In an Emergency

In the event of a large scale emergency the following proceedures will be followed by the hostel:

1.  Emergency Response.  Staff and students will attend to the immediate welfare needs of students.  Hostel emergency procedures will be followed.  This may include the evacuation of the hostel, or parts of the hostel, for extended periods of time and the establishment of temporary emergency accommodation in other buildings on the school site.

2.  Situation Report and Action Plan.  Once the immediate welfare needs of of students have been attended to, hostel staff will compile a report on the situation and the action plan they have developed including any actions required of parents.

3.  Communication with Parents.   In the interest of ensuring the availability of accurate, up-to-date information for as many people as possible, hostel staff will post regular information using the following distribution channels if available:

1.  Registered Email Addresses of hostel parents and caregiver.
2.  Registered cellphone numbers for group text/sms messages.
3.  Via twitter feed @dunstanhostel
4.  On the hostelive E-blog site.
5.  On the hostel phone and cellphone voicemail services (if available).

NOTE: It is not expected that hostel staff will be able to update parent or caregiver contact information during an emergency.  Please ensure you current information is up-to-date at all times.

Staff will be able to answer phone calls or text messages when service levels and staffing levels permit.

4.  Attending to the Ongoing Welfare Needs of Students.   Hostel staff will plan for the ongoing welfare needs of students.  This may include a decision by the hostel manager to close the hostel and arrange for parents to collect students if possible.  Suitable arrangements will be made for students in the event that they are unable to be collected.

5.  Parents arriving on-site.  All parents arriving on the hostel site (or other place of emergency accommodation) must follow the instructions of hostel staff who will have planned for the safe transition of care from the hostel to parents.  This includes proper signing out provisions.  Students will only be released to their parents, parents who have an existing authority to collect them, or parents or other persons who we have confirmed written authority to release students to.  This maybe very difficult in an emergency situation - however, the co-operation of parents is expected to ensure the safe transition of student care.

6.  Recovery Mode.  Once the ongoing welfare needs of students have been met, the hostel will go into recovery mode.  At this time hostel management will work with DHS BOT to establish a timeline for return to normal operation of the hostel and this plan will be communicated to parents using the emergency channels above.