SES readiness, from the storm night to the season pack.
Seven films at one volunteer unit: a storm night with three jobs, a training night with no signal, a flood boat held up by its lifejackets, road crash rescue and the register, the run-up to storm season, a task force to Queensland, and a member’s skills and courses. The crew’s phone and the dashboard play together, chapter by chapter.
Film 1 of 7: Storm night at Corella Flats
A storm warning at 18:40: six members say they are available, two trucks go out, a saw fails its pre-use check, and a cracked beacon is on the board by 22:45.
A severe storm warning at 18:40, then three jobs before midnight. Watch members say they are available, trucks show Deployed, and a failed saw stay off the job.
A severe storm warning at 18:40, then three jobs before midnight. Watch members say they are available, trucks show Deployed, and a failed saw stay off the job.
- 18:40, the warning. Thursday 29 October, 18:40. A severe storm warning covers Corella Flats. Only two members have said they are available tonight. Mei Chen opens SES on her phone and taps Available until tomorrow 07:00. The card shows what she counts for, by her records. Four more do the same within minutes. The Members available lane reads six for Storm. Escudo paged nobody.
- 19:18, job 2610-0412 rolls. 19:05. The agency’s job system sends 2610-0412: a tree across a driveway. Priya Das records it on her phone. Job number, Tree down, CFL-30, and the three of them on board. At 19:18 she taps Start the job: rolling now. On the board, Storm reads Deployed: its only general purpose vehicle is out. The unit status is left alone.
- 19:35, a saw fails its pre-use check. At the tree, Tom Fraser scans saw CS-03’s label. Its own pre-use check opens, the items from the chainsaw pre-start. The chain catcher is missing. Tom leaves it unticked and records the fail: CS-03 is out of service in the register. He scans CS-01 instead, and every item passes. The board shows 2 of 4 saws in date, and why.
- 20:00, the rescue truck goes sandbagging. 19:50. Council asks for sandbags at the Corella Flats low-level crossing: job 2610-0431. Jo Nguyen and Lena Kowalski take CFL-21. Now Road crash rescue reads Deployed too: CFL-21 is its rescue truck. Both show on the jobs page as open. Members out on a job are not counted as available at home. Storm drops to one member available, and the lane says so.
- 21:35, a roof and the harness dates. Back from the tree, Priya’s crew takes job 2610-0419: roof damage in Banksia Heights. CFL-30 rolls again at 21:20. Before going up, Ari scans harness HN-02. Its height safety inspection date comes from the register. Nobody types a date. After the job Ari logs the use against 2610-0419: no load event. A yes would have retired the harness at once.
- 22:30, back, and a cracked beacon. 22:30. Both trucks are back. Priya taps Back, and records the 3 tarpaulins the roof used. Jo records 40 sandbags. Storm and Road crash rescue are no longer Deployed. On hand by the records: 400 sandbags, 21 tarpaulins, the count less what jobs used. Priya’s after-job check on CFL-30 fails one item: the nearside beacon lens is cracked. The board names it before anyone goes home.
Illustrated from the real crew app and dashboard, with State Emergency Service switched on. Corella Flats uses the New South Wales State Rescue Policy pack, labelled “confirm against your procedures”: capabilities, operator numbers, pars, season dates, intervals and skill currency rules are set by each unit, and the On Water practice rule shown, twice in three months, is the unit’s own, not a published one. The board shows what a unit can do by its own records; it is not live availability. Escudo Emergency takes no calls, dispatches and pages no one, tracks no location, decides nobody’s deployment and holds no fitness, swim, medical or health record. Alerts appear in the dashboard. The organisation, unit, people, places, job numbers, certificates and numbers are invented.
Everything State Emergency Service brings, in one place.
An organisation’s administrator switches State Emergency Service on in Settings, or at sign-up. Every Escudo Emergency check keeps working alongside it, including the 44 starter templates for SES units.
What the SES unit board counts
Each unit
The worst of its non-advisory lanes and capabilities, by the records. Deployed and Suspended capabilities leave it alone.
- Available
- Limited
- Not available
- Not set
Each capability
Storm, flood rescue, road crash rescue, land search or any the unit holds, against the vehicles, gear, accreditation and operators its plan sets.
- Available
- Limited
- Not available
- Deployed
- Suspended
Members available
What members said on their phones, or the count the unit controller typed from the agency’s system. Never a promise of response.
- Available until 22:00
- Available until tomorrow 07:00
- Not available
- From your weekly times
Each member’s skill
Worked out from the unit’s own currency rule, practice in the window and the assessor’s latest result.
- Current
- Due soon
- Practice short
- Lapsed
- Not yet competent
- Not held
Changes not acknowledged go to fleet managers after 15 minutes and to org admins after 60, unless the rule pack sets other times; acknowledging records who outside was told. A capability whose vehicles are all out on a job or deployment reads Deployed and leaves the unit status alone. Stock and Members available are advisory unless your unit counts availability.
What the phone records
With or without signal. Every record carries an id made on the phone, so a resend never counts twice.
- I’m available for 2 hours, until 22:00, until tomorrow 07:00, not available, or my weekly times
- A job: the number from the agency’s system, the type, Rolling, On scene, Clear and Back, vehicles, members and stock used
- An item by its label: its own pre-use check, a use (ropes ask about a load event) or retiring it with a reason
- Vehicle, boat, kit and pre-season checks from the 44 SES starters, with photos
- The trainer’s night: codes scanned, the roll call, skills practised, the assessor’s results and the signed close
- Add a course with a photo of the certificate, counted once an officer has sighted it
Training, the unit’s own records
Skills in the unit’s words with national units as references, currency by its own rule (months, a season, or practised a number of times in a window), training night series, attendance, assessors’ results, outside courses sighted by an officer, and hours against your targets.
Depth against your minimums feeds the Skills lane, so a practice running short at midnight changes the board the same minute.
What Escudo Emergency never does
Records only. Escudo Emergency keeps the records, works out the board and reminds people. Call-taking, dispatch, paging, assessment and deployment decisions stay with your agency and its systems. More on SES.
- Certify a member or a unit, or declare a crew or capability safe, deployable or accredited in its own voice
- Hold fitness tests, swim times, medical, eyesight or health declarations, or a date of birth: an in-water skill is the assessor’s result only
- Take calls, dispatch, page anyone or track where members are: jobs come from the agency’s system and are recorded by the crew
- Keep the public’s names, addresses or phone numbers: at most a suburb, where the unit chooses
- Set a limit, interval, par, season date, crew number or currency rule: each is the unit’s or its agency’s
- Decide who deploys, or keep the fit-for-task part of a deployment: only the equipment and invoice side
- Issue a qualification or statement of attainment: RTO certificates are held as copies with the issuer named
See it with your own unit
Send us your vehicle and boat checks, a unit’s capabilities and your skills list. We will set up a unit with State Emergency Service switched on and show you the board, a job and a training night working.
Or email us: info@escudoready.com