Emergency Response Management
A new Emergency Response Management (ERM) framework for the kiwifruit industry has been developed, with KVH at the helm, to facilitate a more co-ordinated and cohesive approach to supporting growers in times of need.
BACKGROUND
During a biosecurity response, the industry comes together - led by KVH - to develop and implement various activities quickly and effectively that limit impacts on growers and orchards, and support continuing production.
The same response model, and way of working, has been adopted for use during other types of responses to significant adverse events.
Why? Because with industry backing, KVH has expanded its strategic mandate to also coordinate responses to emergencies of significant scale and impact (other than biosecurity) to the kiwifruit industry, through development of an Emergency Response Management (ERM) framework.
Many different kiwifruit organisations provide support to growers during emergencies;; however, by putting in place dedicated co-ordination of that support from one organisation, we can ensure that everything we do as an industry to help growers is efficient and effective, and limits further impacts.
This enhancement to KVH’s role will provide value to growers by helping the industry be more prepared for emergency events and help aid in faster recovery. KVH has been successfully managing biosecurity and readiness and response activities for over a decade – we have proven internal readiness and response capability and strong relationships with others who also have a key role in emergency response management – such as the Ministry for Primary Industries.
The framework itself is a living document, updated as readiness work progresses over the coming months. Its purpose is to facilitate KVH coordination of governance and operational activities during an emergency response, so that efficient and effective support is provided to growers and wider industry.
There are a range of triggers that would be considered to activate the ERM framework. In some instances when an emergency is extreme, it will be obvious that activation is necessary, in other instances there may need to be an assessment of criteria before any recommendation to activate a response is made.
An event that causes significant impact to kiwifruit growers at a given location(s), and of a scale and severity that results in the industry not being able to cope.
The framework that KVH intends to use to coordinate a response is the proven Coordinated Incident Management System (CIMS) that is used by emergency services across New Zealand (see below). By following the CIMS framework the industry is using best practice during a response and can align with other response agencies as necessary.
The framework has been developed following significant weather events that have impacted the industry, and the need for better preparation for when the next emergency occurs.
At the June 2023 Industry Advice Council (IAC) meeting of industry leadership, KVH presented the concept for the development of such a framework to inform the coordination of emergencies that cause significant impact to growers and vine health. The feedback from conversations with industry leaders during engagement of the concept was to develop a framework that can not only be used for vine health emergencies but could also be applied to other significant emergency events the industry faces – such as flooding, and other severe climatic events, as well as natural events such as earthquakes.
KVH, together with members from NZKGI, Zespri and post-harvest formed a working group to develop an outcome based ERM framework, building on existing kiwifruit industry systems, processes, and capability.
To ensure KVH has ongoing mandate to undertake ERM coordination and development of this framework a resolution was put to industry at the August 2023 KVH Annual General Meeting and passed with a high level of support.
The ERM framework was approved by industry leadership at the October 2023 IAC meeting.
We are in a readiness phase where groups are planning and developing resources and activities that build our industry-wide response capabilities. This includes:
- developing response plans that identify regional risks
- creating communications/information sharing plans
- identifying operational capability across the industry; and
- running exercises to test plans and develop capability.
