​Advice + Support

Emergency response assistance

In the event of an emergency (fire or flood, for example) which places records at imminent risk of damage, destruction, compromised integrity etc, the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office may be able to offer assistance and/or advice about the most effective actions and general disaster response.

This may involve visits by our staff, provision of useful contacts, or direction to appropriate facilities. For time-critical emergency assistance call OSA on 03 6165 5581.

The National Archives of Australia website is another source of useful information.

Incident notifications

In circumstances such as natural disasters (e.g. floods), authorisation for the disposal of damaged State records or notification of lost records may be required to ensure agencies remain compliant with the Archives Act 1983 (the Act). Under the Act, the disposal of State records must be authorised by the State Archivist.

There may be a number of reasons for agencies to report an incident to OSA. They include:

• Mould outbreak detected
• Unauthorised destruction of records
• Inappropriate disposal (e.g. agency records found on tip face)
• Lost or damaged records (fire, flood, rodent infestation, etc)

To assist agencies, an incident notification form has been developed for use in the event of any type of natural disaster or critical incident (including fire, flood or rodent infestation) and/or where State records may have been damaged or lost, or destroyed without authorization. Where possible, evidence supporting the incident notification form should be provided. Completed documentation should be submitted to osa@libraries.tas.gov.au