Emergency Animal Disease Training Program

In the event of a emergency animal disease (EAD) incursion, government officers, livestock producers, private veterinary practitioners and emergency workers would be called upon to help eradicate or control the disease. The National Emergency Animal Disease Response plan AUSVETPLAN is the national plan for responding to an outbreak, or suspected outbreak, of an EAD in a consistent manner, anywhere in Australia. The plan has been developed and agreed on by the Australian Government, state and territory governments, and relevant livestock industries to ensure that a prompt, efficient and effective response can be implemented.

AUSVETPLAN provides a comprehensive framework that sets out the various roles, responsibilities and policies that will be followed by all agencies in an EAD response. These procedures are contained in a series of 50 manuals that deal with 30 diseases, nine specific types of enterprise and various operational procedures, including valuation and compensation.

The National Emergency Animal Disease (EAD) Training Program was developed to provide education and training for and other personnel in the Australian livestock industries in preparation for performing these response roles.

The training program aims to enhance EAD preparedness by:

• Ensuring adequate numbers of personnel are trained and assessed as competent to perform response roles under AUSVETPLAN.
• Providing a consistent approach to the measurement of competency through nationally recognised and endorsed competency standards
• Developing a national team of trained personnel who are competent to perform their duties in any jurisdiction
• Encouraging an awareness of EAD response measures amongst government officers, livestock producers, private veterinary practitioners and emergency workers

How do I get involved in the Program?

Training under the EADTP is conducted for their personnel by the State and Territory governments. There is currently a national program being coordinated by Animal Health Australia to train livestock industry personnel.  To find out about training in your jurisdictions contact your state training coordinator.

Contact your State Training Coordinator

If you are not part of the formal EAD Training Program, but wish to gain an understanding of Australia's EAD preparedness and response plans, you can enroll in the EAD Foundation online module(see below).

EAD Foundation online

Animal Health Australia provides the online EAD Foundation course free-of-charge to livestock industry personnel. The EAD Foundation course provides underpinning knowledge for further training in the Emergency Animal Disease Training Program, and is also available to livestock producers, veterinarians, veterinary students, and emergency workers who want to gain an introduction to Australia's EAD preparedness and response plans.

The course includes sections on EAD awareness, AUSVETPLAN, disease control centers, and communication and information management in the emergency disease response.

To access the course, Government personnel should contact their state training coordinator . Non-government personnel should contact the Animal Health Australia via trainingsupport@animalhealthaustralia.com.au

What is Animal Health Australia's role in the National Emergency Animal Disease Training Program?

Animal Health Australia works closely with its Members to develop materials and resources for training and assessment. Our focus is to develop materials suited to competency based training. In response to requests from our stakeholders Animal Health Australia is developing interactive computer-based learning modules (available online or via CD ROM), recognition kits, workshop materials and other resources.

Competency Standards for emergency disease management

EAD training, like all vocational training in Australia since the mid-90s, is competency based. A competency is a bundle of skills, knowledge and attitudes people need to perform to an acceptable standard in a given workplace. Competency standards are developed by groups from the relevant industry, and are endorsed by the National Training Quality Council (NTQC). Once endorsed, competency standards become national benchmarks, and can be used to certify that someone is able to operate satisfactorily in a particular job or perform a particular task or function to the industry standard.

Each AUSVETPLAN role has been mapped against national competency standards.

How is EAD training delivered?

EAD training is being delivered across Australia in a number of formats. Increasingly training as a whole is made up of a combination of online training, work based tasks and recognition of existing workplace skills complemented by face to face workshops focussing on the AUSVETPLAN role in question.

How is assessment conducted?

There are sets of units of competency (Competency Profiles) against which candidates must be assessed in order to qualify for the award of the relevant AUSVETPLAN Role. By achieving competency as measured in the relevant sets of units, a candidate has demonstrated that they have the skills to perform a role. That is they are deemed to be "job ready"

Assessment will cover all aspects of competence, including the dimensions of competency often inferred rather than explicitly stated - task skills, task management skills, contingency skills and job/role environment skills. Assessment tasks will include individual, group and team work activities; oral and written questions; observation, demonstration and simulations.

By achieving competency as measured in the relevant sets of units a candidate has demonstrated that they have the skills to perform a role. That is they are deemed to be "job ready"

Further Information

For further information please contact trainingsupport@animalhealthaustralia.com.au

Page Updated: 6 September 2007