We have been asked to release our “civil defence response plans” to Covid-19.
The Memorandum of Understanding with Civil Defence ensures that Deaf Aotearoa is in regular contact with National Emergency Management Agency (formerly Ministry Civil Defence and Emergency Management).
We want to clarify, there is no specific Civil Defence plans for Deaf people. NEMA make plans for everyone and try to be inclusive for everyone’s need including hearing people. Local Civil Defence follows the plans set out by NEMA.
Deaf Aotearoa has advised Civil Defence (as have other members of the Deaf community) on how to ensure Deaf people are supported during civil defence emergencies or similar situations.
One of our responsibilities as DPO is to advise and lobby the Government on what is best way to achieve accessibility for the Deaf Community. Our Executive Board and staff do this regularly – at present there are meetings with the Ministry of Health at least once a day.
We are not a government agency. We can’t force the government to do things. But by working together, our voices become stronger and we can strongly convince the Government to do things that benefits community or meet their lawful obligations.
Deaf Aotearoa do have our own plans and policies to guide the staff (including iSign interpreters) through this situation. These are standard for all companies and organisations to have, and these will not be released publicly, however to reassure you that we are well-placed to respond to the Covid-19 situation we will list here some of the plans and policies that we have in place that are relevant to this situation.
PLANS
- Pandemic Plan
- Emergency Management Plan (including Disaster Recovery; Business Continuity; Environmental Disasters; Outbreak of Disease i.e. Pandemic; Medical Emergency; Terrorist Threat; earthquake; flooding; fire/smoke;
POLICIES
- Blood or bodily fluid exposure
- Cleaning
- Food safety
- Hand washing procedure
- Infection control
- Notifiable diseases
- Health & Safety
- Emergency Management
- Quality & Risk Management
- Security & Personal Safety
- Accidents & Incidents
- Hazard Management
- Personal Visitors at Office
- Safe working in the community
Thank you