In recent times, our high-throughput clinical microbiology laboratory faced major operational disruptions: a facility fire, a cyclone and subsequent localised flooding events. Each crisis tested the resilience of our operations, our people and our planning.
This presentation outlines the critical role of multidisciplinary expertise in maintaining laboratory function through disaster scenarios. We detail the immediate response to a building fire, including the coordination between facilities staff and emergency services, the rapid triage and recovery of instrumentation through collaboration with engineering teams and vendor partners, and the long-term steps taken to build the laboratory back to pre-disaster operation.
As cyclone Alfred forced site closures across south-east Queensland and subsequent flooding paralysed staff access, pre-emptive business continuity protocols had to be activated- balancing result turnaround times of work in progress, maintaining critical service to our private hospitals, and managing extreme sample backlogs.
From the lessons learnt from real-world examples, we will explore the practical strategies, partnerships, and competencies required to bounce back quickly and maintain diagnostic continuity in the face of disaster.