The terrorist attacks of 7th July 2005 in London, Flooding in Boscastle and Carlisle during 2004/5, September 11th 2001  in New York, the floods across Great Britain in October 2000, the Hatfield rail crash in 2000, the terrorist bombs in Manchester and London and the school incident at Dunblane in 1996, and the plane crash at Lockerbie in 1988 all remind us that the unthinkable can happen.

The risk of a major incident in Bath & North East Somerset is considered low. 

However:

Several civil and military airfields are close to the Bath & North East Somerset area which lies under their well-utilised flight paths.
Road and rail links are heavily used which puts pressure on safety margins. We must be ready to respond to major accidents which could also pose pollution and environmental health threats.

Bath is a World Heritage city and major tourist attraction.

The 1987, 1990 and 2000 storms showed that Bath & North East Somerset is not immune from natural disasters and severe weather. In the October and November 2000 Floods we were not as badly affected as Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, Kent and Sussex but still had road closures, flooding of homes, business premises and low lying farmland and disruption of rail services for people getting to work. In July 1968 floods destroyed many road bridges in Keynsham and Pensford and several lives were lost. Bath City centre was also severely flooded as the river Avon rose to over 20 feet above its normal level in 1960. Flood defences of sluice gates and a weir were completed by Bath City Council in 1974 and probably saved Bath from flooding in 1979, 1982 and 1985.

Localised incidents could involve industrial acceidents, major fire, mine collapse, explosion or civil unrest.

There are large chemical and oil sites at Avonmouth, and nuclear power stations in South Gloucestershire and Somerset.

If an incident or disaster does happen we must be ready to act. The advances in media communication mean that any incident or disaster will become world news within minutes.

What preparations do we make for emergencies?

We make contingency plans so that if there is a major incident or disaster, people are protected and essential services are restored as quickly as possible. Our contingency plans detail how local services will work together to respond to any type of incident or disaster.

Some plans are listed below:

Civil Emergency Manual
Bath City Centre Emergency Guidance
Combe Down Stone Mines Emergency Response Guidance
Emergency Feeding Guidance
Community Emergency Guidance
Site Specific Rest/Reception Centre Plan
Emergency Evacuation & Rest/Reception Centre Procedures
Flood Plan
Initial Community Emergency Guidance for Parishes
Emergency Communications
Building Evacuation Plans
Emergency Management Guide for Schools

Influenza Pandemic

The following plans are shared with the Local Authorities shown below through the Avon Area Partnership Agreement.

Media Response Plan
Temporary Mortuary Plans
Pipeline Plan
Communications Plan
Animal Welfare Contingency Plan
Coastal Pollution Manual
 

The Emergency Management Unit trains Council personnel in disaster response, which includes setting up rest centres (for evacuated or temporarily homeless people which has happened during fire and gas leak incidents in the area) and arranging emergency communications. We ensure that our plans are practical and relevant documents that will work in real situations. We test our plans within the Authority and also with other authorities through a variety of means including table-top and live exercises.

Co-ordination is most important in an emergency. It is important that all the different services and organisations concerned are aware of their roles and respond quickly and effectively. Life must continue in a major incident or disaster situation.

Our role in an emergency is:

Under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 the Local Authority is classed as a Category 1 responder along with the Police, Fire and Ambulance sevices etc. This places a legal responsibility on us to prepair for and respond to a major incident in support of the Community.

We actively support the Emergency Services in all areas of their work.
We co-ordinate the activities of the various local authority services, other agencies, national utilities, national government, voluntary services e.g RAYNET (Radio Amateur Emergency Network) and local business.

Our work does not stop when the emergency services leave a scene. The local authority is responsible for the clear-up operation, inclusive of rebuilding the community, managing resources and the financial implications. We provide care and assistance to those affected for many weeks after.

We ensure that vital services continue and the community is returned to normality as soon as possible.

In a major incident that might cross Local Authority boundaries and have the potential to spread further, it is important that a lead Local Authority is nominated as soon as possible so that all Local Authorities resources can be co-ordinated. If the incident is restricted to a specific geographical area then the Authority responsible for that area will act as the lead.

If you want to know more general than specific information, you could look at the following web-sites:

Emergency Planning Society (UK) http://www.the-eps.org/

The Emergency Planning Unit has recently been transferred from the Home Office http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/ to the Cabinet Office http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/ and has been re-named the Civil Contingencies Secretariat.

(The objectives of the Home Office Standards for Civil Protection in England & Wales are: "The reduction of the potential impact of disaster by enabling the delivery of Best Value Civil Protection arrangements.")

Or contact the Emergency Management Unit by telephone on 01225 477544