1. NSW SES Southern Highlands Region Controller Leadership Forum
Dr Michael Eburn
School of Legal Practice
Australian National University
CANBERRA

2. What will we talk about? Who decides what PPE to wear?
Refusing service to repeat SES callers
NSW SES responding to a non-emergency
Towing an improperly loaded trailer
… prosecution over fatal RFS accident…
NSW SES Good Samaritans
Something else?

3. Who decides what PPE to wear?
You’re tasked to turn out to an industrial site and they have their own PPE requirements? Think a lab or refinery and you’re there as the general land rescue operator.
Everyone has a duty to ensure safety.
You need to talk. If they say ‘go in their and die’, take it seriously. (Back)

4. Refusing service to repeat SES callers
Can we refuse to attend if it’s the 2nd, 3rd or 4th call to the same home for the same issue? Why don’t they clean their gutters!
The SES is the combat agency for response to ‘storm’ and ‘flood’. What is a ‘storm’?
There is nothing in the Act that says the SES is an ‘emergency’ response agency.

5. Refusing service to repeat SES callers
Even so the SES doesn’t do everything to protect people from storms.
The SES is provided as a public good. That is, it is provided to everyone and it’s a public good because no one homeowner could afford to pay for the services. Everyone to contribute to the cost; everyone gets a benefit.

6. Refusing service to repeat SES callers
So can we do it? “On my current understanding the answer is ‘no’.  It could be ‘yes’ but only if the State decided to adopt and implement a policy consistently across the State.  It would certainly not be open at unit level to make that decision about a particular home owner, on what might be called an ‘ad hoc’ or case-by-case basis.” (Back)

7. NSW SES responding to a non-emergency
A tree’s blocking a school, but there was no storm.
Lots of things emergency services do is not an ‘emergency’.
The combat agency for a tree down is the tree owner.
You don’t have to go but is it good community service? Training?

8. NSW SES responding to a non-emergency
“Attending a tree that has fallen on a because of poor maintenance is not an SES responsibility. But if they do attend then the obligation upon the SES is, as with any task, to take care to protect the members and ensure the job is done safely. If a person died during the task, whether an SES member or someone else, the issue will not be ‘was this an SES job’ rather it will be ‘what happened and why?’” (Back)

9. Towing an improperly loaded trailer
The SES provides a ‘standard’ trailer and kit but it’s unsafe. Who’s responsible?
Everyone –
The driver can assume that the kit provided by the SES is safe.
But if he/she knows it’s unsafe, that’s a different matter.
The SES should train drivers in trailer use.

10. Towing an improperly loaded trailer
It’s an offence to tow an unsafe load or overweight trailer.

11. Towing an improperly loaded trailer
“Everyone is responsible for their own decisions. The agency is responsible, or accountable, for the decisions it made when selecting trailers, providing training and information etc. The driver is responsible for the decisions he or she made whilst driving and for the decisions he or she made about the load.”   (Back)

12. … prosecution over fatal RFS accident…
R v Wells. Perhaps the most important case involving volunteers.
You’ve got to give way – red lights/sirens don’t guarantee others will.
An accident does not improve your response time.
It’s only an emergency if it’s urgent, not just convenient. (Back)

13. NSW SES Good Samaritans
Legislation to protect good Samaritans and Volunteers.
If you are not in uniform, not on duty, just happen to observe or come across the accident, then you are under no legal duty to assist. If you do, you’re a good Samaritan (first aid only).

14. NSW SES Good Samaritans
It’s different if you’re in uniform or an SES vehicle.
They are coming to ask the SES for help; not ‘you’. The SES is one of the States’ emergency services with a community expectation that they will step up to help in an emergency even if their help is to simply hold the fort until another more appropriate service gets there.

15. NSW SES Good Samaritans
If you assist, you’re a volunteer and protected by the volunteer provisions. (Back)