Emergency Management Newsletter - Summer 2005
The Local Resilience Forum
Recent Exercises
Business Continuity Management - Business Impact Analysis
Regional Training Day
Download 2005
Ex. Water Rat - Staffing the Exercise
To be effective, contingency planning needs to be a ‘joined-up’ activity. For an organisation of the size and complexity of the County Council, its contingency planning has to be tacked as a combined effort – of the Council’s various departments for its ‘internal’ arrangements (e.g. in respect of business continuity planning), and ‘externally’ with local partner agencies (e.g. the emergency services, other local authorities, etc.) when planning for disruptive events such as flooding, major transport incidents, etc.
Since 1989, the year of the Kegworth disaster, the County Council and its local contingency planning partners have been working collaboratively through the Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland Emergency Planning Partnership’s Strategic Co-ordinating Group (SCG – the chief executive-level policy making group) and the working-level Emergency Planning Liaison Group (EPLG). This ‘joined-up’ approach has recently taken on a renewed vigour, as it has been enshrined in the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and its associated Regulations.
In accordance with the guidance to Regulations, the Partnership’s former SCG has now become the Local Resilience Forum (LRF), which remains a chief officer-level group, but which now meets quarterly rather than bi-annually as did the former SCG. Alongside the County Council on the LRF are the other local ‘Category One Responders’, namely the three emergency services, the nine other local authorities, six primary care trusts, local acute health trusts, the Health Protection Agency and the Environment Agency. Other organisations on the LRF include the Government Office for the East Midlands, represented by the Regional Resilience Director and the Military’s Joint Regional Liaison Officer, a senior Army officer based at Chilwell, Nottingham.
The purpose of the LRF is to ensure effective delivery of those duties under the CCA that need to be developed in a multi-agency environment. In particular, the LRF process should aim to deliver:
The LRF is working to a demanding three-year service delivery plan aimed at achieving local compliance with the Civil Contingencies Act (CCA) in as short a time as possible. Effecting the LRF’s service plan are a number of ‘task-and-finish’ project groups, all of which have stringent terms of reference to complete various contingency planning objectives, including a rigorous training and exercise programme. The issues currently being progressed by the various project groups include animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and avian ‘flu, as well as the promotion of business continuity advice to local businesses. Of prime importance is the compilation of a ‘Community Risk Register’ (CRR) for the LRA the production of which, as stated above, is now a statutory under the CCA. The CRR aims, for the first time, to register and assess all significant ‘hazards and risks’ in the LRA; previously, the only hazards that local authorities were obligated to register, or log, were significant industrial hazards.
The work of the various project groups is now co-ordinated by the LRF’s own Co-ordinating Group (LRFCG), which has replaced the former EPLG. Rather than meet quarterly, as the EPLG used to, the LRFCG has been meeting at least fortnightly, and often weekly, and has, in effect, become a de facto multi-agency contingency planning team – which, some might argue, is essential for truly effective contingency planning to take place. By ‘pooling’ resources, members of the LRF have appointed a Project Co-ordinator, whose responsibility it will be to oversee the LRFCG and to ensure that the various project groups are meeting their prescribed aims and objectives. Such a structure is regarded as somewhat ‘groundbreaking’ in the contingency planning world; it is certainly quite innovative, and one or two other LRFs have indicated that they intend to try a similar model.
For those that are interested in reading more about the basis for establishing the LRF, you are directed to the Government’s resilience website (www.ukresilience.gov.uk), where a copy of the guidance document to the Civil Contingencies Act and Regulations – Emergency Preparedness – can be downloaded. Chapter 2 of this guidance document describes, in generic terms, the concept of the LRF and what the establishment of an LRF aims to achieve, together with suggested terms of reference for the Forum.
Recent Exercises – Hinckley & Bosworth
Over the last six months, Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council has run two emergency exercises: a rest centre exercise and a management team exercise. Craig Hamilton, the Council’s emergency planning and licensing officer, describes these two exercises.
Rest Centre Exercise
As the rest centre plan for Hinckley Leisure Centre was nearing completion, in collaboration with the County Council’s Emergency Management Section, a rest centre awareness training day was delivered for those managers likely to be involved in running/attending a rest centre on behalf of the Borough Council. This training was provided by the County Council’s Emergency Management Section, British Red Cross and WRVS.
Once the plan had been written and the various officers were trained, it was time to audit the plan to ensure its accuracy and its practicality if activated. It was determined that a live exercise was the most appropriate mechanism.
The exercise took place at Hinckley Leisure Centre in December 2004 with representatives from British Red Cross, Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council, the County Council’s Social Services, SLM Leisure and WRVS all taking part and contributing to the exercise, whilst representatives from Coventry University’s International Disaster Concern Society (IDC), Hinckley Voluntary Service and employees from Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council provided volunteers for the exercise.
Like the awareness training, the exercise was a success. Its aim was to test the key components of the Rest Centre Management Plan for Hinckley Leisure Centre and the main objectives were to test:
All these were achieved and all those involved concluded it was a very useful exercise. This highlighted key learning points, such as the requirement for administration support for managers, which provides the basis to make the rest centre plan more effective.
Management Team Exercise
The management team exercise, scheduled for March 2005, focused on the establishment of an Emergency Co-ordination Unit as part of the Borough Council’s Emergency Response Plan. Once again, a live exercise was utilised with the aim of testing the Emergency Co-ordination Unit’s effectiveness. The objectives were to test:
The exercise aim and objectives were achieved and, once again, key learning points were identified, such as the requirement for effective communications equipment to be available for both internal and external use.
One factor that both exercises have identified is the effectiveness of using well-planned exercises as an auditing mechanism. In both instances, the learning points will improve the Borough Council’s preparedness to respond to an emergency, whilst fulfilling their statutory duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.
Business Continuity Management
Understanding the Business Impact Analysis Process
In order to undertake the process of business continuity management (BCM), managers need to begin by identifying the essential services they are responsible for delivering and the functions that are critical to the delivery of those services. This approach, coupled with consideration of other influencing factors, such as service ‘peaks’ and ‘troughs’, immovable delivery deadlines, etc., is known as a business impact analysis (BIA).
The BIA process is a crucial step, as it enables managers to develop a strategy in order to be able to maintain their essential services (albeit possibly at a minimal level), and/or to identify how long the delivery of such essential services could continue when a critical support function has failed (e.g. suspension of the delivery of essential supplies).
A BIA explores and analyses the impact of a disruption to the delivery of a service, and focuses on the affect the disruption will have on all stakeholders. When undertaking a BIA, the following steps should be taken:
Financial ('Hard') Impact | Non-Financial ('Soft') Impact |
The aim will be to undertake BIAs for those Council services identified as being essential, thereby ensuring that a consistent approach to the BCM process is achieved across the Council.
It is worth noting that the BIA, as well as being an essential component of BCM, is increasingly recognised as an important aspect of general management also, as it is seen as providing managers with an opportunity, or a tool, to review their services and undertake an ‘audit’ of whether these are being delivered in the most effective manner.
Regional Training Day – 22 April
Emergency planning officers from every county area of the East Midlands recently gathered at Lawress Hall, Lincolnshire for a day’s collective training, instigated and supported by the Regional Resilience Team at the Government Office for the East Midlands.
The morning consisted of presentations by each county’s chief emergency planning officer (CEPO), who provided an overview of their teams, the priorities for their area and the issues that each will have to contend with in the forthcoming months. Needless to say, the Civil Contingencies Act featured very prominently on the agenda! This morning session provided an important opportunity for all the emergency planners to meet each other and discuss their specific areas of work and individual responsibilities.
Following the initial presentations, Mark Baker, Head of Emergency Planning at Cambridgeshire County Council, gave a talk on the Soham murders and the extensive involvement of, and effects of the media on, his local authority. This served to remind those present of the time, commitment and pressure that will be exerted on a range of local authority staff should they be unfortunate enough to have to respond to a tragedy of this magnitude and public interest.
The afternoon programme was split into a number of ‘workshops’, covering topics such as: business continuity planning, evacuation (rest) centres, training and exercising, emergency communications, contingency planning of public events, and local authority emergency response arrangements. Each workshop was facilitated by an ‘expert’ EPO, and everyone was able to attend two sessions which gave an opportunity to share good practice and learn from each other’s broad and various experience. Key issues on each topic were discussed and will be considered in greater depth at the next meeting of the Regional CEPOs’ Group.
All in all, the day proved to be an intensive, exhaustive – but also hugely enjoyable – event for those taking part, and plans are already afoot to repeat the event, perhaps on an annual basis.
Download returned to Donington Park for its third year as a three-day festival from 10-12 June. The Friday was an ‘indie day’ and the Saturday an ‘Ozzfest day’, with around 100 bands playing over the three days. The headline acts were Feeder (Friday), Black Sabbath (Saturday) and System of a Down (Sunday), with many more acts filling up the three stages.
The campsite opened on the Wednesday at midday, with this year’s festival being a complete sell-out (75,000 attending). The organisers improved entry into the campsite and festival this year by re-structuring access points and adding more entrance lanes at the gates. This went a long way to reducing the traffic problems experienced by some at last year’s festival.
One of the major problems of previous festivals has been the amount of time it takes to clear up the litter left by happy, party-going ‘Downloaders’. This not only spoils the festival site, costs a lot to clean up but, more importantly, poses an increased threat of bird strikes for aircraft using Nottingham East Midlands Airport. Therefore, greater efforts were made this year to conduct regular litter patrols during the event, with the added incentive of rewarding festival-goers with a complimentary can of beer in return for handing in full bags of rubbish! In addition, re-cycling points were available on the site to assist in making this year a ‘Donington tidy’ event.
Emergency Preparation
As in previous years, frequent multi-agency meetings were held with the organisers to plan for any unforeseen emergencies that might affect the festival. Contingency plans were been drawn up and all agency representatives came together to test out these plans at an exercise held on 13 May (a Friday!). A number of scenarios were put forward which tested aspects of the festival set-up, operation and response arrangements. All the agencies had an opportunity to question the various responses and the exercise gave people a valuable chance to meet and get to know each other prior to the festival taking place.
Traffic Plans
Part of the planning for this year’s event included the provision of a traffic plan with the aim of reducing the effects that 70,000 people arriving in the area have on an already congested road system. A large number of visitors opted for a three-day ticket which included camping, and the vast majority arrived during Wednesday and Thursday, although there were still a large number of day visitors to the site over the weekend. Nevertheless, junctions 23A and J24 of the M1, together with the A453 and other roads around Castle Donington, experienced greater traffic than usual over the festival period, which was anticipated.
Download 2005 went off without incident, all the necessary preparations having been made for a trouble free and enjoyable weekend. Even the weather behaved itself!
Exercise Water Rat – Staffing the Exercise
Preparations for Exercise 'Water Rat' with the Environment Agency (EA) and our other Local Resilience Forum partners continue apace. The exercise will take place on Thursday, 13 October 2005 and will take the form of a ‘control post’ exercise (CPX). It will involve the emergency services’ control rooms and the EA’s, together with the County Council's basement Emergency Co-ordination Centre (ECC). Exercise control will be established at County Hall, alongside the control for the district councils and utility companies. It is planned to establish multi-agency ‘gold’ (strategic) and ‘silver’ (tactical) commands at Police headquarters, Enderby.
Detailed planning of the exercise is now at an advanced stage and the Emergency Management Section is now looking at the organisation and staffing of the Council’s ECC, together with supporting activities for the exercise. Identifying key players is important and it is anticipated that appropriate staff will be nominated by Departmental representatives on the Corporate Contingency Planning Group. Support for the Exercise directing staff will also be required.
We are also looking for volunteers who will be involved in the ECC’s necessary administrative support functions (e.g. handling telephone calls, taking messages, recording/logging ECC activities, reconciling documents and general clerical support). Training will be given for these roles in the Exercise which, it is hoped, will lead to the formation of a ‘cadre’ of trained administrative/clerical support staff for assisting in emergency incidents.