SA Bridge Assoc. Emergency Procedures
SA Bridge Assoc. is the largest bridge club in South Australia and is spread over a number of venues. These procedures relate to SA Bridge Assoc. – Unley only. Other venues must follow the procedures laid out by the venue owners.
If the Club Manager (CM) is on duty, they should be immediately advised of any emergency and will assume control of the situation.
If the CM is not on duty at the time, the Duty Director must assume control of the situation.
Medical Emergency
- This refers to a medical emergency involving one of the players, kibitzers, staff, or a member of the general public.
- Assess the situation as quickly as possible. If the situation is assessed as serious (e.g. person unconscious) solicit help from any person present with a medical or nursing background, or with St John Ambulance first aid training.
- Call an ambulance by dialing ‘000’ if your assessment of the patient’s condition (with or without the help of a trained person) indicates that course of action is required. Do not take chances – it is better to call an ambulance and find that it was not really required than vice-versa.
- If the patient is unconscious, get help to clear airways and move them into the recommended “coma position”.
- If the patient is awake, make them as comfortable as possible, and make sure that someone stays with them at all times until the ambulance arrives. A blanket is located in the old stationery closet in the South-Western corner of the main hall.
- After the patient has left in the ambulance, it may be necessary to contact relatives (if we have contact numbers in the members’ database), arrange for the patient’s vehicle and possessions to be secured.
Evacuation of Clubrooms
- The clubrooms should be evacuated in the case of a fire, serious gas leak, or earthquake.
- There are 3 emergency exits in the clubrooms – the front and rear doors, and an emergency fire exit in the Eastern wall of the main hall (at the Northern end of the wall). All exit doors are marked with emergency exit signs.
- When a decision is taken to evacuate the building, advise players in a calm clear voice, to make for the nearest exit, calmly and in an orderly fashion.
- Less mobile players (those in wheelchairs or using walking frames or sticks) need to be directed to the front doors. Ask all players to help their less mobile table mates where necessary.
- Players using the front and side doors should be directed to move away from the front of the premises. The park approximately 50 meters east along Young Street is the designated assembly area.
- Players exiting via the back door should be directed to move to the southern end of the car park. If Emergency Services personnel deem it safe, they may be directed to join other the people at the front of the premises via the car park driveway.
- People should not attempt to drive their vehicles out of the car park until advised to do so by Emergency Services personnel.
Power Blackout (at night)
- While a power blackout may not strictly be classified as an emergency situation (assuming it is not accompanied by one of the emergencies listed above), it is important that the situation is dealt with effectively and that calm is maintained.
- There are two sets of emergency lights (northern wall) that come on automatically when there is power failure.
- Emergency exit signs will remain illuminated in the event of a power blackout. A large torch is located in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet which has the laser printer on to of it (near the directors’ desk), and another is located in the Club Manager’s office on top of the book case immediately behind the door to the office. Candles must not be used as they constitute a fire hazard.
- Ask players to stay calm and remain in their seats.
- Ascertain the likely duration of the blackout by contacting ETSA Utilities on 131366. Keep players apprised of the situation.
- If the likely duration is longer than 1 hour, advise players that play for the night will be abandoned (if a pairs session is at least 75% completed before the blackout, it can still be scored later with averages allocated for unplayed rounds, and counted normally). If the expected delay is not known, wait for 60 minutes and then abandon play if power has not been restored.
- If the decision is made to abandon play, direct all players to vacate the building via the front door only (the back stairs and the side exit are potentially hazardous in the dark or by torchlight). Players who need to get to their cars in the rear car park should be directed to do so by exiting via the front door and getting to the car park via the driveway.
- The torches should be used to help evacuate the building in the first instance, and then to help drivers access the car park. Do this as a single group so that people are not walking down the driveway while cars are being driven out.
