If you are in the city at around Friday midday at the end of the month, you may hear a siren blasting through a loudspeaker.
No need to panic though; it’s just a test of the Standard Emergency Warning Signal, one of many of the city’s emergency warning systems in place.
The Sydney CBD Emergency Warning System is tested at 12.15pm on the last Friday of every month.
There are 98 speakers located throughout the city, along with 13 variable messaging signs positioned at transport hubs in the city.
It is all part of Let’s Get Ready Sydney, a campaign launched in 2007 informing people of evacuation processes from the City of Sydney local area.
One of the avenues of information is sydneyALERT, a free SMS and e-mail service where the public is alerted of events that could disrupt normal business.
The system provides building managers, emergency wardens and security staff with information to help them manage and assist staff and others during an incident.
The designated safety sites for the CBD are Darling Harbour, Hyde Park, Cook and Phillip Park, the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Domain.
Workers and residents should be aware which safety site is relevant to them.
Chair of the Millers Point Resident Action Group, Millicent Chalmers, believes the word on emergency procedures has not spread far enough.
“There hasn’t been much information given,” she said. “We’d support more information being spread about emergency procedures.”
However, Ms Chalmers understands that information needs to be spread in a way that does not alarm CBD residents and workers.
“We would not want a letterbox drop. Millers Point consists of a large number of retirees, and something like that would frighten them,” she said.
“The spreading of the message would need to be careful and considered.”
By Adrian Flores
