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Rattery Community Emergency Plan

Glossary Acronym/Term Definition

1.0 Introduction

An emergency/major incident is any event or circumstance (happening with or without warning) that causes or threatens death or injury, disruption to the community, or damage to property or to the environment on such a scale that the effect cannot be dealt with by the emergency services, local authorities and other organisations as part of their normal day-to day activities.

Emergency Alerts is a UK government system that provides warning and advice in a life threatening emergency.
Mobile telephones and tablets may receive alerts about any type of life threatening emergency, such as:

• wildfires
• severe flooding
• extreme storms

Emergency alerts will only be sent by:
Government departments, agencies and public bodies that deal with emergencies
The emergency services.

More details can be found at About Emergency Alerts – GOV.UK

CATEGORY 1 RESPONDERS IN AN EMERGENCY 

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 places a duty on Category 1 Responders to carry out a risk assessment of a possible emergency in an area for which they are responsible. Category 1 Responders include: Local Authorities, Emergency Services and NHS Bodies like Primary Care Trusts.

In the event of a major incident, their Emergency Plans will be activated, ensuring all available support is forthcoming from services including the Coastguard and Armed Services if required. 

Major incidents are usually co-ordinated by the Police.

Although there is no statutory responsibility for communities to plan for, responds to, or recovers from emergencies, it is good practice to identify hazards and make simple plans on how they could respond to them.

THE PARISH COUNCIL’S INVOLVEMENT

This mainly concerns first line response to any incident and the provision of shelter, food, warmth and general first aid for people who are vulnerable or made homeless during an emergency. The Parish Council will endeavour to maintain contact with the Emergency Services during any emergency.

There will be a need for a sustained effort by the community in recovering from any major emergency incident and the Parish Council will lead, control and assist.

Rattery Parish Council has developed this plan to provide resilience for the community in the pre-event phase or early stages of an emergency.

The Rattery Community Response Team has been formed to assist the activation of this plan and to assist the emergency services wherever possible, prior to, during and after an emergency event.

Rattery Parish comprises the small village of Rattery, surrounded by farmland and a few hamlets, in the South Brent District of South Hams, Devon.

1.1 Aim

The aim of this plan is to increase resilience within the local community through developing a robust co-ordinated approach that compliments the plans of responding agencies.  Through the Parish Council build a volunteer infrastructure with the general public and authorities, local, regional and national so that a better preparedness and reaction to emergencies takes place, thus reducing the risk and cost to the town.

1.2 Objectives

• Identify the risks most likely to impact the community

• Identify relevant steps to mitigate and respond to emergency situations, including warning the community as required.

• Identify vulnerable people / groups / establishments in the community

• Identify community resources available to assist during an emergency 

• To establish a volunteer structure both with the Parish Council and the general public that can react when the need arises.
• To set up an emergency response (operation centre) that can be the framework of a quicker response to emergencies (in particular flood, snow, ice etc) and any other emergency that affects life in Rattery.  Set up an Operations Centre to be run by the Parish Council, when an emergency situation is likely to occur, particularly outside normal working hours.
• Provide key contact details for the Community Response Team, Key Community Resources, the Emergency Services and Local Authorities. Establish links with outside bodies, e.g., Met. Office, Environment Agency, Police, Fire Brigade, Medical Centre and Ambulance Service so that a reliable two-way communication system is established 24 hours a day, 7 days a week throughout the year.
• Provide information and assistance to the Emergency Services upon their arrival and as appropriate throughout the event.  Build a management structure with links to outside volunteers and agencies.
• Train and rehearse the above so that when any emergency occurs, the town can react to reduce risk if not eliminate any problems that occur.

1.3 Types of Emergencies

Types of potential emergencies that may impact the community are:

• Flooding and Severe Weather events
• Sustained Electricity, Water, or Gas failure
• Internet outage
• Road/Aircraft Accidents
• Fire and Explosions/Gas Leaks/Building Collapses
• Hazardous Vapour Releases
• Acts of Terrorism
• Disease

Further details are appended at Annex C.

2.0 Activation Procedure/Trigger and Escalation

A guideline activation procedure can be found in Annex F procedure details the call out order, communicating of information to the community and logging of actions.

Specific flood triggers and escalation procedures are detailed in Annex G

Rattery Parish Council has agreed that this plan will be activated when the MPC Community Emergency Response Team Coordinator considers it necessary, or as requested by a Category 1 Responder.

The decision to activate the plan will be taken by the Team Coordinator (or Deputy plus one member of the Community Emergency Response Team).

South Hams DC will be advised by the Team Coordinator (or Deputy) that the plan has been activated. All members of the Community Emergency Team are to be notified immediately the plan is activated by a cascading telephone system, or by direct contact, as started by the Team Coordinator (or Deputy).  All Emergency

Team members then meet as required.

3.0 Community Response Team

A Community Response Team (CRT) has been established to coordinate the community’s response to an incident.  They are also responsible for keeping the plan up to date. There will be an annual review of the plan, and an on-going log maintained of incidents and responses.

The role of the Community Response Team Co-ordinator is to:

• Pull together the Community Response Plan
• Ensure that the plan is regularly reviewed and updated.
• Report annually to the Community detailing if the plan has been activated and highlighting any changes to the CRT members.
• Act as a focal point for the community in the response to an emergency
• Act as the main contact point for District/Borough and County Councils and the emergency services, to ensure that two-way communication is maintained.
• Ensure that the appropriate authorities and individuals are notified.
• Communicate important messages to the community.
• Delegate specific roles to others on the CRT
• Activate resources as required.

Tasks should be delegated to team members as appropriate. The Co-ordinator should ensure that all team members are engaged in the planning and response processes.

All members of the Community Response Team should:

• Reside in the community.
• Have good local knowledge.
• Be able to activate the support of the community and speak on behalf of the community.
• Ensure that the vulnerable are provided with additional assurance during an emergency.
• Ensure that communications are maintained within the community and District/Borough Council.
• Ensure that Confidentiality is maintained where necessary.
• Maintain his / her own action log in the event of an emergency.
• Create a ‘grab bag’ containing the plan and any appropriate clothing / equipment which may be required.
• Have sufficient knowledge of the plan to act as Co-ordinator in their absence.

The Deputy and other team members should support the Co-ordinator in carrying out their role.

4.0 Insurance

The Rattery Parish Council’s insurance provides Public Liability and Third-Party Indemnity for members of the Council and volunteer workers working under the control of the Parish Council.

The Rattery Parish Council’s insurance does not extend to cover volunteers’ equipment.  Individuals should check their own insurance policies to see what they are covered for in the event of assisting in an emergency.  There may be exceptions when lives are at risk, however, the emergency services would expect to be used initially in such cases.

5.0 Incident Co-ordination

The community have identified their initial incident control points (ICP) as follows:

The primary ICP will be at:The Rattery Village Hall

The secondary ICP will be at: Church House Inn

ICP equipment is located at: Rattery Village Hall

Upon arrival of the emergency services, who may locate at a different ICP, the CRT Co-ordinator should make him/herself known to the emergency services and provide them with a copy of the CEP and to be available to provide local knowledge.  The emergency services may relocate the ICP.

Local residents who have kindly volunteered to provide practical skills, plant or equipment in the event of an emergency, can be found in Annex D

6.0 Evacuation Assembly Points

Due to the demands of an emergency, it may not be possible for Devon County Council to provide immediate Humanitarian Assistance; the Parish may need to establish an Evacuation Assembly Point (EAP).  The aim of the EAP is to provide a facility for the public to use as a short-term refuge.

Later in an emergency where people are required to leave their homes Devon County Council may set up a Rest Centre to provide temporary shelter.  The Rest Centre will have facilities for sleeping, hot food/drinks and information.

The EAPs are:

a. Priority One: Rattery Village Hall

b. Priority Two: Church House Inn

The provision of suitable accommodation/shelter can be provided at various venues throughout the Parish to provide warmth, food and first aid for people who are vulnerable or made homeless during an emergency.   A full list of contact details for the various premises is shown in Annex D

6.1 Establishment and Operation of EAP

Instruction for the establishment and operation of the EAP are at Annex A

7.0 Helicopter Landing Sites (HLS)

These facilities will only be used by emergency services in the Rescue Phase of an incident.

Areas identified as potentially suitable:
Ashbourne Farm
Allercombe Farm

8.0 Key information

Contact details are appended at Annex B.

The Annexes of this plan provide areas to record key information to plan for and use in the event of an emergency.

Annex A	1: Emergency Action Check List 2: Template Logging Sheet, 3: Checklist for Responders.
Annex B	Key Contact list (Publicly available)
Annex C	Description of Emergencies and Impacts
Annex D	Community Resources
Annex E	Householders Emergency Plan
Annex F	Community Flood Plan
Annex G	Instructions for the establishment and operation of the EAP
Annex H	Evacuee information sheet
Annex J	Contact list (Restricted access)
Annex K	Vulnerable Groups within the Community.
Annex L	Bed and breakfast accommodation
Restricted Access
Annex J	Key Contacts

NB Some wardens have actions at Warning level and others only at Severe level.

9.0 Plan Maintenance

The CERT should meet to discuss the community’s resilience arrangements at least on a 12 monthly basis, or when new facilities or information become available which affect trigger points, e.g. installation of engineering solutions. The plan should also be reviewed following each incident which has required activation to ensure learning is incorporated.

A full review of the plan by the CRT should be carried out annually to ensure that the contact numbers are still correct.

When issuing updated pages of the plan it is important to ensure the removed pages are returned as this will help ensure that all the plans are correctly updated.