Report on the combined TEFMA Workshop & AURIMS Conference

How would your university survive "The Big One"?

This was the question on the minds of participants attending Surviving The Impact, the theme of the joint TEFMA Workshop and AURIMS Conference held at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch New Zealand in April 2010.

The conference was unique as it was the first blended conference - planned, organised and jointly hosted by the two university professional societies. The event saw over 150 Members of both the Tertiary Education Facilities Management Association Inc (TEFMA) and the Australasian Universities Risk and Insurance Management Society (AURIMS) join together in New Zealand to critically examine issues of university and civil response to a catastrophic loss scenario. The event was organised in recognition that professionals from both disciplines would be called upon to work closely in the event of a significant critical incident, and that breaking the silos would lead to a better outcome for individual universities and the sector as a whole.

The joint conference was developed following the 2009 AURIMS Conference in Perth, which featured a presentation from the University of Canterbury on their emergency response programs and from the growing recognition that critical incident response and business continuity is a cross-disciplinary exercise and it would be beneficial for risk and facilities professionals to be better acquainted before "The Big One".

Members are aware of the long-term support the Mutual has provided to AURIMS in terms of both conference sponsorship and the provision of speakers. Many Mutual Members are both members and officers of AURUIMS, and Unimutual welcomed the opportunity to again support the event and to promote interaction between the two significant universities professional groups to improve capabilities in business continuity and emergency response. The Mutual feels that it should play an active role in assisting Members and the Sector in developing improved organisational resilience and response capabilities to adverse events which might seriously impact on normal higher education activities. Such high profile events as the TEFMA/AURIMS conference allow us to promote the concept of mutuality and the benefits of collegial cooperation in areas of risk and emergency management.

It is significant to note that the conference was opened by Mr. John Hamilton, Director of the NZ Ministry of Civil Defence, the county's senior executive in emergency response. John put the issues in perspective when he discussed the need for high standards of leadership in a critical event, and the imperative to innovate and to adapt the existing resources to meet the circumstances. He raised the awareness of the conference participants that in "The Big One", communities may be on their own until an organised response can take place by public safety authorities. Later on in the Conference, there were very useful sessions in applied critical incident methods and emergency response techniques, by speakers from both the New Zealand and Australian tertiary sectors, each offering useful tips, models and frames of reference which provided delegates with applied strategies to introduce to their own organisations.

Of great value and interest to participants, however, were presentations by university officials who had experienced significant loss events on their campuses. The impact of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake in California and its immediate and long-terms effects were explored by Kit Espinosa and Anne Glavin from California State University, Northridge, an institution which was seriously affected by the earthquake, which killed 92 people, injured 9,000 more and resulted in US$20 billion in damage. In addition to gaining an insight in this event, the conference also has featured Mr Larry Hincker, head of University Relations at Virginia Tech. Larry has overseen all media relations and communication at VT since 1988, including during the infamous 2007 campus shooting incident, which has become a subject for exercises in BCP testing programs at Australian universities. His presentation on the realities of having an event on your campus which is not only tragic to the local community, but of great interest to the global community, was both riveting and poignant. A significant highlight of the conference was having the ability, between sessions, at the lunches, dinners and teas, to discuss, one on one, with these foreign university professionals who have had first-hand experience in some of the most significant adverse events to strike our sector in the past two decades.

Participants at the New Zealand event certainly saw the value of recognising the inter-connectedness of the University community. This collaboration was highlighted by having TEFMA members interacting with risk and insurance professionals over the three days. Unimutual's Harry Rosenthal presented at a session bridging the perception gap between university Facilities and Risk and Insurance professionals, using a recent Australian hail storm as an example and Dr Carl Gibson, of La Trobe University, shared with the group his lessons learned in university emergency response resulting from the 2009 Victorian Bushfires.

The Mutual is delighted to support such events which promote the sharing of information, expertise and advice to university professionals across the sector, and will continue to support AURIMS in future conferences. The joint sessions between TEFMA and AURIMS illustrated the tertiary sector's interest in seeking collaboration and co-operation and taking a cross-disciplinary approach to major incident response. Members should also be aware of the upcoming Unimutual Conference, scheduled for 8 -10 September in Adelaide. We encourage Members to promote this event among University staff from other professional disciplines, furthering the cross-disciplinary approach to risk management to build the mutual, collaborative network which will serve their institution well if they should ever experience "The Big One".