Emergency fixes

Our SM was on holidays and could not be reached. Meanwhile we noticed sewage blockage in bathroom and water leaking out of downstairs pipes. We ended up calling plumber who looked after this issue before and asked him to fix again, with request for him to provide information to SM when he gets back. We thought this was classed as emergency fix and did not need to go through process of quote/approval. One neighbour in meantime decided to emailed entire block saying we were not following rules. Believe we were following correct process. Blockages like this can’t usaully wait. What are classed as ’emegencies’?