Major

EmergencyPlan

2016-17


IMMEDIATE ACTIONS

If you have received notification that a major incident

has been declared

And you have not read this plan

DO NOT READ IT NOW

Find your relevant Action Card

AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS

CLICK HERE

for a list of action cards

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Document Control

This plan is owned by Dudley Council and maintained by Emergency Planning Team, it will be reviewed annually or sooner if activation, legislation or best practice guidance necessitates such action.

All enquiries relating to this document should be sent to:

Emergency Planning Team

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council

The Council House

Priory Road

Dudley

DY1 1HF

Tel:0300 555 2345

Email:

Version / Date / Status / Author
1 / 2005 / First publication / Ian Skidmore
2 / 2006 / Annual Review / Ian Skidmore
3 / 2007 / Annual Review / Sarah Webster
4 / 2008 / Annual Review / Sarah Webster
5 / 2009 / Annual Review / Sarah Webster
6 / 2010 / Annual Review / Sarah Hill
7 / 2011 / Annual Review / Sarah Hill
8 / June 2012 / Annual Review / Sarah Hill
9 / October 2013 / Annual Review / Sarah Hill
10 / May 2015 / Rewrite to reflect new Council structure / Sarah Hill
11 / July 2016 / Annual Review / Sarah Hill

Training & Exercise Record

Emergency Planning Team are responsible for coordinating and delivering training and exercising for this plan. The plan hasn’t been formally exercised, however elements of the plan have been tested.

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Dudley Major Emergency Plan

Foreword

Globally and nationally, we have witnessed many serious events over the past few years, including unprecedented natural disasters and devastating terrorist attacks that can seriously threaten our lives, environment and economy.

Major emergencies are relatively infrequent; however Dudley MBC must be prepared to respond efficiently and effectively when an emergencystrikes with little or no warning. We continue to provide a key supporting role to the emergency services, the health network, partner agencies and our communities in the initial response to an emergency and we will take the lead role to help our citizens, communities and businesses return to normality as soon as possible.

Dudley’s Major Emergency Plan sets out the roles and responsibilities of the Council to enable us to respond effectively to any emergency which may occur within, or affect the communities of the Borough. It provides a clear and flexible framework for our response and details command and control arrangements of how an incident will be managed.

I would like to place on record my thanks to all staff who have agreed to respond to emergencies on behalf of the Council. Not only have you agreed to this as an addition to your normal duties but you have indicated your willingness to be called out in your own time. Without your assistance the plan would not work.

In order to respond effectively and safely to all eventualities, it is essential that officers are properly trained to carry out their individual and collective duties. The Emergency Planning Team are willing to discuss training opportunities with staff and design appropriate programmes to fulfil them.

By working together, we can face these potential threats with confidence and ensure that our Borough continues to be safe and secure.

Sarah Norman

Chief Executive

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Dudley Major Emergency Plan

CONTENTS

Part 1 - Guidance
1.1 / INTRODUCTION / 1►
1.2 / CIVIL CONTINGENCIES ACT 2004 / ►
1.2.1CIVIL CONTINGENCIES ACT 2004 / 3
1.2.2LOCAL RESILIENCE FORUM / 3
1.2.3DEFINITION / 4
1.2.4LEVELS OF EMERGENCY / 4
1.2.5STAGES / 5
1.3 / COMMAND, CONTROL AND COORDINATION / ►
1.3.1INCIDENT MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK / 7
1.3.2DUDLEY COUNCIL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE / 8
1.3.3JOINT EMERGENCY SERVICES INTEROPERABILITY PROGRAMME (JESIP) / 9
1.3.4PRINCIPLES FOR JOINT WORKING / 9
1.3.5SHARED SITUATIONAL AWARENESS / 10
1.3.6DEFINITIONS / 11
1.3.7OPERATIONAL, TACTICAL AND STRATEGIC LEVELS OF COMMAND / 11
1.4 / MAIN FUNCTIONS OF THE EMERGENCY SERVICES AND OTHER AGENCIES / ►
1.4.1WEST MIDLANDS POLICE / 17
1.4.2WEST MIDLANDS FIRE SERVICE / 18
1.4.3WEST MIDLANDS AMBULANCE SERVICE / 18
1.4.4NHS ORGANISATIONS / 19
1.4.5ENVIRONMENT AGENCY / 20
1.4.6HIGHWAYS ENGLAND / 21
1.4.7DCLG (RESILIENCE AND EMERGENCIES DIVISION) / 22
1.4.8NETWORK RAIL / 22
1.4.9ANIMAL & PLANT HEALTH AGENCY / 22
1.4.10MULTI FAITH SERVICES / 22
1.4.11UTILITY AGENCIES / 23
1.4.12GOVERNMENT DECONTAMINATION SERVICE / 23
1.4.13MILITARY AID TO THE CIVIL AUTHORITIES / 23
1.4.14VOLUNTARY AID SOCIETIES / 23
1.5 / MEDIA LIAISON AND PUBLIC INFORMATION / ►
1.5.1COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS TEAM (CAPA) / 27
1.5.2STATEMENTS / 27
1.5.3MEDIA RVP / 28
1.5.4MULTI-AGENCY MEDIA CENTRE / 28
1.5.5DESIGNATED SPOKESPEOPLE / 28
1.5.6PRESS BRIEFINGS AT A SCENE / 28
1.5.7PRELIMINARY BRIEFINGS / 28
1.5.8RELEASE OF CASUALTY FIGURES / 29
1.6 / EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS / ►
1.6.1GENERAL / 31
1.6.2LANDLINE TELEPHONY / 31
1.6.3RESILIENCE DIRECT / 31
1.6.4AIRWAVE / 31
1.6.5EMERGENCY TELECOMS ASSISTANCE / 31
1.6.6MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS PRIVILEGED ACCESS SCHEME (MTPAS) / 31
1.6.7SATELLITE TELEPHONES / 32
1.6.8RADIO AMATEUR’S EMERGENCY NETWORK (RAYNET) / 32
1.7 / FINANCE / 33►
1.8 / DEBRIEFING / 35►
Part 2 – Dudley Council’s Response
1.1 / DUDLEY COUNCIL’S RESPONSE / ►
1.1.1.ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES / 39
1.1.2.NOTIFICATION AND IMMEDIATE RESPONSE / 39
1.1.3.ON CALL ROTA / 40
1.1.4.SUPPORT FROM THE EMERGENCY PLANNING TEAM / 40
1.1.5.FLOWCHART - ACTIVATION OF THE MAJOR EMERGENCY PLAN / 41
1.1.6.ACTIVATION OF THE MAJOR EMERGENCY PLAN / 41
1.1.7.LOCAL AUTHORITY COMMAND LEVELS / 42
1.1.8.DISTRICT EMERGENCY COORDINATOR / 42
1.1.9.THE DISTRICT EMERGENCY CENTRE / 43
1.1.10.ALTERNATIVE DISTRICT EMERGENCY CENTRES / 45
1.1.11.ROLES WITHIN THE DEC / 45
1.1.12.THE LOCAL AUTHORITY LIAISON OFFICER / 46
1.1.13.MAJOR INCIDENT LOG / 46
1.1.14.DIRECTORATE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES / 48
1.2 / EXIT STRATEGY AND RECOVERY / ►
1.2.1.EXIT STRATEGY / 53
1.2.2.WHEN THE EMERGENCY IS OVER / 53
1.2.3.RECOVERY / 53
1.2.4.RECOVERY PLAN / 54
1.3 / SUPPORTING PLANS / 55►
Part 3 – Action Cards
EMERGENCY PLANNING DUTY OFFICER / 59►
GOLD COMMANDER / 60►
SILVER COMMANDER / 61►
BRONZE COMMANDER / 62►
DISTRICT EMERGENCY CENTRE MANAGER / 63►
DISTRICT EMERGENCY CENTRE INFORMATION COORDINATOR / 64►
DISTRICT EMERGENCY CENTRE CALL HANDLER / 65►
DISTRICT EMERGENCY CENTRE DIRECTORATE STAFF OFFICERS / 66►
DISTRICT EMERGENCY CENTRE COMMS OFFICER / 67►
DISTRICT EMERGENCY CENTRE ADMIN SUPPORT / 68►
LOGGIST / 69►
LOCAL AUTHORITY LIAISON OFFICER / 70►
Appendices
APPENDIX A / SITUATION REPORT TEMPLATE / 73►
APPENDIX B / INITIAL AGENDA FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT TEAM / 75►
APPENDIX C / DUDLEY MBC EMERGENCY CONTACT DIRECTORY / 77►
APPENDIX D / DISTRICT EMERGENCY CENTRE SUPPORT STAFF / 89►
APPENDIX E / TELEPHONE CALL HANDLERS / 91►
APPENDIX F / INFORMATION HELPLINE TEAM / 93►
APPENDIX G / OTHER LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND ORGANISATIONS / 95►

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Dudley Major Emergency Plan

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Part 1

Guidance

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Dudley Major Emergency Plan

1.1INTRODUCTION

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1.1.1Aim
The aim of the Major Emergency Plan is to set out Dudley Council’sresponse and managementarrangements to a major emergency affecting the Borough.
The plan is a generic document, produced to address the emergency response to a variety of risks identified in the West Midlands Community Risk Register. It complements specific contingency plans produced by both the Council and its partner agencies.

1.1.2Objectives

  • To specify the Council’s legal responsibilities under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004
  • To define an emergency
  • To explain the activation process
  • To set out clear lines of responsibility for officers that may be involved in the management of an emergency
  • To detail the management structures that will operate during an emergency
  • Scope
    This plan relates to incidents that involve the Emergency Planning Duty Officer, who may be the Council’s first point of contact for the emergency services and other responder organisations.
  • Minor emergencies, usually managed by a small number of service areas and involving the Emergency Planning Duty Officer, which may or may not include activation of corporate/local operational/front line resources (also referred to as ‘Bronze’ level).
  • Major emergencies, usually involving activation or corporate emergency management arrangements, which can be at Operational (Bronze), Tactical (Silver) or Strategic levels (Gold).
  • In addition, some ‘rising tide’ emergencies or major business disruptions may necessitate activation of key officers at a Tactical (Silver) level as part of Council preparedness activities, prior to a full response structure activation. Examples of such circumstances include fuel disruption, protest marches, infectious disease, severe weather alerts.

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1.2 CIVIL CONTINGENCIES ACT 2004

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1.2.1The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (CCA) provides a single framework forcivil protection throughout the UK. The Act divides local responders intotwo categories, Category 1 and Category 2 and imposes a set of duties oneach (see Table 1).

Table 1. List of Category Responders & Duties

Category 1 Responders / Category 2 Responders
  • Local Authorities
  • Police & British Transport Police Services
  • Fire & Rescue Services
  • Ambulance Service NHS Trusts
  • NHS Trusts
  • NHS England
  • Public Health England
  • Environment Agency
  • Maritime & Coastguard Agency
/
  • Electricity Distributors
  • Gas Distributors
  • Water and Sewerage Undertakers
  • Telephone Service Providers (fixed and mobile)
  • Transport Providers
  • Health & Safety Executive
  • Highways England
  • Clinical Commissioning Groups

The CCA places the following statutory duties on Category 1 Responders:
  • To assess the risk of an emergency occurring;
  • To plan for and to respond to emergencies;
  • To be resilient as an organisation and toensure continuation of critical functions;
  • To share information with otherresponders;
  • To warn and inform the public before, during and after an emergency;
  • To co-operate with other responders;
  • Local Authorities have a specific duty to promote business continuity management to local businesses and the voluntary sector
/ Category 2 Responders have a lesser set of duties:
  • Co-operating with Category 1 and Category 2 organisations and
  • Sharing relevant information

1.2.2Local Resilience Forum
One of the key requirements of the Act is for Category 1 and Category 2 Responders to form a Local Resilience Forum based on Police areas. The West Midlands Local Resilience Forum is chaired by the Assistant Chief Constable of West Midlands Police and allows strategic representatives of responding agencies to ensure that there is an appropriate level of preparedness to enable an effective multi-agency response to emergency incidents which may have a significant impact on the communities of the West Midlands Conurbation.

1.2.3Definition

1.2.3.1The Act defines a Major Incident as:

An event or situation, with a range of serious consequences, which requires special arrangements to be implemented by one or more emergency responder agencies

Notes:

a)‘emergency responder agencies’ describes all Category 1 and 2 Responders as defined in the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) and associated guidance;

b)A major incident is beyond the scope of business-as-usual operations, and is likely to involve serious harm, damage, disruption or risk to human life or welfare, essential services, the environment or national security;

c)A major incident may involve a single-agency response, although it is more likely to require a multi-agency response, which may be in the form of multi-agency support to a lead responder;

d)The severity of consequences associated with a major incident are likely to constrain or complicate the ability of responders to resource and manage the incident, although a major incident is unlikely to affect all responders equally;

e)The decision to declare a major incident will always be a judgement made in a specific local and operational context, and there are no precise and universal thresholds or triggers. Where Local Resilience Forums and responders have explored these criteria in the local contextand ahead of time, decision makers will be better informed and more confident in making that judgement.

1.2.4Levels of Emergency

1.2.4.1HM Government (2009) Emergency Response and Recovery provides a scale of emergencies:

Catastrophic emergency (Level 3) is one which has an exceptionally high and potentially widespread impact and requires immediate central government direction and support. Characteristics might include a top-down response in circumstances where the local response has been overwhelmed, or the use of emergency powers required.

Serious emergency (Level 2) is one which has, or threatens, a wide and/or prolonged impact requiring sustained central government coordination and support from a number of departments and agencies. The central government response to such an emergency would be coordinated from the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBR) under the leadership of the lead government department.

Significant emergency (Level 1) has a wider focus and requires central government involvement or support primarily from a lead government department, alongside the work of the emergency services, local authority and other organisations. There is however no actual or potential requirement for a collective central government response.

1.2.5Stages

1.2.5.1Most major incidents can be considered to have five stages:

1Initial Response aims to deal with the first effects of the incident and will predominantly involve a response from the emergency services. The local authority will have less of an involvement during this phase, providing support to the emergency services as required.

2Consolidation Phase mitigates the effects of the emergency by ensuring measures are put in place to provide resources for the continuing response and for making sure critical services can continue to be provided. The local authority will become more involved during this phase, coordinating the response by other supporting organisations and continuing normal support and care arrangements for the local and wider community.

3Recovery Phase encompasses the physical, social, psychological, political and financial consequences of the emergency. Recovery planning must start from the beginning of the response. When the emergency services withdraw, the Council will be most involved during this phase providing services and support to the effected community which may last from several days to several years.

4Restoration of Normality after the reaction to the emergency has subsided organisations continue to deal with the effects as part of daily business.

5Inquiry Phase willfollow all major incidents.

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1.2.5.2The diagram below shows this cycle in more detail:

Image 1. Diagram of the major incident phases, response level vs time

1.3COMMAND, CONTROL AND COORDINATION

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This section introduces the framework for the management of the emergency response effort; this will be undertaken at one or more of three ascending levels: Operational, Tactical and Strategic.Emergencies of the “sudden impact” type will start from operational level at the scene and be escalated as necessary.For a slow onset emergency such as a threat of flooding, command levels may be activated as required.

1.3.1Incident Management Framework

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1.3.2Dudley Council Emergency Management Structure

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1.3.3Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Programme (JESIP)
JESIP is focused on the interoperability of the Police, Fire and Ambulance Services in the early stages of a major or complex incident. However, the principles described within JESIP can also be applied to the full range of emergency responders and to smaller scale incidents, wide area emergencies and pre-planned operations.

The aim of the JESIP process is to create a “shared situation awareness” between the responding organisations. JESIP incorporates the following process of principles for joint working.

1.3.4Principles for Joint Working


1.3.5Shared Situational Awareness

In order to create a “shared situational awareness” it is imperative, that in the early stages, information is passed between emergency responders and their control rooms using a standard format. This process should follow the METHANE mnemonic:

1.3.5.1METHANE

1.3.5.2Joint Decision Model

One of the difficulties facing Commanders from different organisations in a joint emergency response is how to bring together the available information, reconcile objectives and then make effective joint decisions. To enable this, the following Joint Decision Model (JDM) has been developed.

1.3.6Definitions

1.3.6.1Command

Command is the exercise of vested authority that is associated with a role or rank within an organisation, to give direction in order to achieve defined objectives. Command is carried out by those who have been given authority for a specific operation or incident, to make decisions and give direction in order to achieve jointly defined and agreed objectives.

1.3.6.2Control

Control is the application of authority, combined with the capability to manage resources, in order to achieve defined objectives. While command cannot be exercised by one organisation over another, the authority to exercise control of an organisation’s personnel or assets, for a specified time period to attain defined objectives, can be granted or delegated to another organisation.

1.3.6.3Coordination

Coordination is the integration of multi-agency efforts and available capabilities, which may be interdependent, in order to achieve defined objectives. Co-ordination occurs at one or more of three ascending levels – Operational, Tactical and Strategic, with national level coordination in the most serious of emergencies.

1.3.7Operational, Tactical and Strategic Levels of Command

1.3.7.1Operational Level

This is the level at which the hands-on work is undertaken at the site(s) of the emergency or other associated areas.

Operational Commanders will concentrate their effort and resources on the specific tasks within their areas of responsibility. They will act on delegated responsibility from their organisation until higher levels of management are established (if required).

Agencies retain control of their own resources and personnel deployed at the scene, but each agency must liaise and co-operate with all other agencies involved to ensure a coherent and integrated effort.

These arrangements will usually be adequate to deal with most events or situations but if events demand greater planning, co-ordination or resources, additional tiers of management may be necessary.

1.3.7.2Tactical Level

If activated, the purpose of the Tactical Co-ordinating Group (TCG) is to ensure that the actions taken by the Operational level are co-ordinated, coherent and integrated, in order to achieve maximum effectiveness and efficiency. It will usually comprise Tactical Commanders from each agency committed within the area of operations and will undertake Tactical co-ordination of the response to the event or situation.

The role of the TCG is to:

  • Fulfil Strategic aims and objectives
  • Keep Strategic Co-ordinating Group (SCG) informed
  • Determine priorities for allocating available resources
  • Obtain additional resources if required
  • Plan and co-ordinate how and when tasks will be undertaken
  • Assess significant risks and use this to inform the tasking of Operational Commanders
  • Ensure the health and safety of the public and personnel

TCG representatives must, wherever possible, be empowered to make decisions appropriate to that level. Unless there is an obvious and urgent need for intervention, TCG should not become directly involved in the detailed Operational tasks being discharged by Operational Commanders.

Dudley’s Tactical Commander should complete the Situation Report template at Appendix A to provide the District Emergency Centre (DEC) with an update on developments at the Tactical Coordination Group (TCG).