It’s important to be aware of common health and safety risks during emergencies and who to call when you need help. Here are some safety tips and resources to keep yourself and your community safe during an outage.
Your emergency contacts
Depending on your situation there is always someone you can call during an emergency. Here are your go-to contact details during an emergency.
Emergency contact details
- Emergency services: 000
- AusNet Life Support priority line: 1800 818 832
- AusNet electricity faults and emergencies: 13 17 99
- State Emergency Services (SES): 132 500 for emergency relief or support
Emergency information sources
Vic Emergency is a centralised website for Victorians to find emergency information and warnings, including any community hubs near you. These hubs often provide information, food, water, shelter and device charging stations.
Get local emergency updates through your local ABC radio station.
Safety risks to look out for
Food safety
Keep cold food at or less than 5°C and eat hot food within four hours. It’s best to dispose of hot food that has been out for more than four hours. For more information, visit Food safety during power outages.
Fallen powerlines
During a major storm, high winds and heavy rain can loosen soil and cause trees to uproot and fall onto powerlines. Assume all fallen powerlines are live and stay eight to 10 meters away. Never go near fallen or damaged powerlines, including things like cars, metal fences and pools of water touching a powerline.
Bushfires
Fires near powerlines are dangerous. If you see a fire burning near a powerline, stay away and call 000 immediately. If you live in a high bushfire-risk area, follow Energy Safe Victoria's bushfire safety advice. Energy Safe Victoria has useful information to stay safe in a flood event.
Floods
Never stay in a house or building that has been inundated with flood waters if the power is still connected. Keep well clear of floodwaters. If powerlines or poles have fallen into flood waters, stay back and call us to report a fault. Flood safety fact sheets and more information can be found Energy Safe Victoria's website.
Life support customers
If you rely on a continuous power supply for life support equipment, make sure you register your life support status with us and have an emergency plan ready to activate if the power goes out. This is the backup plan you create with your medical practitioner to use during a power outage. All registered life support customers can call our priority line anytime on 1800 818 832.
For information and advice on how to be power prepared, see Life Support Customers.