The Heat Health Plan for Victoria sets out actions to protect public health during extreme heat.
The department also helps local government to support members of their communities most at risk of heat-related illness. The heatwave planning guide is available to councils to assist with their development of local heat plans and can be downloaded below.
The Heatwave plan review tool is available to guide and assist organisations as they review their heat plans.
Aged Care in Victoria has produced a heatwave planning guide specifically for residential aged care services.
Heat health plan for Victoria
The Heat health plan for Victoria: Protecting health and reducing harm from extreme heat and heatwaves, is the department's plan to prepare for and respond to extreme heat. The plan outlines a coordinated and integrated response to extreme heat in Victoria. It provides actions and systems in place to support at-risk groups during periods of extreme heat.
The Heat health plan for Victoria was refreshed in December 2018. There are no significant changes to the department's arrangements or recommended actions to support at-risk groups in the refreshed plan.
Heatwave planning guide
The Heatwave planning guide: development of heatwave plans in local councils in Victoriaassists local governments to address extreme heat and heatwaves at the community level.
The guide provides local governments with:
- information about extreme heat and heatwaves and municipal planning
- guidance on how to develop a heat plan
- examples of stakeholders and partners to consider in the planning process
- actions recommended for councils to incorporate in their heat plan
- advice on developing a communication strategy.
Heatwave plan review tool
The Heatwave plan review tool provides guidance for organisations as they review their heatwave plans. The review tool provides:
- information about the context of reviewing heat plans
- suggested information to include in a heat plan
- templates to capture data and feedback during the review process
- ideas for facilitating discussion with clients, staff and stakeholders.
Heatwave planning guide for residential aged care services
The Residential aged care services heatwave ready resource has been developed to support residential aged care service providers develop their heat plans. It includes:
- a specific checklist that can be used to assist with preparations for extreme heat.
- heat health information for staff, residents and their families.
The resource is available from the Aged Care in Victoria website.
Heat health plan and framework evaluation
The department has developed a heat framework to reduce the impact of extreme heat on public health. In 2010, the department contracted Access Economics and the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI) to evaluate the heatwave framework that was in place for the 2009–2010 summer season. The evaluation considered components of the heatwave framework, including:
- the Heatwave Plan for Victoria (now the Heat Health Plan)
- the Heatwave Planning Guide
- the Heat Health Alert System
- communication resources.