Emergencies

An emergency is an event, actual or imminent, which endangers or threatens to endanger health and safety, property or the environment. Emergencies include natural events such as earthquake, flood and wind-storms, fires, explosions, road accidents, plague or epidemic, acts of war, hi-jacks, siege or riot, and disruption to essential services.

Emergencies by nature have no defined pattern or preferred location. Generally their onset is sudden and unforeseen. This can make the process of trying to identify what constitutes an emergency difficult.

To identify an emergency, they have been grouped into categories. An Australian Standard (AS 3745-2002) specify's colour codes for these categories of emergencies for instant recognition. Publications and emergency procedure guides should use these colour codes to help people instantly recognise the category of emergency.

Emergency Categories

Click on the colour code to learn more about that emergency category.