A Critical Incident is any event occurring in the workplace or arising out of the course of work that has the potential to cause trauma to the employees that have experienced or witnessed that event. These events can cause a significant disruption to employee’s sense of safety at work. Some examples of a critical or traumatic incident include:

• Natural disasters (e.g. floods, bushfires or earthquakes)
• Accidents that cause significant injury
• Witnessing a traumatic accident
• Violence or abuse, including verbal and physical violence
• Traumatic loss of a loved one (e.g. suicide, accident, homicide)

Reactions to critical incidents can differ widely, depending upon how involved people are in the event, their personal history (if something similar has happened to them before) and personal health and stress levels before the event occurred.

Critical Incident Response (CIR)

We have extensive experience and expertise in providing critical incident response across a range of industries. By providing early intervention AccessEAP counsellors can assist affected employees with recovering and returning to normal functioning. We offer a number of interventions in response to Critical Incidents including:

• Support available during and after business hours
• Commitment to have counsellors on-site
• Provision of individual and / or group psychological first-aid
• Follow-up telephone counselling for affected employees
• Consultancy to management in dealing with various aspects of the incident

By arrangement with the organisation, a Critical Incident Response counsellor will conduct a post-incident follow-up. The counsellor provides a comprehensive report for the organisation after the follow-up process has been completed. We will also seek feedback from the organisation in relation to the service through a Critical Incident Evaluation.

Critical Incident Consultancy and Training

AccessEAP have considerable experience in the design and delivery of training programs in critical incident management, to help you have a plan of action in place in the event of a critical incident, covering topics such as:

• People’s reactions to critical incidents
• Understanding the needs of employees
• Roles and responsibilities of managers/supervisors
• How to communicate information about the incident

Mental health injuries can result in significant time off work for affected employees, along with associated workers compensation risks. The aim of consultancy and training services is to help mitigate these risks by helping front-line managers understand best practice responses to traumatic workplace incidents.