Australian Standard 4083-2010, Planning for emergencies – Health care facilities, assists a health care facility to plan effectively for internal and external emergencies. Standards are provided across seven emergencies:

1. Fire/smoke (Code red)
2. Medical emergency (Code blue)
3. Bomb threat (Code purple)
4. Infrastructure and other internal emergencies (Code yellow)
5. Personal threat (Code black)
6. External emergency (Code brown)
7. Evacuation (Code orange)

The standard is available from the Standards Australia website.

There is no state legislation that requires hospitals to implement, in whole or in part, the standard. Accreditation bodies may refer to this standard when assessing a hospital’s preparedness for emergencies.

The DPMU advises hospital Emergency Procedure Coordinators (however titled) to refer to the standard when developing plans and procedures. The DPMU can provide advice to hospitals concerning implementation of the standard.

The Standard was last reviewed in 2010. The DPMU welcomes feedback from hospitals about the standard; feedback will be forwarded on to Standards Australia as part of future submissions.

For more information, contact us.