long with vibration dampers as soon as is reasonably practicable. |
REC181-0182 | 10 - Infrastructure | The State (through Energy Safe Victoria) require distribution businesses to do the following: ■ disable the reclose function on the automatic circuit reclosers on all SWER lines for the six weeks of greatest risk in every fire season; ■ adjust the reclose function on the automatic circuit reclosers on all 22-kilovolt feeders on all total fire ban days to permit only one reclose attempt before lockout. |
REC181-0180 | 10 - Infrastructure | The State amend the regulatory framework for electricity safety to require that distribution businesses adopt, as part of their management plans, measures to reduce the risks posed by hazard trees—that is, trees that are outside the clearance zone but that could come into contact with an electric power line having regard to foreseeable local conditions. |
REC181-0217 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | The State consider the development of legislation for the conduct of inquiries in Victoria —in particular, the conduct of royal commissions. |
REC181-0179 | 10 - Infrastructure | The State (through Energy Safe Victoria) require distribution businesses to review and modify their current practices, standards and procedures for the training and auditing of asset inspectors to ensure that registered training organisations provide adequate theoretical and practical training for asset inspectors. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC016_3946 | 12 - EM agency and authority | It is recommended that it [The Fire Brigade] endeavour and be encouraged to add to its reserve of members, and that the reserves be fully and efficiently trained. Should fire on a wide, unbroken front attack the town, the brigade, if limited to its present numbers, could not be expected to be able to save the town. |
REC016_3944 | 10 - Infrastructure | It is recommended that the water pressure be improved so that a greater volume and jet may be available for the suppression of fires on the faces and also for the purpose of wetting the berms more widely and thoroughly when necessary. It is suggested that there should be variable control of the pressure so that production need not be adversely affected in times of normal danger. |
REC016_3943 | 10 - Infrastructure | It is recommended that a more constant, running revision of the main and sprinkler system be maintained in future so that the service which it is intended to convey shall be closely and efficiently available to all parts of the berms and faces. It is emphasized that the reticulation system in the berms is fixed and stationary, whereas the faces are continually receding as their surfaces are scraped away by the dredges. |
REC016_3951 | 10 - Infrastructure | It is recommended that the State Electricity Commission adopt a policy of conciliation and good will towards its closer neighbours. It is not suggested that its policy has been essentially otherwise. In future that policy can best be assured of success by time conferring of material benefit upon its neighbours at some monetary cost to the Commission. It is suggested, with conviction, that it would prove to be of great advantage to time Commission if it were to take an active part in the clearing and bettering of its neighbours’ scrub and timber country at time cost of the Commission. The settler whose land is fully cleared and in production, or who knows that his land will be cleared for him, has no incentive to burn illegally or carelessly. If this suggestion should he adopted, it would be necessary that it should be carried out in all cases in accordance with the settler’s convenience, that he himself should take an active part in the operations, and that he should be left, not with a financial obligation, but with a definite material advantage. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC015_3961 | 12 - EM agency and authority | It is recommended that each forestry officer should be stationed in one district for as long a time as is practicable consistent with justice to the officer. |
REC015_3958 | 12 - EM agency and authority | It is recommended that all members of the police force, members of brigades, municipal engineers and forest officers should be appointed as wardens. |
REC015_3957 | 12 - EM agency and authority | It is recommended that the functions of this authority should be primarily those of defining a general policy of prevention and suppression of bush fires and protection of life and property; of organizing and recruiting local brigades; of maintaining discipline of local brigades and over local fire authorities; and of acting independently, with or without such advice as it may care to take. |
REC015_3955 | 12 - EM agency and authority | The institution of a State Fire Authority is recommended. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC013_3963 | 12 - EM agency and authority | The establishment of a Board, to be called "The Bush Fires Control Board" which shall operate in conjunction with the shire councils in connection with the prevention of bush fires and control of bush-fire organisations. |
REC013_3970 | 12 - EM agency and authority | The Board may, at any time, require the Bush Fire Committees to report on the condition of their fire-fighting equipment, and on any other matter, which in their opinion, will tend to greater efficiency in their operations. |
REC013_3969 | 6 - Insurance and legal liability | The subsidy of such Fire Brigade organisations by the insurance companies and the Government to be given favourable consideration, from a proportion of which the expenses of the Central Administration might be met. |
REC013_3966 | 12 - EM agency and authority | Each member of the Board to act in an honorary capacity. |
REC013_3965 | 12 - EM agency and authority | The Minister to have power to make regulations for the purpose of all proceedings of the Board, including the summoning and attendance of members, and the enforcement of orders of the Board. |
REC013_3980 | 6 - Insurance and legal liability | To provide that any person desirous of insuring his crops against fire shall first submit his proposal to two responsible persons for their endorsement that, in their opinion, the crop is likely to produce the value for which the insurer proposes to take out the oolicy, and that, in the event of such endorsement not being obtained, the risk be not accepted. |
REC013_3964 | 12 - EM agency and authority | The Board shall consist of a Chairman and four other members, one member to be nominated each by the Graziers', Farmers and Settlers' and Agricultural Bureau Associations, one by the Fire Underwriters' Association, and one by the Government. |
REC013_3971 | 12 - EM agency and authority | To elect necessary officers. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC004-3999 | 10 - Infrastructure | That, in view of the fact that along many of the lines, between the road-bed and the fences, there are numbers of dry inflammable stumps, which, when they catch fire, are very difficult to extinguish, and that the surface of the ground surrounding these stumps is usually chipped by the permanent-way men every summer, thus causing considerable expense without removing the risk of fire, the Railway Department should remove this source of danger, by grabbing them out and burning them as early as may be found practicable. |