Crisis Response

In keeping with the demands of risk-assessment a three-phase approach is recommended:

Phase 1 ‘Identify the hazard’

Upon receipt of a call for assistance a psychological risk assessment can be made online (A) or in person within 24 hours and completed within 72 hours[1]. Depending on the degree of expertise within the peer support team a Defusing (B) can be completed upon return-to-base and RAIDS assessments (C) uploaded to a critical incident database.

Actions A, B and C represent the ‘Identify’ step in the Health and Safety (1999) Regulations.

Phase 2 ‘Intervene to eliminate or minimise the hazard’

The magnitude, impact and duration of the incident will then determine whether or not to conduct a critical incident stress debriefing (CISD) (D) or more than one, in the coming days. Additional and persistent RAIDS assessments (E) and Traumatic Incident Reduction sessions (F) will target those in need.

Actions D, E and F represent the ‘Intervene’ step in the Health and Safety (1999) Regulations.

Phase 3 ‘Monitor to assess the effectiveness of the intervention’

The personal follow-ups (G) that occur once the interventions have been completed should be carried out periodically and at least once within 21 days of a critical incident to ensure time for further intervention before 28 days expires. For the same reason RAIDS (H) and online assessments (I) should be completed once the intervention phase is over.

Actions G, H and I represent the ‘Monitor’ step in the Health and Safety (1999) Regulations.

[1] Subject to identification of teams/personnel involved and their willing availability within these timeframes