Organisations that are involved in the planning, preparing and responding to a major incident in the UK will include the blue light services who are known as category 1 responders. These include the police, fire & rescue, the ambulance service and the military. Category 2 responders are the local government, district councils and the health & social care trust. All these organisations play a vital role in the resilience against major incidents as they contribute specialist skills, knowledge and resources so when they come and work together this ensures adequate and effective emergency response to major incidents.
Their duties include; · survey the scene and assess the situation to determine the location, size, scope and nature of the emergency; · report this information back to control and specify the initial response that will be required, including what other agencies should respond. · Make sure the information is passed to other responders; establish whether there are any casualties, and if so approximately how many; · establish the location of any known hazards and advise on safe access routes and rendezvous points; · set up an initial incident management system, including maintenance of an incident log, pending arrival of more senior officers and specialist control vehicles;
Police: the PSNI in the majority of major incidents where there is a danger to life, damage to property or the environment or where a possible crime has occurred will undertake the leading role in the incident, co-ordinating the frontline response while fulfilling their own response duties. However in an incident involving a fire or chemicals the NIFS will then take the lead.
· saving of life in conjunction with the other emergency services;
· co-ordination of the other emergency services and other subsidiary organisations;
· control of access to /egress from the site and the protection and preservation of the scene;
· evacuation procedures, if necessary, in conjunction with the other emergency services, government departments and social services;
· the investigation of the incident, in conjunction with other investigative bodies, where applicable;
· the collation and dissemination of casualty information. Identification of victims on behalf of the Coroner, who is the principal investigator when fatalities are involved;
· restoration of normality at the earliest opportunity; and
· traffic control.
The responsibility of body handling also lays with the PSNI. No bodies should be moved without the consent of a senior PSNI officer however this consent is not necessary in the incident where access to a live causality is hindered and would put that casualty to further risk. The PSNI will set cordons and control access to the incident site to ensure the public’s safety. They would also prompt incident management arrangements including communicating with other emergency services and organisations involved in the response.
Fire & Rescue Service: in responding to major incidents the NIFS can provide specialist equipment that is needed to save life. They will only respond to fires, chemical and road traffic collision incidents where their equipment is needed. In the direct cases of a fire or chemical spillage, the NIFRS would normally be the emergency service controlling access to the incident site and taking decisions on how the incident should be handled, in liaison with the PSNI. The NIFRS will not necessarily respond to an incident where a fire or threat to life is not present or where there is no one trapped and where no chemicals are involved in the incident.
Their primary roles include the following;
• saving life and preventing the loss of life; • extrication of trapped casualties; • preventing further escalation of an incident by tackling fires, dealing with released chemicals etc; • information gathering and hazard assessment to give advice to the PSNI and enable them to advise on appropriate safety measures for the public and responders; • liaison with the PSNI regarding the provision of an inner cordon; • liaison with the Ambulance Service Incident Officer; • decontamination of people exposed to dangerous materials; • the safety of all personnel (where the fire and rescue services have primacy) involved in the rescue work within the designated inner cordon; • consideration of the effect the incident may have on the environment, and the action to be taken to minimise this in cooperation with the relevant Government Department or agency; • Assisting the PSNI with recovery of the dead; • participating in investigations as appropriate, and preparing reports and evidence for enquiries; and • standby during non-emergency recovery phase to ensure continued safety at and surrounding the site if necessary.
Ambulance: the role of the NIAS is focused on the individual’s injured at an incident. The main objective is to stabilise patients, begin their treatment and to transport them to the appropriate hospital, essential their role is to therefore save life. The ambulance incident officer will co – operate with the PSNI and the NIFS and would also co-ordinate a system entailing immediate care, causality clearing stations, paramedical and medical response teams and hospital bed and facility identification along with the provision of transport to these appropriate facilities.
Council/local government: contribute to emergency response by providing assistance in co ordination of local response where there resources, experience and expertise will be appropriate however this would be firstly disscud with the PSNI who have initial co ordination role in major incidents. District councils will also co operate with other organisations to provide buildings, staff, advice or equipment. Their role is a developing one when it comes to emergency planning, they co operate with other organisations at local level with local government and the emergency management group known as LGEMG.
LGEMG is a strategic planning committee which developed a emergency plan template for district councils and has produced guidance and consultation papers. The LGEMG consist of the following members; district councils, local government staff commission, the local government division and department of environment and the civil contingences policy branch. The responsibilities of district councils and the LGEMG include civil protection and focus on operational delivery of an emergency response. To fulfil their civil protection duties they would fulfil the following roles;
· where appropriate, creating and maintaining a statutory framework which encourages safety and resilience;
· monitoring the particular areas of responsibility and expertise of the organisation, and the environment in which it operates, for existing and new risks and vulnerabilities, and taking action to ensure that appropriate risk reduction and mitigation measures are taken and emergency responses planned;
· allocating appropriate resources to civil protection, creating a civil protection programme, monitoring its progress and reporting as requested to the parent department;
· Business Continuity Planning, to ensure that services, whether direct to the public or to other organisations, can be maintained through periods of disruption, and quickly restored when interrupted;
· planning in partnership with other organisations with common interests (eg all Education and Library Boards), or with parent departments, to reduce risk, increase resilience and prepare emergency response and business continuity plans;
· responding to emergencies, whether directly where the emergency involves services or responsibilities of the organisation or in support of another organisation; where appropriate,
· taking the lead in co-ordinating the inter-agency response to emergencies or contributing to departmental lead arrangements;
· preparing and implementing programmes for long-term support of individuals, communities and environments affected by the emergency;
· preparing briefing for senior management, parent departments, Ministers and other elected representatives and for the media, in co-operation with departments and lead organisations.
District Councils Roles; · welfare activities – assisting at rest centres, providing food and dry clothing and helping people complete claim forms;
· social and psychological aftercare – befriending and welfare support;
· medical support – providing back-up ambulance services, first aid, and
· hospital patient services;
· search and rescue – mountain, cave, coastal, marine and inland waterway services;
· Communications – providing radio operators, messengers or translators as a backup to the conventional communications methods.
Health & Social Care Trust: Their role requires them to prepare and be resilient when a major incident does occur so that they are able to lead the response to health related emergencies. For example practicing how they would handle a certain major incident relating to health and learning where their strengths lie, where they need to improve performance and how to make their role more efficient so that they are able to cope in response to a major incident. I recently took part in one of these practice sessions with the local health and social services in Armagh. This practice session they undertook is useful and essential as it enhances their ability to be prepared therefore making them more resilient.
Coast Guard Maritime and coastguard agency: main role in responding to a major incident is to co0ordinate maritime search and rescue. The marine rescue sub centre (MRSC) initiates and co-ordinates response to maritime emergencies in coastal waters, the Atlantic and inland waters of Lough Erne and Lough Neagh. There role consists of them tasking search helicopters and assembling mountain and cave rescue teams along with co-ordinating the on scence activities of the Royal Navy, commercial shipping, pleasure craft and SAR aircraft